SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- A series of bomb attacks across Iraq has killed at least 12 people, most of them Shia pilgrims, officials say.  The worst incident was north of the capital, Baghdad, where two bombs, minutes apart, claimed the lives of at least seven pilgrims travelling to a shrine in the city of Samarra. Four more Shia pilgrims were killed in an attack in Hilla, south of Baghdad. No-one has claimed responsibility but Sunni insurgents have been blamed for the recent violence in Iraq.

Relations between the Sunni community and Shia-dominated government are becoming increasingly strained. Sunni activists have been staging demonstrations against what they believe is discriminatory treatment by the government. Although sectarian violence has decreased in Iraq since the height of the insurgency in 2006 and 2007, attacks are still common.

On Wednesday 42 people were killed in bombings - the deadliest day of the year so far. Also on Wednesday, hundreds of people attended the funeral of a Sunni MP, Eifan Saadoun al-Issawi, a prominent member of the Awakening Council, which has been seen as a key factor in reducing sectarian violence.

Council members have often by targeted by Sunni militants linked to al-Qaeda. as BBC reported

AP reported : Insurgents unleashed a string of bomb attacks mainly targeting Shiite Muslim pilgrims across Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 22 people and extending a wave of deadly bloodshed into a second day. The eruption of violence follows nearly two weeks of relative calm, and threatens to enflame rising tensions among Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian groups.The worst attack took place near Dujail, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad, where a pair of car bombs exploded near pilgrims who were traveling on foot to a shrine in the town of Samarra.

The head of the Salahuddin provincial health directorate, Raed Ibrahim, said 11 people were killed and more than 60 were wounded in that attack.“We heard thunderous explosions, and everybody went outside and saw burning cars and several bodies on the ground. Market stalls on both sides of the road were on fire,” said Naseer Hadi, who works in the Dujail post office.The pilgrims were heading to Samarra to commemorate the death of two prominent Shiite Imams who are buried in the al-Askari shrine there.

A 2006 bombing at the gold-domed shrine that was blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq set off years of retaliatory bloodshed between Sunni and Shiite extremists that left thousands of Iraqis dead and pushed the country to the brink of civil war.The attacks in Dujail came hours after a car bomb struck a bus carrying foreign pilgrims near the southern Shiite holy city of Karbala. Four people were killed and 12 were wounded in that attack, according to police and hospital officials.

The explosion tore through the undercarriage and blew out most of the windows of the white and blue tour bus that got hit. Nusaif al-Kitabi, deputy chairman of the Karbala provincial council, said the bus was carrying pilgrims from Afghanistan.

In the town of Qassim, 125 kilometers (78 miles) south of Baghdad, a parked car bomb exploded near a bus stop, killing five people and wounding 20. The casualties included Shiite pilgrims who were heading to Karbala, said police and hospital officials.

Shiite pilgrims are a favorite target for Sunni insurgents who seek to undermine the country’s Shiite-led government and provoke a return to sectarian fighting.

In northeastern Baghdad, a roadside bomb apparently meant to hit an army patrol missed its target and struck a civilian car, killing 2 passengers and wounding two others, said police and hospital officials. Like most other officials, they spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to reporters.

Thursday’s bloodshed comes a day after a wave of attacks killed at least 33 people across Iraq in the country’s deadliest day in more than a month.

The worst of Wednesday’s attacks struck in the northern city of Kirkuk, where a car bomb hit outside the offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, killing 19. The KDP is led by Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdish region, who has frequently sparred with the central government in Baghdad.

Reuters Reported :

More than 35 people died in a suicide attack and other bombings in northern Iraq and Baghdad on Wednesday, worsening sectarian strife as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki faces mounting pressure from minority Sunni Muslims and Kurds.

Shoppers and police helped drag bloodied survivors out of the rubble and wrecked vehicles after a car bomb and a suicide bomber in a truck set off huge blasts in Kirkuk, near the local headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

Maliki, a Shi'ite Muslim, is locked in a feud with ethnic Kurds in autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan over disputed oilfields and is also confronting Sunni protesters in a western province calling for him to step down.

"A suicide bomber driving a truck packed with explosives detonated the vehicle outside the KDP headquarters. It's a crowded area; dozens were killed and wounded," Police Brigadier Sarhat Qadir told Reuters in Kirkuk.

