Monday February 1, 2016

I've Been Thinking:

ISIS exploded three bombs in southern Damascus yesterday. The bombs exploded nearly simultaneously, killing over sixty people and wounding many more.

The first was a car bomb, the other two were suicide bombers who ran into the crowd of those who were trying to help the car victims, blowing up as many people as they could.

The location was very critical for ISIS. It was a Shiite holy site and the traditional burial place of Zaynab. The site has been very well protected by Syrian and Hezbollah forces because of its symbolic value.

Zaynab was the daughter of Ali and Fatima. Fatima was the daughter of Mohammed. That means Zaynab was the maternal granddaughter of Mohammed. The split between Shiites and Sunnis is all about Zaynab and her parents.

In the famous battle of Karbala, the brother of Zaynab, named Hussein, leads the battle and loses the battle. Zaynab tends to the wounded and is then brought to Damascus. The Koran records how the severed head of each leader was held up and displayed. With each head a story is told.

According to the Koran, Zaynab is making noise and the leader asks an adviser "who is this arrogant woman?" Zaynab answers, "Why ask him, ask me. I am daughter of Fatima granddaughter of Mohammed."

One of the major tensions between ISIS, al Qaeda, Salafis and other Muslims - especially Shiite Muslims, is over holy tombs and holy sites. ISIS views their very presence as pagan and wants to destroy them.

This ISIS attack in Damascus was not simply aimed at murdering the masses. It was a direct strike at the hero of Shiite Islam and the traditions of Shiite Islam.

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