Word: sects
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Saudi Arabia. The birthplace of Muhammad is the most strictly orthodox Muslim society on earth; rulers and ruled profess adherence to the austere, fundamentalist Wahhabi sect, noted for its zealous enforcement of the Shari'a. But there is a widening gap between the very rich and very poor, a heavy influx of foreign workers, and a pace of development that may be too rapid for an underpopulated country to handle. Although the Wahhabi leaders have close links to the royal family, there is a small Islamic movement that is critical of the debauchery of spoiled princelings on their sojourns outside...
Almost a third of the workers on 47th Street are Hasidic Jews, a Yiddish-speaking, fundamentalist sect. The men let their beards and forelocks grow, as admonished by the Old Testament book of Leviticus. Deeply religious, the Hasidim from Brooklyn travel in a bus that is divided down the aisle by a curtain, segregating men and women for prayer sessions on the way to work...
Another important difference between Iran and Saudi Arabia is that Saudi rulers maintain tight links with the country's religious leaders. Since the early 19th century the House of Saud has had close contacts with the puritanical Wahhabi sect of Sunni Muslims who dominate the country's religious life. Opinions of the ulema, the leading religious authorities, are sought on major issues. Their power was demonstrated last year when they successfully demanded the razing of an entire modern city that had been built for pilgrims near Mecca on the sacred Hill of Arafat. The ulema ordered it destroyed...
Ayatullah Khomeini, the exiled religious leader of Iran's dominant Shiite Moslem sect, said yesterday he will probably announce the establishment of an Islamic state in Iran in a few days...
Larry Spencer, who defected from the Hare Krishna sect in San Diego, told TIME how he was programmed: "They wake you up at 4 a.m. and you start chanting over and over. You're not really there, you're so tired. They pile on the spiritual answers, but you don't have enough time to think about whether they make sense. Every activity you do is what they tell you to do. I always got along with my parents. I was real close to them. But they told me that my parents were influenced by demons. That...