Word: islamic
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...been caught up in a bitter civil war; Moscow has charged?and Washington has angrily denied?that the U.S. instigated the rebellion. Some of the insurgents are inspired by tribal animosities, others by political opposition to the government's leftist ways. According to one U.S. expert in the area, "Islam has proved to be the major unifying theme for the rebels." Many of them have moved to armed camps in Pakistan. Taraki has tried to highlight his own credentials as a good Muslim; recently the government publicized a letter of support from a group of Soviet Muslims across the border...
...Turkey. Islam is still a potent force in secular Turkey, and religious violence between the dominant Sunni Muslims and the Alevis, a Shi'ite sect, has recently injected a dangerous new element into the country's chronic political instability. Ancient rivalries between the two groups are being exploited by both right-and left-wing extremists. Last December Sunni gangs massacred a hundred Alevis in the southern Turkish town of Maras. But unlike the Shah's Iran, Turkey has a functioning democratic system, and no single issue or popular figure unites the opposition. The government is fearful, however, that "political opportunists...
...been allowed to leave the country to take part in the hajj. Muslim leaders, the muftis, have apparently worked out a kind of modus vivendi with the government; in exchange for being allowed to practice their religion they often support the government on major policy questions. Any kind of Islamic resistance to the Soviet system would probably emerge from a large network of Sufi brotherhoods, ultraconservative secret societies that are banned by Soviet law. Sufi adherents worship in clandestine mosques and practice a kind of "parallel Islam" to the officially sanctioned...
...prescribed daily prayers, a pious Muslim does not beseech God for favors, either material or spiritual, so much as for guidance and mercy. The word Islam means submission, and the true Muslim submits his life to the divine will of a deity who is the Compassionate, the All Knowing, the Strong, the Protector, the All Powerful-to cite only a few of the traditional 99 "most Beautiful Names...
...Islam stresses the uniqueness of the Creator, and strictly forbids shirk-that is, the association of anyone or anything with God's divinity. Along with Moses and Abraham, Jesus is revered by Muslims as one of the 25 scriptural prophets of God, and Islam accepts both his virgin birth and his miracles. But Muslims believe that Christian faith in the divinity of Jesus is polytheism. They resent being called "Muhammadans," which suggests that Muhammad's role in Islam is similar to that of Jesus in Christianity. The Prophet is revered as God's final Messenger to mankind...