Word: ites
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...second analogy helps answer this question. There is a doctrine of Shi'ite Islam called taqiya, whereby a follower of the Shi'a is allowed to dissimulate in the face of persecution. That means that he can renounce his faith in an emergency, and then renounce his renunciation later, with no permanent ill effects on his piety. This doctrine was developed out of historical necessity--the Shi'ites have often been a minority in Sunni states, and have met repeated persecutions over the centuries...
...this sense, the position of the Shi'ites is similar to that of Diaspora Jews, and both developed defense mechanisms against oppression. The Shi'ites got their "homeland" in the early 16th century, when the first (and still the main) Shi'ite state was founded--Persia, now called Iran. But the Muslims' dilemma remained, as has the Jews' dilemma in Israel; should one stand up for religious principles, or should one continue to dissimulate in the face of a government that is at least nominally devout. For Shi'its, the issue came to a head with the despotism...
...million a year in war materiel to Iraq, and there are said to be at least 25,000 Egyptian volunteers fighting on the Iraqi side against Iran. The Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini has condemned such acts by moderate Arabs, but, even with his bursts of Iranian-inspired Shi'ite terrorism, he has not stopped them. In Kuwait last week, the government announced that 25 people, including 17 Iraqis, would go on trial beginning Feb. 11 on charges of carrying out bombings against the American and French embassies and other targets in December. At the time it appeared that those acts...
...government also faced problems in southern Lebanon, where Shi'ite residents have become increasingly violent in their opposition to the Israeli presence...
Last week, after an Israeli position near Tyre came under fire, Israeli troops besieged the Shi'ite mountain village of Halloussiyeh. They arrested eight villagers, including the local prayer leader, Sheik Abbas Harb, and bulldozed his house to the ground. Villagers threw stones at the Israelis and set tires afire on nearby roads...