Local Kirkuk health officials and police said at least 25 people were killed and more than 180 were wounded.

Another five people died and 37 more were wounded in another bombing outside a rival Kurdish political party office in Tuz Khurmato, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad.

Roadside bombs and gun attacks in Baghdad and Baiji, north of the capital, killed seven policemen and soldiers.

A year after the last U.S. troops left, Iraq's government of Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish parties is mired in a crisis over how to share power, increasing worries that the OPEC member state may relapse into wide-scale sectarian bloodshed

POLITICAL TURMOIL

Violence and unrest are compounding concern that the conflict in neighbouring Syria, where mainly Sunni rebels are fighting Shi'ite Iran's ally President Bashar al-Assad, will upset Iraq's own delicate sectarian and ethnic balance.

Wednesday's attacks came a day after a suicide bomber killed an influential Sunni Muslim lawmaker in the west of Iraq, where thousands of Sunni protesters have been holding mass demonstrations against Maliki.

Sunni turmoil erupted in late December after state officials arrested members of a Sunni finance minister's security team on terrorism charges. Authorities denied the arrests were political, but Sunni leaders saw them as a crackdown.

Since the fall of Sunni strongman Saddam Hussein after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, many Sunnis feel they have been marginalised by the leadership of the Shi'ite majority.

Maliki's National Alliance Shi'ite coalition and Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc held preliminary talks in parliament on Wednesday in attempt to defuse the crisis by addressing the demands of the demonstrations.

"We have to admit that we have a tough job ahead to reach common ground," Ali al-Shallah, a lawmaker with Maliki's alliance. "All the blocs agree to allow time for the government to review protest demands; that's one step."

Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani, a prominent Shi'ite who heads the committee investigating protest demands, said the government had so far freed more 400 detainees held under anti-terrorism laws as a concession.

But protesters want detainees released, a modification of terrorism laws and more control over a campaign against former members of Saddam's outlawed Baath party, a measure they believe is being used unfairly to sideline their leaders.

Violence in Iraq is down since the height of sectarian bloodletting in 2006-2007, when thousands were killed. But last year witnessed a rise in deaths for the first time in three years with more than 4,400 people killed in attacks.

Source : BBC , AP , Reuters

End

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- More than 20 people have been injured in the incident in the Mastung district of Baluchistan province.

Pakistan has experienced worsening sectarian violence in recent years. Last month 23 Shia Muslims were killed by a bomb in the city of Rawalpindi.

No group has yet said it carried out Sunday's bombing.

Initial reports said it had been detonated by remote control but a government official said it had been a suicide attack.

Officials said that some of those injured were in a critical condition and that the death toll may rise.

The bus convoy had reportedly been on their way to neighbouring Iran, a Shia-majority country and popular pilgrimage destination.

www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association)-

wondering hajj pilgrims

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SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — More than three million white-clad pilgrims continued Saturday, October 27, the symbolic stone of devil in the final leg of the spiritual journey of hajj.

“I managed to throw pebbles at Jamrat al-Aqaba early in the morning when the place wasn’t so crowded,” Malaysian pilgrim Abdullah Noor, 47, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Chanting “Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest),” massive crowds of pilgrims advanced in waves around Jamrat al-Aqaba, the largest of three adjacent pillars, pleting Jamrat Al-Aqabah.

Pilgrims hurl seven pebbles from behind a fence or from an overhead bridge every day for three days at each of the three 18-meter (58-foot) high concrete pillars symbolizing the devil.

“My feelings are a mixture of happiness and sadness,” said Noor.

“I’m happy because I managed to reach this holy land -- a dream I have had for years,” he said.

“But I’m sad because I couldn’t bring my family with me.”

Satan appeared on the same site to Prophet Abraham, son Isma`il and wife Hagar, who each threw seven stones at the devil.

After the stoning ceremony, the pilgrims go to Makkah for Tawaf Al-Wadaa.

Muslims from around the world pour to Makkah every year to e perform hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam.

Hajj consists of several ceremonies, which are meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith, and to commemorate the trials of Prophet Abraham and his family.

