\u00a0<\/a>Istanbul\u00a0and some 300 throughout the country.\u00a0To put their number\u00a0in context, one should consider that there are nationwide almost\u00a085,000\u00a0government-sponsored mosques,\u00a0which receive financing through\u00a0the Religious Affairs Directorate.\u00a0Thus, the Jaafaris’ presence is minuscule in comparison, but they have, however, managed to so far maintain\u00a0independence from the Religious Affairs Directorate. They receive no state funding \u00a0for their mosques and imams.<\/p>\nPrevious\u00a0slander\u00a0and threats and now the arson attacks represent\u00a0troubling\u00a0messages for the Jaafari community, especially\u00a0following the escalation of sectarian war in Syria and Iraq and the emergence of the\u00a0Islamic State\u00a0(IS,\u00a0formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS). The left-leaning daily\u00a0Yurt\u00a0reported on the arson\u00a0under the headline\u00a0\u201cISIS burnt down a mosque in Istanbul.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kadir Akaras, chairman of the Ehl-i Beyt Scholars Association, \u201cBurning down mosques, prayer houses, is a concept alien to our culture. It is an imitation of the\u00a0Salafi [extremist]\u00a0groups\u2019 behavior in the Middle East. Not only in Esenyurt\u00a0but also in multiple other locations, the Jaafari community\u2019s mosques and masjids [smaller houses of prayer]\u00a0are under threat. The cause of this threat is that the government has failed to stand by its Jaafari citizens and consider these acts as hate crimes. Unless prompt and determined policies are enforced, there is potential for the further escalation of conflict along sectarian lines. For decades, the country battled Kurdish-Turkish identity issues, now the fault lines are becoming sectarian lines. Following the developments on our borders, unless we are vigilant, we view this as a concern to be taken seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aydin, the imam, was more optimistic than Akaras, \u00a0\u201cI do not want to believe there is potential for a sectarian rift in our country. Where we live, we have very good relations with our neighbors. When the mosque was attacked, it was a Sunni neighbor who called us\u00a0and the police. After the incident, all of our neighbors came out in support of us. We do not see ourselves as different. There are days we all pray together as a community, and we care about the same issues. Our Sunni neighbors respect our beliefs, our mosques, as we have the same respect for theirs. For us, all houses of prayer are holy and should be respected.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about the future, however, Aydin confirmed\u00a0that the community is deeply concerned and angst-ridden\u00a0about the recent events, particularly as it is\u00a0the holy month of Ramadan. He believes that private and state security measures should be expanded.\u00a0Aydin was quite appreciative of\u00a0Mehmet Gormez, head of the Religious Affairs Directorate, for paying a\u00a0visit\u00a0to his mosque on July 10\u00a0immediately\u00a0after the attack. Gormez was not apologetic about the horrid event, but made it\u00a0clear that Sunnis and Shia\u00a0are both Muslims, and despite differences in practice and some beliefs, it is unacceptable to attack each other.<\/p>\n
Gormez stated, \u201cWe will rebuild the mosque together. We will replace the burnt books in the best possible way together. Then we will gather here again and pray together.\u201d This is a noteworthy statement from a government representative\u00a0given that in March 2014, Turkish Prime Minister\u00a0Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u00a0went on record\u00a0saying,\u00a0\u201cThese people [Gulen movement members] have three major characteristics. They practice taqiyya\u00a0[religiously sanctioned dissimulation],\u00a0they lie, they slander. As a result, they are involved in sedition, malice.\u00a0They are much worse than Shia. Shia\u00a0cannot compete with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, Jaafaris demanded and expected a formal apology\u00a0from the prime minister. Pundits are now recalling his words, questioning whether it was a\u00a0slip of the tongue\u00a0or unrepentant prejudice\u00a0against Shia.\u00a0Jaafaris and others in Turkey are asking how things got to the point where someone is demanding that\u00a0Jaafari mosques be closed down, their call to prayer\u00a0silenced.\u00a0One Salafi youth, who insisted that he is not a takfiri,\u00a0a\u00a0Muslim who accuses another Muslim of apostasy, \u201cDid you ever listen to the Jaafari ezan? It is different, and it is not ezan really, which is why we do not want it recited out loud. This is not pure Islam. They are on the wrong path.\u201d<\/p>\n
The basis of the prejudice and hatred toward\u00a0Jaafaris and Alevis in Turkey rests on the idea that Jaafaris have \u201cdeviant\u201d beliefs and must therefore be taught \u201cthe right way.\u201d A recent example was reported from Igdir province, home to a significant Jaafari population, where the mufti (Muslim legal expert) informed the Religious Affairs Directorate that the Jaafari imams needed to be\u00a0educated by the government, otherwise they could\u00a0pose a threat to national unity.<\/p>\n
Following regional developments over the last three years \u2014 the\u00a0Syrian civil war, sectarian warfare in Iraq and the emergence of IS in Syria and Iraq \u2014 both the Alevi and Jaafari communities in Turkey have become victims of added scrutiny and prejudice. The Jaafaris in particular\u00a0suffer\u00a0from the constant and ignorant attributions\u00a0in the mainstream media of being \u201cspies, traitors, untrustworthy.\u201d\u00a0Simply being Jaafari can suffice\u00a0for one to be suspected as an \u201cIranian spy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The\u00a0People\u2019s Democracy\u00a0Party\u00a0(HDP) has introduced\u00a0the issue of the Shia\u00a0mosque attacks in the Turkish parliament,\u00a0asking serious questions of Interior Minister\u00a0Efkan Ala. Despite a few public gestures\u00a0and high-profile visits, the ruling Justice and Development Party\u00a0is still seen as being ineffective in trying to calm the fears of\u00a0Jaafaris. The HDP\u2019s questioning\u00a0highlighted the most pressing\u00a0matters at hand: Why has no one been taken into custody after two arson attacks on Jaafari mosques and multiple verbal threats against the Jaafari community. What progress has been made\u00a0on the\u00a0arson in\u00a0June?<\/p>\n
One is left to wonder when the prime minister will consider it the right time\u00a0to condemn these attacks.<\/p>\n
Source – Al-Monitor<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On June 13, the small daily\u00a0Yeni Mesaj\u00a0reported an arson attack on the Shia\u00a0Allahu Akbar Mosque, in Istanbul’s\u00a0Esenyurt district. The reportedly unknown\u00a0perpetuators struck after midnight, setting fire to\u00a0the\u00a0mosque\u2019s library. Turkey’s mainstream media failed to pick up on\u00a0the incident\u00a0until July 8, after another Shia\u00a0house of worship, the\u00a0Muhammediye Mosque, was attacked in the same district.\u00a0Both incidents took place\u00a0in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1100,1101,1098,99,23,703,90,1099],"class_list":["post-9942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news-and-analysis","tag-fear","tag-hate-crime","tag-jaafaris","tag-quran","tag-shia-attack","tag-shia-mosques","tag-turkey","tag-turkish-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9942"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9947,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9942\/revisions\/9947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}