Persecution of Shia Muslims
Encyclopedia
The dispute over the right successor to Muhammad
resulted in the formation of two main sects, the Sunni, and the Shia. The Sunni, or followers of the way, followed the caliphate and maintained the premise that any devout Muslim could potentially become the successor to the Prophet if accepted by his peers. The Shia however, maintain that only the person selected by God and announced by the Prophet
could become his successor, thus Imam Ali became the religious authority for the Shia people. Militarily established and holding control over the Umayyad
government, many Sunni rulers perceived the Shia as a threat – both to their political and religious authority.
The Sunni rulers under the Umayyads sought to marginalize the Shia minority and later the Abbasids turned on their Shia allies and further imprisoned, persecuted, and killed Shias. The persecution of Shias throughout history by Sunni co-coreligionists has often been characterized by brutal and genocidal acts. Comprising only around 10-15% of the entire Muslim population, to this day, the Shia remain a marginalized community in many Sunni Arab dominant countries without the rights to practice their religion and organize.
troops to lay siege to Hussein’s caravan.During the Battle of Karbala
, after holding off the Umayyad troops for six grueling days, Hussein and his seventy-two companions were massacred, beheaded, and their heads were sent back to the caliph in Damascus. While Imam Hussein’s martydom ended the prospect of a direct challenge to the Umayyad caliphate, it also made it easier for Shiism to gain ground as a form of moral resistance to the Umayyads and their demands.
"Under the peaceful conditions of life at Alexandria, the Greek philosophers certainty could continue their work. The political ferment in the eastern regions, however, was something else. Muawiyah had appointed al-Mughirah ibn-Shuvah as governor of al-Basrah, and when Mughirah died,Yazid became ruler of Arabia, Iraq, and Persia, ruling through a secret service of 4,000 men. The main purpose of these 4,000 was to unmask the Shiites, and bring them to justice, which in this case meant death. So while peace seems to reign in Damascus, the western half of the empire was soon bathed in blood."
imprisoned and killed Shia Imams and encouraged Sunni ulama to define Sunni orthodoxy and contain the appeal of Shiism. The last decades of the tenth century witnessed anti-Shia violence in and around Baghdad. Shias were attacked in their mosques and during the day of Ashura
processions often being killed or burned alive. In 971 C.E., when Roman *Editing needed, Roman Empire no long existed* forces attacked the Abbasid empire, the first response of the caliph’s forces and angry Sunnis was to blame the Shia. Shia homes in Al-Karkh (Modern-day Iraq) were torched. This pattern of behavior became repetitive and was repeated throughout the centuries to present day. The Shia bore the forefront of popular frustrations with the failures of the Sunni rulers. They were usually treated as the enemy within and were the first to come under suspicion if there was a threat to the ruling Sunni establishment. By the middle of the eleventh-century, it became custom for Sunni mobs to loot the Shia town of al-Khakh every Saturday. These anti-Shia attitudes were further propagated by Sunni jurists of the Hanbali school of thought. Hanbalis labeled Shias as rejectors of the truth.
put Shias to the sword in Anatolia. Thousands of Shias were massacred in the Ottoman Empire, including the Alevis in Turkey, the Alawis in Syria and the Shi'a of Lebanon.
which resulted in the martyrdom of Indian Shia scholars like Qazi Nurullah Shustari
(also known as Shaheed-e-Thaalis, the third Martyr) and Mirza Muhammad Kamil Dehlavi (also known as Shaheed-e- Rabay, the fourth Martyr) who are two of the five martyrs of Shia Islam
.
Shias also faced persecution in India
in Kashmir
for centuries, by the Sunni invaders of the region which resulted in massacre of many Shias and as a result most of them had to flee the region.
Shias in Kashmir
in subsequent years had to pass through the most atrocious period of their history. Plunder, loot and massacres which came to be known as ‘Taarajs’ virtually devastated the community. History records 10 such Taarajs also known as ‘Taraj-e-Shia’ between 15th to 19th century in 1548, 1585, 1635, 1686, 1719, 1741, 1762, 1801, 1830, 1872 during which the Shia habitations were plundered, people slaughtered, libraries burnt and their sacred sites desecrated. Such was the reign of terror during this period that the community widely went into the practice of Taqya
in order to preserve their lives and the honor of their womenfolk.