Every able-bodied adult Muslim who can financially afford the trip must perform hajj at least once in a lifetime.

Muslims who perform hajj properly return to their homes having all their sins washed way as promised by Prophet Muhammad.

Divine Forgiveness

Many pilgrims are feeling spiritual satisfaction after fulfilling the life-time journey.

“This is the time to atone for the sins committed over the years,” Daud Baev, a 65-year-old Kazakh, told AFP.

Malik Evangelatos, a Muslim pilgrim from Ukiah, California., is feeling “wonderful, satisfying and humble” after hajj.

“It has probably been the highlight of my life outside of getting married and having a baby,” he said.

He said the simple pilgrim’s garment that he had worn the past few days helped him “see the bigger picture in life and go back changed, happy and appreciative.”

“You feel an emotional release,” said Evangelatos, who reverted to Islam six years ago.

“It is something that is not recreated anywhere else in the world.”

Pilgrims endure the hardships they face in hajj for the sake of forgiveness from Allah.

“You feel obedient to Allah,” Ahmed Fahmy, the general manager of the Cairo-based Islamic Huda TV, who performed his 11th hajj, said.

“I feel like it’s something that is entirely for the pleasure of Allah.”— www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: On Islam

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Muslim pilgrims are descending in droves on Mecca for the hajj pilgrimage, which Saudi Arabia insists will not be affected by instability rocking the region.

The annual Islamic pilgrimage, which officially begins on Thursday, October 25, draws three million visitors each year, making it the largest annual gathering of people in the world.

Hajj is among the five pillars of Islam and is required of all able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime.

www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Seeking forgiveness from Allah, thousands of Muslim pilgrims have poured into the holy city of Makkah to perform the life-time journey of hajj.

"It's my first time in Makkah for pilgrimage,” 32-year-old Koara Abdulrahman, a businessman from Burkina Faso, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday, October 21.

“I can't wait to pray in `Arafat.”

Chanting “Allahu Akbar”, hundreds of thousands of Muslims have gathered in Makkah to perform hajj, due to start on Wednesday, October 24.

Walking in groups, the faithful, mostly led by guides with their countries’ flags printed on their garments, moved to perform `Umrah (minor pilgrimage) ahead of the major hajj rituals.

Other pilgrims circumambulate the cube-shaped Ka`aba – in which direction Muslims worldwide pray.

Others push their way through the crowds to kiss the Black Stone, which was built by Prophet Ibrahim, while many pray or recite verses of the Noble Qur’an.

"Right now, I've got all the good feelings you can think of," said an Iranian pilgrim, her voice quivering and tears welling up in her eyes.

Saudi authorities said more than 1.6 million foreign pilgrims have already arrived and the numbers are set to grow by Wednesday.

Around 750,000 domestic pilgrims are also expected to take part in the rituals.

Despite several checkpoints on the roads leading to Makkah to prevent illegal pilgrims, huge numbers of unauthorized devotees also join the hajj every year.

One of the five pillars of Islam, hajj consists of several ceremonies meant to commemorate the trials of Prophet Abraham and his family.

Every able-bodied adult Muslim who can financially afford the trip must perform hajj at least once in a lifetime.

Hajj starts on the eighth day of the lunar month of Dhul Hijjah, which falls this year on October 24.

Calm Hajj

Saudi officials say that this year’s hajj will not be affected by the turmoil in the Middle East.

"I don't expect pilgrims or the pilgrimage to be affected by what is taking place elsewhere, whether Syria or any other place," Saudi interior minister Prince Ahmad bin Abdul Aziz told reporters.

When asked if pro-regime Syrians could infiltrate the pilgrims coming into the kingdom, which has repeatedly voiced support for the Syrian opposition, and cause trouble, he said that "those coming to hajj are Muslims and Muslims would not hurt one another, especially not during hajj."

However, such an act "would have very bad effects," he warned.

"Whoever tries to use hajj for political aims will be sent back home."

The minister also said that Saudi Arabia is not worried that Iranian pilgrims would cause any trouble during hajj.

"We don't expect any" unrest to be caused by Iranians,” Prince Ahmad said.

Iranian pilgrims annually stage a "repudiation of polytheists" rally, a ritual promoted by the late Islamic republic's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to denounce the West and Israel.

