As-salaam aleikum

Yesterday, a batch of terrorists, apparently posing as Iraqi policemen, severely damaged the al-Askariya mosque ("Golden Mosque") in Samarra. The site is sacred to the Shi'a sect of Islam, because it contains the tombs of two of the twelve imams revered in that tradition, and is also reputed to be the place where the twelfth imam will reappear and lead them to salvation.

I am not a Muslim, and, obviously, not a Shi'a. But I am nonetheless distressed at the destruction of one of their holy places. I am equally distressed at the destruction or damage done by Shi'a to 27 Sunni mosques, apparently in retaliation for the damage done to their shrine. Such things should not be in a house of God--any house of any god.

Once upon a time, that was considered one of the rules of warfare: one did not harm places of worship, nor molest those who sought refuge within such places in time of war. Apparently that, like so many other things handed down from bygone days, has now gone by the board. I would argue that we are the lesser for its revocation.

I've signed the statement expressing sorrow at the destruction at Street Prophets, and I encourage my faithful readers to do likewise. We're also looking into the possibility of contributing toward the reconstruction of the mosque, if we can find a responsible agency collecting funds for that purpose, and if we can be certain that the funds donated will only be used for that purpose. I think it's a worthwhile endeavor, and if we can guarantee the money will go to that good purpose, I'm happy to kick in a few bucks if I have them to spare. I hope you will consider doing likewise.

Maybe such a gesture on the part of Americans--be they Muslims or not--will do something to offset the bad PR we've been getting in the region for the last six years and more. Apparently many in Iraq honestly believe that the only reason there are American troops in their country is to destroy it and to wipe out their religion. Small wonder they throw bombs and fire rockets at us and try to kill our men and women in uniform.

I'm under no illusions that donating a small sum toward the rebuilding of a Shi'a holy place will, in and of itself, bring about peace and cause the insurgency to die away. That would be ludicrous. But as the Tao te Ching reminds us, a journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step. Miracles come in all sizes--and I would rather do my part to help out a small one than simply to curse the gigantic evil that is everyday life in Iraq right now.

Comments

[Bryan]

The people trying to save Iraq as a nation will say, if they haven't already said, that the attack on the Mosque was the fault of the US and Israel. They probably won't believe it, but they will say it to avoid saying aloud that this was an attack on the Shi'ia by Sunnis.

I don't believe that shrines can be holy, but I accept that others do, because I went on several pilgrimages when I lived in Europe. I had a friend who was a believer and she felt blest to be able to participate.

The people of the US have to do this simply to prove that we aren't our government and that we don't have to share their belief to understand its importance to them.

[Michael]

Holiness is as much a tradition as anything else. There is relatively little that one person can add to (or detract from) a place in a one-time dealie, unless the person in question is quite a spiritual presence (think Gandhi, or Pope John XXIII of blessed memory). I remember feeling just as much of a sense of the holy when I entered the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem in 1998, even though the place was not a holy one in my faith tradition, as I did in, say, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. What gave it that feeling, I think, is much the same as what gave that feeling to the Basilica--generation after generation, century after century, of prayerful people passing through there and attempting to touch the Divine, if only for a moment.