Village after village disappeared, with community members either migrating to safety further north or dissolving in the majority faith. The persecution suffered by Shias in Kashmir during the successive foreign rules was not new for the community. Many of the standard bearers of Shia’ism, like Sa’adaat
or the descendants of the Prophet Mohammad and other missionaries who played a key role in spread of the faith in Kashmir, had left their home lands forced by similar situations.
, the Wahabi rulers limit Shia political participation to a game of notables. These notables benefit from their ties to power and in turn, are expected to control their community. Saudi Shias are a minority comprising only about 7%, and 2 million out of 28 million Saudis (estimate 2012). Although some live in Medina
(known as the Nakhawila
), Mecca
, and even Riyadh
, the majority are concentrated in the oases of al-Hasa
and Qatif
in the oil-rich areas of the Eastern Province. For years, they have faced religious and economic discrimination because they’re viewed as Iran
ian puppets. They have usually been denounced as heretics, traitors, and non-Muslims. Shias were accused of sabotage, most notably for bombing oil pipelines in 1988. A number of Shias were even executed. In response to Iran’s militancy, the Saudi government collectively punished the Shia community in Saudi Arabia by placing restrictions on their freedoms and marginalizing them economically. Wahabi ulama were given the green light to sanction violence against the Shia. What followed were fatwas passed by the country’s leading cleric, Abdul-Aziz ibn Baz which denounced the Shias as apostates. Another by Adul-Rahman al-Jibrin, a member of the Higher Council of Ulama even sanctioned the killing of Shias. This call was reiterated in Wahabi religious literature as late as 2002.
Unlike Iraq
and Lebanon
which have a sizable number of wealthy Shia, Saudi Arabia has nothing resembling Shia elite of any kind. There have been no Shia cabinet ministers. They are kept out of critical jobs in the armed forces and the security services. There are no Shia mayors or police chiefs, and not one of the three hundred Shia girls’ schools in the Eastern Province has a Shia principal.
The government has restricted the names that Shias can use for their children in an attempt to discourage them from showing their identity. Saudi textbooks, criticized for their anti-Semitism
, are equally hostile to Shiism often characterizing the faith as a form of heresy worse than Christianity
and Judaism
. Wahabi teachers frequently tell classrooms full of young Shia schoolchildren that they are heretics.
In the town of Dammam, a quarter of whose residents are Shia Ashura
is banned, and there is no distinctly Shia call to prayer. There is no Shia cemetery for the nearly quarter of the 600,000 Shias that live there. There is only one mosque for the town’s 150,000 Shias. The Saudi government has often been viewed as an active oppressor of Shias because of the funding of the Wahabi ideology which denounces the Shia faith.
In March 2011, police opened fire on protesters in Qatif
, and after Shia unrest in October 2011 the Saudi government promised to crushed any further trouble in the eastern province with "an iron fist."
writes that
at the end of the eighteenth century.
According to Yitzhak Nakash, the invasion and conquest led by the Al Khalifa family in 1783 started an illegitimate occupation, establishing a system of "political apartheid based on racial, sectarian, and tribal discrimination."
According to Vali Nasr
, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
the Sunni élite treats Shi'ites as an underclass, limiting them primarily to manual labor and denying them a fair share of state resources. "For Shi'ites, Sunni rule has been like living under apartheid."
, Yitzhak Nakash, Counterpunch, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
, etc.) to have used the term “apartheid” in describing it.
Ameen Izzadeen writing in the Daily Mirror asserts that
The Christian Science Monitor describes Bahrain as practicing
.
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
resulted in the formation of two main sects, the Sunni, and the Shia. The Sunni, or followers of the way, followed the caliphate and maintained the premise that any devout Muslim could potentially become the successor to the Prophet if accepted by his peers. The Shia however, maintain that only the person selected by God and announced by the Prophet
Eid al-Ghadeer
Eid al-Ghadeer is a festive day observed by Shia Muslims on the 18th of Dhu al-Hijjah in the Islamic calendar to commemorate the appointment of Ali ibn Abi Talib by the Islamic prophet Muhammad as his immediate successor...
could become his successor, thus Imam Ali became the religious authority for the Shia people. Militarily established and holding control over the Umayyad
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
government, many Sunni rulers perceived the Shia as a threat – both to their political and religious authority.
