Yesterday both Blackstar and Abu_Muqawama posted on the UK’s attempt to open up lines of communication with Hezbollah. I don’t think its signifigant and I participated in a long 91 comment discussion at Mr. Muqawama’s site which was quite good until about the last 40 when the whackjobism of a few individuals……
Anyway, speaking of Hezbollah, I recommend this article on Lebanese Shias at Islam Online, which seems to have recently expanded its coverage of Shias. Readers might be wondering why this is significant? It’s because Islam Online is affiliated with Sunni cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi so its pretty much an exclusive Sunni organization. It’s office is in Cairo, all the employees there are Sunni, and Sheikh Al-Qaradawi caused a controversy when he made some_negative_comments about the Shia last September. One thing that has always stuck out (at least to me) is that the section on Islamist movements totally ignores Shia groups. But during the last week I’ve noticed two articles on the Shia ( also see here) whereas I can’t remember reading any before. Is this some kind of attempt by Sheikh Al-Qaradawi to repair relations with the Shia? Or am I reading way too much into it? If anyone knows, I’d be interested in hearing.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | Hezbollah, Islam, Lebanon, qaradawi, Sadr, Shia
