Iraq
Ba’ath-Sufi convergence in Iraq insurgency?
The most senior member of Saddam Hussein’s inner circle still on the run, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, is said to be leading a band of insurgents from the Naqshbandi Sufi order.
Tag: Sufis
North Africa
Al-Qaeda ‘moderates’ seek breakaway state in Mali
A supposed AQIM document found in Timbuktu criticizes jihadists for destroying Sufi shrines and alienating the local populace, calling for a more pragmatic Islamist state.
North Africa
General strike rocks Tunisia
Thousands massed in Tunis for the funeral of slain opposition leader Chokri Belaid, with the city shut down in a general strike called by the main union federation, the UGTT.
Afghanistan
Pakistan: Sufi leads anti-corruption protests
Thousands of Pakistanis chanitng “we want change” filled the streets of Islamabad in a massive anti-corruption protest led by Sufi cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri.
North Africa
Mali: shrines destroyed; intervention approved
Islamist militants in Timbuktu destroyed more Sufi shrines days after the UN Security Council approved an intervention force to retake Mali’s breakaway north.
North Africa
Mali: regime, rebels both divided
As Mali’s prime minister is removed by the junta, Ansar Dine rebels are embraced in peace talks—while the MUJAO rebels are sanctioned by the UN as an al-Qaeda front.
North Africa
Tunisia: growing attacks by religious extremists
Human Rights Watch called on Tunisian authorities to investigate a series of attacks by religious extremists over the past 10 months and bring those responsible to justice.
North Africa
The left and the jihad: love-hate relationship?
"Leftists" in the West are waxing paranoid about how the Syrian revolutionaries are a bunch of jihadists. But if the West intervenes in Mali, they will likely be rooting for jihadists—again.
North Africa
Sufi shrines destroyed in Libya —again
Salafist militants bulldozed a mosque containing Sufi graves in the center of Tripoli in broad daylight, with no interference from authorities. A similar attack was reported in Zlitan.
The Caucasus
Eid terror in Ingushetia
A deadly suicide attack on the funeral of a police officer killed the previous day in a firefight with militants may signal a new advance of the Chechen insurgency into the Ingush Republic.
South Asia
Ideology Chart
Pakistan's army high command approved the death penalty for 10 condemned jihadists who were convicted by a military tribunal of attacks that claimed over 60 lives—including the assassination of Amjad Sabri, one of the country's most revered singers of qawwalii, traditional Sufi devotional music. Sabri was on his way to a televised Ramadan performance in Karachi when his car was attacked by gunmen, and his many followers hailed justice in the case. But in the two years since Sabri's death, attacks on Sufis in Pakistan have continued, with suicide blasts and horrific massacres at shrines and mosques. (Photo via PTI)