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<blockquote data-quote="Babagounj" data-source="post: 928554" data-attributes="member: 12952">[h=1]In Libya, a Fundamentalist War against Moderate Islam Takes Shape[/h]Throughout this country, Libyans are&nbsp; discovering that their hard fought battle to win freedoms is at risk.&nbsp; Puritanical Muslims known as Salafis are applying a rigid form of Islam&nbsp; in more and more communities. They have clamped down on the sale of&nbsp; alcohol and demolished the tombs of saints where many local people&nbsp; worship. The small town of Zuwara near the Tunisian border, dominated by&nbsp; a heterodox Muslim sect despised by the Salafis, is quickly becoming&nbsp; the battlefield for competing visions of Libya&#039;s future. The estimated 200-to-400 members of the&nbsp; local Salafi movement have demolished shrines belonging to adherents of&nbsp; the Ibadi sect, long considered heretics by orthodox Sunni Muslims. In&nbsp; the town&#039;s cemetery, large blocks of stone surround what was once a&nbsp; mausoleum. The large conical shaped structure that once adorned it now&nbsp; lies collapsed in the debris. Salafists are intolerant of other strands&nbsp; of Islam and have physically attacked Muslim minorities in other parts&nbsp; of the Arab world such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Many Muslims frequent&nbsp; the shrines of saints, believing they have powers of intercession with&nbsp; the divine. Salafis, however, believe these are pagan rites that must be&nbsp; obliterated from Islam. &quot;The situation has gotten much worse lately,&quot;&nbsp; says Ibadi Sheikh Walid Darder. &quot;We may have not had political rights&nbsp; under Gaddafi, but we did not live in fear of going to the mosque.&quot;Read more: <a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2104578,00.html#ixzz1jsM1B7eN" target="_blank">In Libya, a Salafi Campaign against Tombs and Heineken - TIME</a>




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[QUOTE="Babagounj, post: 928554, member: 12952"] [h=1]In Libya, a Fundamentalist War against Moderate Islam Takes Shape[/h]Throughout this country, Libyans are discovering that their hard fought battle to win freedoms is at risk. Puritanical Muslims known as Salafis are applying a rigid form of Islam in more and more communities. They have clamped down on the sale of alcohol and demolished the tombs of saints where many local people worship. The small town of Zuwara near the Tunisian border, dominated by a heterodox Muslim sect despised by the Salafis, is quickly becoming the battlefield for competing visions of Libya's future. [LEFT][COLOR=#000000] The estimated 200-to-400 members of the local Salafi movement have demolished shrines belonging to adherents of the Ibadi sect, long considered heretics by orthodox Sunni Muslims. In the town's cemetery, large blocks of stone surround what was once a mausoleum. The large conical shaped structure that once adorned it now lies collapsed in the debris. Salafists are intolerant of other strands of Islam and have physically attacked Muslim minorities in other parts of the Arab world such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Many Muslims frequent the shrines of saints, believing they have powers of intercession with the divine. Salafis, however, believe these are pagan rites that must be obliterated from Islam. "The situation has gotten much worse lately," says Ibadi Sheikh Walid Darder. "We may have not had political rights under Gaddafi, but we did not live in fear of going to the mosque."[LEFT][COLOR=#000000] Read more: [url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2104578,00.html#ixzz1jsM1B7eN]In Libya, a Salafi Campaign against Tombs and Heineken - TIME[/url] [/COLOR][/LEFT] [/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000] [/COLOR][/LEFT] [/QUOTE]

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