Teens among 24 killed at Kabul education centre bombing

Fifty-seven people also wounded in blast in area of capital that is home to many from Afghanistan’s Shia community. The death toll from a suicide bomb attack at an education centre in Afghanistan’s capital has risen to 24, officials have said, with many of the victims being teenage students.

See also The Guardian, The New York Times

Taliban reaches out to Shias

The Taliban insurgency seems to be pulling all the stops it can to gain political legitimacy in Afghanistan ahead of the intra-Afghan peace talks. In a new video message from the Taliban, released on April 22, the group seeks the support of the Hazara Shias and wants to recruit from the long persecuted minority.

See also:The New Arab

Shiite Patterns of Post-Migration in Europe

This brief reflection treats the reactive relation between the dispersions of (post-)migration and the integralism of religion in selected cases of European Shiism. It reconsiders reports on Twelver Shiism and Shiite Muslims in Europe in order to discern the main institutional and demographic tendencies in Shiites’ European settlement history in Britain, France and Germany, and to explore such settlement in light of mega-theorizations of European Islam that juxtapose ‘integration’ and ‘separation’.

Afghan CEO Abdullah escapes Kabul shooting attack (Ld)

Afghan CEO Abdullah escapes Kabul shooting attack (Ld) Kabul, March 6 (IANS) Afghanistan”s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah on Friday escaped a shooting that took place shortly after he spoke at a public event here, a government official said, adding 18 people were injured in the attack.

See also BBC News.

Pushing for Protection: Advocating for the Shia – Shia Rights Watch

Annual Report 2019 In this report, Shia Rights Watch quantifies violence against Shia Muslims and presents the dynamics of anti-Shiism in various nations of the world. This report reflects year-round investigations arranged by native activists and international researchers on actions taken to endanger populations based on their Shia identity.

Afghanistan’s Islam: From Conversion to the Taliban

The book provides the first overview of the history and development of Islam in Afghanistan. Written by leading international experts, chapters cover every era from the conversion of Afghanistan through the medieval period to the present day. Based

Discriminatory Inclusion Measures in India – Shia Rights Watch

On Wednesday, December 11, 2019, Indian lawmakers approved an amendment to the nation’s Citizenship Law which, as claimed by proponents, grants dignity and equal opportunity for those facing religious prosecutions in neighboring nations. Through the new legislation, illegal migrants who have lived in India for five years can apply for citizenship.

Iraq’s Sources of Emulation: Scholarly Capital and Competition in Contemporary Shiʿism

Religious knowledge is at the heart of the Shiʿi system of clerical authority known as the marjaʿiyya. Given the multiplicity of more or less well-established claimants to the position, this article explores the scholarly credentials of the contemporary marjaʿ[source of emulation; pl. marājiʿ].

A bird’s eye view of Asia: A continental landscape of minorities in peril

Many in Asia look at the Middle East with a mixture of expectation of stable energy supplies, hope for economic opportunity and concern about a potential fallout of the region’s multiple violent conflicts that are often cloaked in ethnic, religious and sectarian terms. Yet, a host of Asian nations led by men and women, who redefine identity as concepts of exclusionary civilization, ethnicity, and religious primacy rather than inclusive pluralism and multiculturalism, risk sowing the seeds of radicalization rooted in the despair of population groups that are increasingly persecuted, disenfranchised and marginalized.

Incidents of Anti-Shiism in August, 2019 – Shia Rights Watch

Incidents of Anti-Shiism in August, 2019 During August, Shia Rights Watch celebrated the Eid al-Adha by illuminating Time Square, New York. The organization called for solidarity against intolerance and injustice. SRW Eid al- Adha activity can be found here and here. Analysis of anti-Shiism in the first six months of 2019 was published as well.