The Sunni rulers under the Umayyads sought to marginalize the Shia minority and later the Abbasids turned on their Shia allies and further imprisoned, persecuted, and killed Shias. The persecution of Shias throughout history by Sunni co-coreligionists has often been characterized by brutal and genocidal acts. Comprising only around 10-15% of the entire Muslim population, to this day, the Shia remain a marginalized community in many Sunni Arab dominant countries without the rights to practice their religion and organize.
Persecution under Umayyads
The grandson of Muhammad, Imam Hussein, refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the caliphate of Yazid. Soon after in 680 C.E., Yazid sent thousands of UmayyadUmayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
troops to lay siege to Hussein’s caravan.During the Battle of Karbala
Battle of Karbala
The Battle of Karbala took place on Muharram 10, in the year 61 of the Islamic calendar in Karbala, in present day Iraq. On one side of the highly uneven battle were a small group of supporters and relatives of Muhammad's grandson Husain ibn Ali, and on the other was a large military detachment...
, after holding off the Umayyad troops for six grueling days, Hussein and his seventy-two companions were massacred, beheaded, and their heads were sent back to the caliph in Damascus. While Imam Hussein’s martydom ended the prospect of a direct challenge to the Umayyad caliphate, it also made it easier for Shiism to gain ground as a form of moral resistance to the Umayyads and their demands.
"Under the peaceful conditions of life at Alexandria, the Greek philosophers certainty could continue their work. The political ferment in the eastern regions, however, was something else. Muawiyah had appointed al-Mughirah ibn-Shuvah as governor of al-Basrah, and when Mughirah died,Yazid became ruler of Arabia, Iraq, and Persia, ruling through a secret service of 4,000 men. The main purpose of these 4,000 was to unmask the Shiites, and bring them to justice, which in this case meant death. So while peace seems to reign in Damascus, the western half of the empire was soon bathed in blood."
Persecution under Abbasids (750-1258)
The Abbasid caliphs who ruled from BaghdadBaghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
imprisoned and killed Shia Imams and encouraged Sunni ulama to define Sunni orthodoxy and contain the appeal of Shiism. The last decades of the tenth century witnessed anti-Shia violence in and around Baghdad. Shias were attacked in their mosques and during the day of Ashura
Day of Ashura
The Day of Ashura is on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram.It is commemorated by Shia Muslims as a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala on 10...
processions often being killed or burned alive. In 971 C.E., when Roman *Editing needed, Roman Empire no long existed* forces attacked the Abbasid empire, the first response of the caliph’s forces and angry Sunnis was to blame the Shia. Shia homes in Al-Karkh (Modern-day Iraq) were torched. This pattern of behavior became repetitive and was repeated throughout the centuries to present day. The Shia bore the forefront of popular frustrations with the failures of the Sunni rulers. They were usually treated as the enemy within and were the first to come under suspicion if there was a threat to the ruling Sunni establishment. By the middle of the eleventh-century, it became custom for Sunni mobs to loot the Shia town of al-Khakh every Saturday. These anti-Shia attitudes were further propagated by Sunni jurists of the Hanbali school of thought. Hanbalis labeled Shias as rejectors of the truth.
Persecution during Siege Baghdad
After the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258, violence against Shias became more frequent, reminiscent of blaming Shias for external problems.Persecution under Seljuk/Ottoman Empire
In response to the growth of Shiism and the growing influence of the Safavids, the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
put Shias to the sword in Anatolia. Thousands of Shias were massacred in the Ottoman Empire, including the Alevis in Turkey, the Alawis in Syria and the Shi'a of Lebanon.
Persecution in India
Shias in India faced persecution by some Sunni rulers and Mughal EmperorsMughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
which resulted in the martyrdom of Indian Shia scholars like Qazi Nurullah Shustari
Qazi Nurullah Shustari
Qazi Nurullah Shustari also known as Shaheed-e-Salis was an eminent jurist and scholar of his time, 1542 A.D.-1610/11. Qazi Nurullah Shustari also known as Shaheed-e-Salis (third martyr) was an eminent jurist (faqih) and scholar (alim) of his time, 1542 A.D.-1610/11. Qazi Nurullah Shustari ...
