Shia Islam | Shiite Muslims
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Ralph Ghadban on Iran"The Islamic Republic is rooted in society"
Whether through appeasement or escalation, the West keeps making the same mistake with Iran, argues Islamic studies scholar Ralph Ghadban: it fails to recognise the regime's radical Shia ideological foundations.
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Opposition figure Behrouz Farahani"The war has frozen Iran's protest movements"
The Iran war stems from two reactionary forces, the hegemonic ambitions of Iran’s Shia establishment and the Israeli vision of reshaping the Middle East, says Behrouz Farahani. A ceasefire is urgent, he argues, and real change must come from within.
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Disarming Hezbollah in LebanonNasrallah on the Pigeon Rocks
When the Lebanese government moved to disarm Hezbollah, the influential militia responded with a symbolic show of force in the heart of Beirut. Is it projecting strength, or masking political weakness?
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Iran electionsWhy Tehran may announce a fake voter turnout
Banned from the streets, the protests in Iran continue. This week's elections will reflect just how much – or how little – popular support the Islamic Republic still enjoys
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Iran-Pakistan tensionsWhat was behind the Balochistan strikes?
Tit-for-tat attacks between neighbours Iran and Pakistan are linked to separatists fighting for independence of the mineral-rich Balochistan region that spans their borders
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Sunnis and Shias in IslamHow the Sunni-Shia split shaped the Islamic world throughout history
Toby Matthiesen's new book, "The Caliph and the Imam", explores both the origins of the Sunni-Shia divide, what the two branches of Islam have in common and how the split has shaped the Islamic world
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Palestinians in IraqBetween sympathy and rejection
Palestinians living in Saddam Hussein's Iraq were courted until his overthrow in 2003, after which they suffered widespread harassment. Ever since the onset of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, however, Iraqis have been keen to show their solidarity
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Koran-burning in SwedenThe Iraqi Christian turned radical
It was an Iraqi with Christian roots – Salwan Momeka – who staged the burning of the Koran in Stockholm last week. In doing so, he wanted to get even with his countrymen. Birgit Svensson reports from Baghdad
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Iran: Defiant Shia cleric takes in stray dogs
It's rare these days for a turbaned cleric in Iran to attract a large following of adoring young fans on Instagram, but Sayed Mahdi Tabatabaei has done it by rescuing street dogs in defiance of a local taboo.
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Iran: Defiant Shia cleric takes in stray dogs
It's rare these days for a turbaned cleric in Iran to attract a large following of adoring young fans on Instagram, but Sayed Mahdi Tabatabaei has done it by rescuing street dogs in defiance of a local taboo.
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Shia clerics in Iran"Save Islam" – or just the mullahs?
Are the Shia clergy disappearing as a pillar of Iranian society, degenerating into a mere power apparatus? Nationwide attacks, vilification and the murder, or attempted murder, of mullahs are becoming more frequent. Every turban wearer is seen as representing and symbolising the hated regime. By Ali Sadrzadeh
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Iran protestsWhat the Islamic Republic's propaganda tells us
Challenging one of the Islamic Republic's most identifiable symbols – the hijab – with some breathtaking, iconographic feminist art, Iran's activists have wrested ownership away from the clerics with regard to who represents the nation, defines its present and shapes its future. Essay by Kevin L. Schwartz & Olmo Goelz