Word: sunni
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...ites who had been influenced by Khomeini's recent calls for a general uprising by Muslim fundamentalists. Others speculated that the terrorists were members of an extreme Mahdist sect aligned with the Shi'ites. Still others said they were not Shi'ites at all but fanatical Sunni purists known as Wahhabis. At week's end, with the Riyadh regime saying nothing publicly, the best guess of Western intelligence experts was that the attackers were members of the 'Utaibah tribe, a migratory Sunni group that still wanders with its herds of goats and sheep between Mecca...
...late Kurdish leader General Mulla Mustafa Barzani once called the Kurds "the orphans of the universe," because they have never had a national homeland of their own. A handsome, high-spirited people, with dark, flashing eyes and chiseled features, they belong to the Sunni sect of Islam whereas most Iranians are Shi'ite Muslims. The trials of farming craggy mountainsides, where the summer temperatures soar above 100° and winter blizzards last for weeks at a time, have made the Kurds tough and independent...
About the time of his marriage, Khomeini made the devout Muslim's obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca. On his way back from Islam's holiest city, he got into a squabble with a group of Sunni Muslims in a Damascus mosque. In keeping with his own Shi'a tradition, Khomeini had placed a handful of earth on his prayer rug, and was preparing to put his forehead upon it. The Sunnis angrily objected to this practice, Khomeini deftly answered that it was wrong to place one's forehead directly on a rug, that one should be more...
Nevertheless, there are growing signs that his tenure may be jeopardized by serious internal strains and by his own frail health, which may involve blood cancer.* The vast majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims; Assad and most of his top officials are Alawites, who make up only 11% of the population. The Islamic revival that has swept through Iran has had its effect in Syria. Baffled by rapid change and denied the outlet of free political expression, Syria's youth has displayed a renewed interest in traditional religion; the new mood has served to strengthen the Sunni community...
Perhaps the most dangerous development has been growing unrest in the military, still Assad's power base. Alawites hold senior positions throughout the armed forces, and Assad himself is commander in chief of the air force, but most of the enlisted men are Sunni Muslims who increasingly resent domination by their officers. Israeli intelligence experts speculate that a revolutionary mood may have swept through Syrian armor and infantry units, touching off fears of a coup. After the execution of the 15 brotherhood members, all of whom were Sunni Muslims, Rifaat's tank units rolled into Damascus and took...