'The devil's pipe ruins the soul of prayer' Nov 21, 2009
However, he says it is hard to gauge the severity of the ban because several supposedly proscribed instruments are used in religious recitals, for instance during the Shi'ite festival of Ashura. "Did the religion change?" Asmer asked. (Asia Times Online)
Mourning in Iran, Iraq for Shiite leader Aug 28, 2009
" Iraqi Shiites were suppressed under the Hussein regime, which favored the country's minority Sunni Muslims. Al-Hakim played a central role in shaping Iraq's future following his return. During his exile, which began in the early 1980s, al-Hakim commanded the Badr Brigades, the military wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI. SCIRI -- a religious opposition movement to the Hussein regime -- was led by al-Hakim's brother until he was assassinated in August 2003.... (CNN -- World)
Top Iraqi Shiite leader dies of cancer Aug 27, 2009
Al-Hakim successfully harnessed the fervor generated from emotional religious rituals like Ashura and turned it into a powerful political platform. That ability led some to consider him Iraq's most powerful man. (CNN -- World)
Khamenei tells foes to be stop protests Jul 22, 2009
Gen. Mohammad Esmail Saeedi, second in command of the Revolutionary Guard's Ashura Corps, said students should be taught at universities how to deal with "soft threats," a call to inject the military branch's view equating dissent with foreign conspiracy into higher education, according to Sepah News, its official Web site. This article appeared on page A - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Attacks have ripple effect on Iran-Iraq ties Apr 29, 2009
"First, they are trying to restart the sectarian war. Second, they are trying to break our strong relationship with Iran. And third, they are trying send a message that Iraq is still not safe by killing our guests from Iran. "We will not allow this to destroy our relationship with our neighbors," he said. Iran's evolving relationship with Iraq is one of the complicated aspects of the 6-year-old war in Iraq. On one hand, Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and other military... (USA Today)
With Shiites rising across the region, Saudi Arabia's grow impatient Apr 28, 2009
Shiites now publicly celebrate their holiest religious holiday, Ashura, commemorating the martyrdom in Iraq of their 7th-century saint Imam Hussein at the hands of a Sunni army. And the government is slowly giving permission to build Shiite mosques. (Christian Science Monitor -- World)
Iraq hands death penalty to 28 cultists for attacks Feb 27, 2009
But the group, so mysterious that Iraqi officials at first could not say whether it was Shiite- or Sunni-led, continued to wage attacks, most fiercely in January 2008 during Ashura, the holiest period of the Shiite year ... A police chief said the cult had been planning to stage attacks against Shiite pilgrims again during Ashura in the holy city of Karbala, The Associated Press reported. (International Herald Tribune)
A peace sign: Iraq's Sunnis joining Shiite pilgrims Feb 17, 2009
The holiday falls 40 days after the Shiite holiday of Ashura. Atef Hassan/Reuters. (Christian Science Monitor -- World)
Afghan TV Stations Find Censorship Line Is Blurry Feb 15, 2009
Emrose was recently called in front of the oversight commission for broadcasting inappropriate content, and particularly for not sticking to religious programming during the Islamic holiday of Ashura in January. Other stations aired religious songs the entire day. (CBS News -- World)
Iraqi remittances: Your stories Feb 7, 2009
We send more during Ashura, Eid and other religious holidays. We give the cash to someone we know, who then gives it to someone in the UAE. They charge a 5% fee, and send it to Iraq. (BBC News -- Africa)
