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Muharram

Last Friday, January 19, 2007 was the first of Muharram, the beginning of the New Year according the Muslim Hijri Lunar Calendar. It is also significant because on the 10th of Muharram the Prophet’s grandson, Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib, was martyred at Karbala. The day is know as Ashura, and while commemorated mostly by Shi’ah, Sunnis take part, and the Nizari Isma’iis, because they have a present Imam, do observe the sanctity of the time, but do not commemorate it in any particular way. The famous Anglo-Indian dictionary, Hobson-Jobson, got it’s name from the author mis-hearing the chanting…

On the Caliphate

Tony had mentioned something about the Caliphate in the comments of an earlier post. And it got me thinking about the whole issue of what a call to a “Caliphate” could mean to OBL. Chapati Mystery has a really good post about the contemporary meanings of that term, and it really is a must read. My take was, and is, going to be slightly more historical. However, since they have filled in some of the contemporary background, my post will be abbreviated. [Just one criticism on the line “ some linear descendan[t] of the Fatimids found in a derelict bookstore…

Friedman on Sistani and the Nobel

See here. Friedman, like most commentators, acknowledges Sistani’s Shi’ism, but fails to understand what that means. “People power” as he describes is what the Ithna’shari conception of the state was/is prior to Khomeinism taking center stage. The idea of jurists leading the state, vilayat-e faqih, is a relatively new concept, but it’s already become normative for even op-ed writers who supposedly have the time to be able to think.