(also known as Shaheed-e-Thaalis, the third Martyr) and Mirza Muhammad Kamil Dehlavi (also known as Shaheed-e- Rabay, the fourth Martyr) who are two of the five martyrs of Shia Islam
Five Martyrs of Shia Islam
The Five Martyrs were five ulema of Shi'i Islam, living in different spans of history, who were executed by the Sunni regimes. The Shia remember them by the term Five Martyrs, and Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Hussain Najafi wrote a book Shuhada-e Khamsa kay Halaat-e Zindagi "Biographies of the Five...
.
Shias also faced persecution in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
for centuries, by the Sunni invaders of the region which resulted in massacre of many Shias and as a result most of them had to flee the region.
Shias in Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
in subsequent years had to pass through the most atrocious period of their history. Plunder, loot and massacres which came to be known as ‘Taarajs’ virtually devastated the community. History records 10 such Taarajs also known as ‘Taraj-e-Shia’ between 15th to 19th century in 1548, 1585, 1635, 1686, 1719, 1741, 1762, 1801, 1830, 1872 during which the Shia habitations were plundered, people slaughtered, libraries burnt and their sacred sites desecrated. Such was the reign of terror during this period that the community widely went into the practice of Taqya
Taqiyya
Taqiyya , meaning religious dissimulation, is a practice emphasized in Shi'a Islam whereby adherents may conceal their religion when they are under threat, persecution, or compulsion...
in order to preserve their lives and the honor of their womenfolk.
Village after village disappeared, with community members either migrating to safety further north or dissolving in the majority faith. The persecution suffered by Shias in Kashmir during the successive foreign rules was not new for the community. Many of the standard bearers of Shia’ism, like Sa’adaat
Sayyid
Sayyid is an honorific title, it denotes males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali, sons of the prophet's daughter Fatima Zahra and his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib.Daughters of sayyids are given the titles Sayyida,...
or the descendants of the Prophet Mohammad and other missionaries who played a key role in spread of the faith in Kashmir, had left their home lands forced by similar situations.
Persecution in China
Most foreign slaves in Xinjiang were Shia Ismaili Mountain Tajiks of china, they were referred to by Sunni turkic muslims as Ghalcha, and subjected to enslavement because they were different from the Sunni Turkic inhabitants. Shia Muslims were sold as slaves in Khotan. The Muslims in Xinjiang ignored Islamic rules, selling and buying Muslims as slaves.Saudi Arabia
In modern day Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, the Wahabi rulers limit Shia political participation to a game of notables. These notables benefit from their ties to power and in turn, are expected to control their community. Saudi Shias are a minority comprising only about 7%, and 2 million out of 28 million Saudis (estimate 2012). Although some live in Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
(known as the Nakhawila
Nakhawila
The Nakhawila are a community of Arab Hijazi Shias who live in the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia. They are Twelver Shi'a ; a branch of Shia Islam that forms majority...
), Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
, and even Riyadh
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
, the majority are concentrated in the oases of al-Hasa
Al-Hasa
Al-Ahsa is the largest governorate in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, named after Al-Ahsa oasis. The name Al-Ahsa is also given to the biggest city in the region, Hofuf. In classic Arabic, Ahsa means the sound of water underground. It has one of the largest oases in the world with Date Palms of...
and Qatif
Qatif
Qatif or Al-Qatif is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the east to King Fahd International Airport in the west...
in the oil-rich areas of the Eastern Province. For years, they have faced religious and economic discrimination because they’re viewed as Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian puppets. They have usually been denounced as heretics, traitors, and non-Muslims. Shias were accused of sabotage, most notably for bombing oil pipelines in 1988. A number of Shias were even executed. In response to Iran’s militancy, the Saudi government collectively punished the Shia community in Saudi Arabia by placing restrictions on their freedoms and marginalizing them economically. Wahabi ulama were given the green light to sanction violence against the Shia. What followed were fatwas passed by the country’s leading cleric, Abdul-Aziz ibn Baz which denounced the Shias as apostates. Another by Adul-Rahman al-Jibrin, a member of the Higher Council of Ulama even sanctioned the killing of Shias. This call was reiterated in Wahabi religious literature as late as 2002.
