DUBAI (Hayyan Nayouf, AlArabiya.net)
Custodian of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus Zaher Shibani confirmed that Shiites perform their chest beating ritual at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.
Shibani's statement is the first official response to the delicate matter. He told AlArabiya.net that Iranian Shiites visit the mosque, and usually get emotional about what their guide says in Persian.
Some start beating their chests, a ritual performed by Shiites to lament the martyrdom of Imam Al-Hussein bin Ali, son of the Prophet's (PBUH) cousin and one of the most revered Shiite imams.
But Shibani said the ritual is only performed inside Al-Hussein's shrine -- a separate section within the mosque complex -- and never inside the main prayer area of the mosque.
The shrine is believed to have contained Al-Hussein's head, but there is much debate as to whether it was returned to the Iraqi city of Karbala, where he was killed and where his body is lain, or if it was transferred to Egypt.
A message signed by "A Syrian Muslim Citizen" posted on many Syrian websites and forums started the issue: "I went inside the mosque for sunset prayer and heard screams and moans. I followed the source of the sounds and found people wailing and slapping their chests."
The writer of the message also said he saw on the walls 12 marble panes, each named after a Shiite imam, and written on them were phrases that contradict the teachings of Sunni Islam.
Shiite scholar Abdullah Nizam told AlArabiya.net earlier that the mosque is for Sunnis and denied that lessons in Shiite jurisprudence are given inside it: "This mosque belongs to Sunnis, and only lessons in Sunni teachings and by Sunni scholars are given therein."
Nizam said that he participated in a religious talk show broadcast from the Umayyad Mosque during the last holy month of Ramadan: "I was invited to give a talk one day out of 29, all dedicated to Sunni preachers, and I talked for seven minutes. Is it a lot for Shiites to get seven minutes?"
Nizam, together with prominent Syrian Shiite scholar Nabil Halabaawi, denied rumors of Shiite missionary campaigns in the country, said to be funded by Iran.
(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid) |
