With the funerals of the President and Foreign Minister of Iran in the news this week let's have a look at this. Does anyone remember the funeral of Ayatollah Khomeini, in 1989? That was the Funeral of Funerals.
The two main branches of Islam are Sunni and Shiite. About 15% of Moslems today are Shiites. If we are going to understand the world today, it is necessary to understand the difference between these two branches.
My impression is that Shiites are the more mystical, more apocalyptic, and somewhat more colorful of the two. The split that continues to this day began with the question of who should be the new caliph, or leader of all Moslems, after the death of Muhammad. Those who believed that no successor had been appointed, and the next one should be chosen by consensus, became known as Sunni Moslems. Abu Bakr, Muhammad's father-in-law, became caliph.
Those who believed that Muhammad did appoint a successor, his son-in-law Ali, and that the caliphate should be hereditary, from Muhammad's family, became known as Shiite Moslems. It was considered as a great injustice that Abu Bakr had been chosen as caliph instead, and the split continues to the present day, even though the caliphate was abolished with the end of the Ottoman Empire.
Ali eventually did become the fourth caliph, as recognized by Sunnis as well. But Ali was assassinated while in the Mosque of Kufa. The Imam Ali Mosque in the Iraqi city of Najaf is where his tomb is. This is the most important city to Shiites, after Mecca and Medina. Najaf grew around the shrine to Ali's supposed burial place. Najaf went through being raided by the Wahhabis, now the dominant power in Saudi Arabia, and ruled by the Ottomans. It was scholars who had studied at Najaf who made the Iranian city of Qom into another central city of the Shiites.
Not far from Najaf is another city that is vital to Shiites, Karbala. Ali was buried in Najaf, but Karbala is where his son, Hussein, was ambushed and killed by forces of the Sunni Umayyad Caliphate. Remember that, as we saw in the posting on this blog, "Esau And The Temple Mount" the Umayyads, who were the first major Sunni caliphate, built the two mosques that are still on the Temple Mount, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
Hussein was the leader of Shiite Moslems, and was on his way to Kufa at the request of the people there. This Battle of Karbala, in the year 680, is of great importance to Shiites. The city of Karbala grew up around the Imam Hussein Shrine in the same way that Najaf grew up around the Imam Ali Mosque.
Most Shiites believe that there are a succession of twelve divine leaders, known as Imams, that are successors to Muhammad. The final one will appear as the Mahdi. Those with this belief are known as "Twelvers". Shiites believe that the Mahdi has already been born, but disappeared as a young boy, after his father was killed. He is believed to be now in a state of occulation, meaning not in contact with his followers, until his reappearance. Sunni Moslems, in contrast, believe that the Mahdi has not yet been born.
If non-Moslems in the west have heard of the Mahdi in the news, it may be because there were rumors that Ayatollah Khomeini was the Mahdi. The title of Ayatollah, like Imam, are Shiite religious titles that are not used by Sunnis. We generally think of Shiite Moslems as being mostly from Iran, Iraq and, Lebanon. But Bashar Assad, the embattled leader of Syria, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founded of Pakistan, were Shiites. The Fatimid Caliphate that founded Cairo were Shiites.
Just as Christian countries have people claiming to be Jesus, so there are those claiming to be the Mahdi. After the return of Ayatollah Khomeini to Iran in 1979 came news of the seizure of the Grand Mosque, in Mecca, although the events were unrelated. Hundreds of armed militants took over the mosque, and proclaimed one of their number as the Mahdi. The resulting siege lasted two weeks, and resulted in hundreds of people killed.
This is the Grand Mosque of Kufa, in the Iraqi city of Najaf. This is one of the earliest mosques, which Ali was attending when he was assassinated. The first three scenes are from Google Street View.
There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.0289875,44.4008825,3a,75y,139h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-173WYT08lyI%2FV5OnzwhbulI%2FAAAAAAAAAAg%2FEZjON8b8vHEHpKHBiPD2JTGFqqO5c6DJQCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2F-173WYT08lyI%2FV5OnzwhbulI%2FAAAAAAAAAAg%2FEZjON8b8vHEHpKHBiPD2JTGFqqO5c6DJQCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya277.55292-ro0-fo100%2F!7i10752!8i3692At the other end of Najaf, along Al-Kufa Road, is the Imam Ali Mosque. These four images are from Google Street View.
https://www.google.com/maps/@31.995939,44.3150087,3a,75y,97.22h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMyRfhy1QIDziVqAZWeDg5fB4dETpUXsmW5JxYk!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMyRfhy1QIDziVqAZWeDg5fB4dETpUXsmW5JxYk%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya221.49794-ro0-fo100!7i4608!8i2304This is a general look around the city of Najaf.
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.0074196,44.3486481,3a,75y,140h,100t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMt3wikrg1iI0nGKrDp0NaS55Px6cABjeOAXwuT!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMt3wikrg1iI0nGKrDp0NaS55Px6cABjeOAXwuT%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-10-ya140-ro-0-fo100!7i5660!8i2830There is also the Shrine of Imam Hussein, in the neighboring city of Karbala. These two images are from Google Street View.
Next we go to Iran, to the Shiite holy city of Qom. Unlike the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala, the history of Qom goes back far before the Beginning of Islam, to ancient times. Iran, previously known as Persia, is a very old country and about half of it's total history was before the coming of Islam.
Islam has superseded, but has never completely eradicated, Iran's pre-Islamic past. The new year holiday of No Ruz, for one example, is a pre-Islamic holiday. The way I see it, the Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a reenactment of the Islamic invasion of Iran. The Shah represented the pre-Islamic past, and the ideal example of why is that he held the lavish celebration of the 2500th Anniversary of the Peacock Throne in the ruins of Persepolis. The Revolution, and the arrival of Ayatollah Khomeini from exile, represented a reenactment of the coming of Islam to Iran.
Here is some views of Qom, starting in the Fatima Masumeh Shrine. She was the daughter of one of the Twelve Imams, and the wife of another. Muhammad's daughter was also named Fatima, which is from where the Shiite Fatimid Caliphate that founded Cairo took their name. The first five images are from Google Street View.
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.6420377,50.8795514,3a,75y,222.42h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPvPTNV4ngBtyzWvStr2JDnPv2VtEvxT1WAIa2Q!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPvPTNV4ngBtyzWvStr2JDnPv2VtEvxT1WAIa2Q%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya216.9336-ro0-fo100!7i4608!8i2304Finally, we go far to the northeast or Iran to the Shiite holy city of Mashad. This is where the eighth of the Twelve Imams, Imam Reza, was martyred. Like Qom, the origins of this city go back to ancient times. The best-known sight in this city is the Imam Reza Shrine. If you see a fountain with red water it is, in keeping with the Shiite tradition of colorfulness, symbolic of the blood of martyrs. The first five images are from Google Street View.
