Charlie Kirk Memorial: Live Blog: The Largest Church Service in Human History

The Shi'a Wall:  I

On the Sunni side of the house, a generous sprinkling of "Amir" across the landscape.  But interaction with the Grand Ayatollah community across the globe confronts with an entirely different dynamic. There are approximately twenty living Grand Ayatollah.  Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, albeit powerful, is part of a far-flung network which supports Shi'a aspirations across the globe.  Fatawa (pl. of fatwa) - when they are offered by an individual Marja' - only apply to the Shi'a who have pledged allegiance to that particular jurist.  Although it is not under a tree, and with a hand placed on the thigh, the Shi'a side of the Ummah are deadly serious regarding their obligations.  And none are more serious than the followers of the Marja' al-Taqlid who issues his amr' (commands) using the sturdy Ja'fari school of jurispudence.  The history of the "Twelvers" represents a robust configuration of Shi'a across the globe.   

The Isma'ili are the more gentle side of the house.  The first cross-pollination of my work for Daily Times Pakistan found itself in the hands of the Isma'ili community in Dallas. And the commentary, was my first one written for the aforementioned English-language newspaper in Pakistan.  Many were present at the event covered below. I found this community to be intelligent and personable.

https://ismailimail.blog/2010/12/31/comment-of-the-arts-and-crusades-%e2%80%94tammy-swofford/

Let's revisit history a bit for context regarding what I will write next.

President George W. Bush and his administration blew it sideways in Iraq, when it was felt unnecessary to consider the immense power of an aging jurist in Najf:  Grand Ayatollah Ali  al Sistani.  We did not court him. And our later encounters with Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army had less to do with our misperception that this was about a power struggle within the Shi'a community, and more to do with Sistani's willingness to "let it play" and teach us a valuable lesson about how chain of command works in a different hemisphere than our own.  He was pretty much unbothered by the whole thing.  His position was secure, based on his rank.  Do we understand the conceptual arches attached to the Imamate? Hmmm

Iraq was interesting.  We went after a Baath'ist president whose philosophy was birthed in the halls of the Sorbonne. Michel Aflaq was the ideological father of the Baathist movement - a confusing fusion of pan-Arab nationalism with elements of Marxism and salted with Socialism.   It is only Aflaq's personal place on the historical timeline, that made his thoughts and those of the Syrian, Salah al-Din al Bitar, palatable.  Born twenty years earlier, he would be lost in obscurity.

We did our shock-and-awe with tanks rumbling into Baghdad and statues of President Saddam Hussein toppled.  But we are created a semi-permeable membrane between Iran and Iraq, which already had a predominant Shi'a population.  What most of you probably  know, is that Iranians began to flood into Karbala on pilgrimmage.   But what you may not know ,is that they made small mud discs of their sacred soil, and placed them under their foreheads as they prayed.  The Believers had arrived to honor one of the most lauded and remembered battles in their history.  A strong doctrine of martydom was born from the blood shed on the soil of Karbala.

Do you see the mark of devotion on the forehead of this man?  Do you know his name?  This callous on the forehead is a signal of devotion.

Well, enough for now. My maid has the day off.  wink

Tammy