Word: shies
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...rumpled blue jogging outfit dashed into Beirut's luxurious Summerland Hotel, overlooking the Lebanese coast. "I'm Charles Glass. I need a place to hide!" he fairly shouted to a receptionist. A U.S. television journalist who knows the Middle East well, Glass had been seized by Muslim Shi'ite terrorists 62 days earlier in one of Beirut's southern suburbs. Having somehow escaped, he had fled to the right place: the hotel is a heavily guarded sanctuary of Lebanon's Druze community, which is closely aligned with the Syrian government of President Hafez Assad...
...Faithful Shi'ites admit only to the authority of Muhammad and the Twelve Imams, who comprise Ali, Hussein and certain of their direct descendants. The Shi'ites consider the Twelve to be mediators between God and man. Though the Twelfth and last Imam went into hiding in A.D. 940, Shi'ites believe that he will re-emerge to rule the world as the messianic Mahdi. Until that time, the Shi'ite clergy are responsible for interpreting Islam. The Ayatullah Khomeini, however, has gone one step further by establishing his government as a regency for the Mahdi. Khomeini, who claims descent...
...they honor Ali, the Sunnis do not venerate their imams as divine intercessors. Sunni imams mainly conduct community prayers. Each Sunni (from sunna, "the tradition of the Prophet") believes he can have a direct relationship with God. While the Sunnis scorn emotional outbursts and engage in private, meditative piety, Shi'ites are more likely to indulge in displays of religious ardor. Indeed, the Sunnis, who consider themselves the orthodoxy, did not accept Shi'ism as a legitimate school of Islam until...
Among some Arab states on the Persian Gulf, the relationship between Sunni rulers and Shi'ite subjects remains volatile. After all, in the eyes of the Shi'ites, any regime not under the rule of the Prophet's true heirs is an abomination. Indeed, Bahrain, which is more than 70% Shi'ite, defused a 1981 coup attempt allegedly inspired by Tehran. Kuwait, which is 24% Shi'ite, has been victimized by a wave of bombings believed to be the work of pro-Iranian terrorists...
...between Iraq and Iran, however, Iraqi Shi'ites, who make up almost 60% of their country's population, have chosen to be Iraqis first and Shi'ites second. The ancient animosity between Arabs and Persians apparently transcends religious sympathies. Nonetheless, the Iraqis receive constant reminders of Iranian Shi'ite fervor. Tehran's major offensives are named Karbala, after the place where Hussein died, and captured Iranian soldiers proudly show off the "keys to Heaven" issued to them when they enlisted. The celestial keys: dog tags. Observes an Iraqi official: "The Iranians are still fighting the Battle of Hussein...