In 1987, police attempts to stifle the anti-US and anti-Israeli demonstration sparked clashes in which 402 people died, including 275 Iranians.

Iranian pilgrims have since held their rallies in tents without provoking clashes with security forces in the Sunni-dominated kingdom.

"The Iranians have assured us that they are as concerned about the comfort of pilgrims as we are," Prince Ahmad said.— www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: On Islam

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Aspiring to join millions of fellow Muslims in fulfilling the spiritual journey, hundreds of Burmese pilgrims have gathered at Yangon International Airport to fly to the holy lands in Saudi Arabia for performing hajj.

“Thanks to Allah, I am going on Hajj,” U Myint Swe from Ayeyarwady Region told The Myanmar Times on Monday, October 15.

“This is my third time and this time it is for my father.”

Swe was among the first group of Burmese pilgrims to the country for the holy city of Makkah.

Both Qatar Airways and Myanmar International Airways operated charter flights from Yangon to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, with the first departing on October 10.

A spokesperson from the Immigration Department said pilgrims began to form groups at the airport.

“The airport isn’t large enough to accommodate such a crowd, so we assembled the group near the arrivals hall,” he said.

The airport was overcrowded with many of the pilgrims’ relatives coming to bid them farewell.

“My family came with me to the airport, which is very crowded today,” Swe said.

Muslims from around the world pour into Makkah every year to perform hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam.

Hajj consists of several rituals, which are meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith, and to commemorate the trials of Prophet Abraham and his family.

Every able-bodied adult Muslim who can financially afford the trip must perform hajj at least once in a lifetime.

Hajj starts on the eighth day of the lunar month of Dhul Hijjah, which falls this year on October 24.

Most pilgrims come earlier to visit the holy mosques in Makkah and nearby Madinah, where Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) was buried over 1,400 years ago.

Challenges

Going to fulfil the spiritual journey, many Burmese pilgrims wish to overcome last year’s problems with hajj visas.

U Soe Myint, who flew to Makkah with Qatar Airways on October 12, said he missed out on a hajj visa last year.

“I was refunded half the money I spent last year so I used a different travel agency this year,” he said.

Increasing from about $4000-$4500 in 2011, hajj packages this year cost K3.8 million to K5 million (US$4442 to $5844).

Last year, some pilgrims reported having to pay agents an additional K3 million ($3506) for visa, even though the Saudi embassy in Yangon issues the visas free of charge.

Hajj pilgrim committee representative for Ayeyarwady Region, U Soe Myint, said those who paid for a hajj package in 2011 but were not able to secure a visa did not receive refunds in full.

“Some tour agencies gave back only half or one-third of the fees paid,” he said.

Missing hajj visas, thousands of Muslims were left “broken-hearted” when they were unable to perform the life-time journey.

The Saudi embassy has taken some steps to improve the process this year, including compiling a list of official hajj travel agents.

Burma’s Muslims, mainly of Rohingyas ethnic minority, number upwards of five percent of the nation's more than 50 million people.

Rohingyas, ethnic-Bengali Muslims, have long suffered from discrimination and a catalogue of abuse in Burma.

An amendment to the citizenship laws in 1982 has deprived them of citizenship and made them illegal immigrants in their own home.

Beside the Rohingyas, there are the Indian-descended Muslims who live in Yangon and ethnic-Chinese Muslims, known as the Panthay.— www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: On Islam

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Senior Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi says the abductors are responsible for the safety of the kidnapped Iranian pilgrims in Syria.

“The kidnappers are responsible for the safety and lives of the Iranian pilgrims,” chairman of Iran’s Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said in a meeting with Turkish ambassador to Tehran Umit Yardim on Sunday.

Boroujerdi emphasized on the necessity of the release of the Iranian hostages in Syria, saying that any unconventional act by their abductors will have consequences.

The Iranian lawmaker also thanked the Turkish government for its efforts to release the Iranian hostages saying that abducting innocent pilgrims aggravates unrest in the region.

Yardim, for his part, called the abduction of the Iranian pilgrims in Syria “inhumane” stressing that the Turkish government “will continue its efforts for the release of Iranian pilgrims.”