Unlike Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
which have a sizable number of wealthy Shia, Saudi Arabia has nothing resembling Shia elite of any kind. There have been no Shia cabinet ministers. They are kept out of critical jobs in the armed forces and the security services. There are no Shia mayors or police chiefs, and not one of the three hundred Shia girls’ schools in the Eastern Province has a Shia principal.
The government has restricted the names that Shias can use for their children in an attempt to discourage them from showing their identity. Saudi textbooks, criticized for their anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
, are equally hostile to Shiism often characterizing the faith as a form of heresy worse than Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. Wahabi teachers frequently tell classrooms full of young Shia schoolchildren that they are heretics.
In the town of Dammam, a quarter of whose residents are Shia Ashura
Day of Ashura
The Day of Ashura is on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram.It is commemorated by Shia Muslims as a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala on 10...
is banned, and there is no distinctly Shia call to prayer. There is no Shia cemetery for the nearly quarter of the 600,000 Shias that live there. There is only one mosque for the town’s 150,000 Shias. The Saudi government has often been viewed as an active oppressor of Shias because of the funding of the Wahabi ideology which denounces the Shia faith.
In March 2011, police opened fire on protesters in Qatif
Qatif
Qatif or Al-Qatif is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the east to King Fahd International Airport in the west...
, and after Shia unrest in October 2011 the Saudi government promised to crushed any further trouble in the eastern province with "an iron fist."
Apartheid
Saudi Arabia is often accused of practicing apartheid against its Shia citizens. Mohammad TaqiMohammad Taqi
Mohammad-Taqi , also spelled as Muhammad Taqi or Mohammad Taghi is a common name among Muslims, specially Shia Muslims. It may refer to the following:*Muhammad al-Taqi , the 9th Shia Imam...
writes that
Bahrain
Over 70% of the population of Bahrain are Shia Muslims. The ruling Al Khalifa family, who are Sunni Muslim, arrived in Bahrain from KuwaitKuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
at the end of the eighteenth century.
According to Yitzhak Nakash, the invasion and conquest led by the Al Khalifa family in 1783 started an illegitimate occupation, establishing a system of "political apartheid based on racial, sectarian, and tribal discrimination."
According to Vali Nasr
Vali Nasr
Vali Nasr is a leading expert on Middle East and Islamic world, a best-selling author, influential commentator and Professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings Institution, and a columnist for...
, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
the Sunni élite treats Shi'ites as an underclass, limiting them primarily to manual labor and denying them a fair share of state resources. "For Shi'ites, Sunni rule has been like living under apartheid."
2011 uprising
An estimated 1000 Bahrainis have been detained since the uprising and Bahraini and international human rights groups have documented hundreds of cases of torture and abuse of Shia detainees. According to csmonitor.org, the government has gone beyond the crushing of political dissent to what "appears" to be an attempt to "psychologically humiliating the island’s Shiite majority into silent submission."Apartheid
Discrimination against Shia Muslims in Bahrain is severe and systematic enough for a number of sources (Time magazine, Vali NasrVali Nasr
Vali Nasr is a leading expert on Middle East and Islamic world, a best-selling author, influential commentator and Professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings Institution, and a columnist for...
, Yitzhak Nakash, Counterpunch, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights is a Bahraini non-profit non-governmental organisation which works to promote human rights in Bahrain, which was founded by a number of Bahraini activist in June 2002...
, etc.) to have used the term “apartheid” in describing it.
Ameen Izzadeen writing in the Daily Mirror asserts that
The Christian Science Monitor describes Bahrain as practicing
Afghanistan
Violence among Pashtuns between Shiite minoritiesShi'a Islam in Afghanistan
Shi'a Islam in Afghanistan makes up 10-19% of the total population of the state, while the remaining 80-89% practice Sunni Islam.Many of the Pamir language speakers of the northeastern portion of the country are followers of the Nizari Ismaili sect, while majority of the Hazara people, the third...
.