On August 4, 48 Iranian pilgrims who were traveling on a bus from the Damascus International Airport to the shrine of Hazrat Zainab (AS) on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, were abducted by foreign-backed members of the terrorist Free Syrian Army (FSA).

In a video aired by the Saudi-owned television network Al-Arabiya this week, the insurgents threatened to kill all of the Iranian abductees if the Syrian government did not release captured anti-government insurgents and if it did not stop operations against armed groups in the country within 48 hours.

Iran’s Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee has invited Syrian, Turkish and Qatari ambassadors to Tehran to discuss the issue of the Iranian abductees in Syria in a meeting with the committee members.— www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Saudi Arabian officials have deported 241 Nigerian women from the annual hajj pilgrimage, and are threatening to send back hundreds of others said to be travelling without male chaperones, prompting a diplomatic row between the two countries.

Nigerian officials responsible for organising the hajj said three planes were turned back from the Saudi city of Medina, while a further 1,000 women were held in detention centres in Mecca, some for up to five days. Under Saudi law, women are minors who require permission from a male relative to work, leave the country or, in some cases, receive medical treatment.

But Nigeria's Saudi ambassador, Abubakar Shehu Bunu, said it had been agreed Nigerians could perform the rites as long as they were accompanied by local officials once they were in Saudi Arabia. Bunu has lodged a formal complaint with Saudi authorities.

Many of the women who were sent back arrived in tears, some carrying babies strapped to their backs. "We are all so sad. I used my last savings to top up what my cousin provided to pay for a hajj seat, only to be treated like infidels who are not fellow Muslims," said Halima Muhammad, who spent two days in a detention centre.

"From the airport we were all rounded up and taken to a facility that is not fit for humans. No one offered us anything, we had only water and slept on bare floors," she said by phone from Katsina. Others said they spent hours in darkened planes and were sent back without disembarking.

Many Africans save for years to scrape together the £3,000 fee; rich Muslim philanthropists and politicians sponsor pilgrims each year. Approximately half of Nigeria's 160-million strong population practise Islam, making it Africa's most populous Muslim country. But women are generally free to move around on their own, even in stricter northern states that practise sharia law. All Muslims who can afford it are required to perform the hajj at least once in their lifetime, according to the five pillars of Islam.

Relations between the two oil-producing countries have been strained over the hajj in recent years. A Nigerian hajj official said some of the deported women had gone with male chaperones. "Their crime was that some boarded different aircrafts to the men who were supposed to lead them in. So some of them disembarked from the aircraft at different times to the men," the official said.

Last year, Saudi Arabia said it had deported several thousand undocumented Nigerians from the country over a one-year period. The hajj visa allows visitors to stay up to 45 days, though the rites do not normally take more than four days to complete.

Saudi's interior ministry says that it deports more than 700,000 foreign nationals each year, including more than 20,000 who overstay their visas after arriving for the hajj.

Nigerian Lawan Kaita, a Muslim leader from the city of Katsina and former governor, said Muslim elders in the city were calling for a "strong response from Muslims across the world". "It's a slap in the face for Nigeria and all Muslims. Saudi Arabia has the privilege of being hosts, but it shouldn't stop others from coming to do the hajj," he said.

Other African countries have faced similar woes in organising their citizens. Egypt's foreign ministry reported 12 citizens were deported daily during the pilgrimage last year. In Ivory Coast, authorities overfilled their quota last year, eventually leaving several hundred unable to undertake the trip.

Around 2 million visitors will perform the hajj this year, with Saudi Arabia rejecting requests from 40 countries around the world to increase their quotas. Each Muslim country can send 1,000 pilgrims per million citizens— www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Guardian

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) —  More than 173,000 pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia by the end of Friday to perform Hajj, Saudi News Agency reported Sunday.

More than 109,000 pilgrims arrived by air, while 54,000 by sea and 10,000 by land, the news agency quoted Director General of Passports Department Salem bin Mohammed Al-Bilaihid as saying.

Hajj Minister Bandar bin Mohammad Al-Hajar revealed last week that Saudi Arabia is expecting 1.8 million pilgrims from abroad this season.

"We have well studied our plans which would be implemented within organized schedule (to deal with Hajj season)," the minister said.—www.shafaqna.com/English

Source: Abna