2017 Annual Report – Shia Rights Watch

2018 marks the 7th anniversary of Shia Rights Watch. Over the past seven years, our organization and our team have grown from a Washington, DC-based minority rights group to an internationally renowned institution active in both the United Nations and the International community.

Washed up: Malaysian launderette refuses non-Muslim customers

“For Muslim customers only. Leave your shoes outside,” The owner of a self-service laundrette in the historic town of Muar in the Malaysian state of Johor likely had little inkling of the hornet’s nest he would stir up by putting up a sign barring non-Muslim from using his services.

See also ‘Malaysian launderette owner stirs Asian hornet’s nest’.

The Second Workshop – Edinburgh, 19-21 May, 2017

THE ROLE AND DEPICTION OF IRANIAN/PERSIANATE SUBALTERNS FROM THE 13TH CENTURY TO THE MODERN PERIOD A multi-year research project funded by the British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS). The second of four workshops – on subalterns across the entire Persianate world in the Safavid and Afsharid periods (1501-1747) – was held at the University of Edinburgh, UK, on 19-21 May, 2017.

Shiite Survival in Ottoman Aleppo|

This article presents a translation of a waqf document from the Ottoman archives of Aleppo. The author’s contention is this waqfiyya bears witness to the resilience of Shiite presence in a predominantly Sunnite city.

Shia Muslims Population

According to Pew Research Institute, A comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 1.6 billion Muslims of all ages living in the world today, representing 23% of…

Bahrain’s Monarchy Cries Sectarianism to Hoard Public Wealth

NOTE:The following article was written by Bahrain Watch member Fahad Desmukh and was originally published on the website of TRT World on May 29, 2017. However TRT World had to remove it the following day after Bahrain’s foreign ministry made a complaint about the article to the Turkish government.

This is the aim of Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia

Donald Trump sets off on Friday to create the fantasy of an Arab Nato. There will be dictators aplenty to greet him in Riyadh, corrupt autocrats and thugs and torturers and head choppers. There will be at least one zombie president – the comatose, undead Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria who neither speaks nor, apparently, hears any more – and, of course, one totally insane president, Donald Trump.

In Senegal, Iran and Saudi Arabia vie for religious influence

In an upmarket suburb of Senegal’s seaside capital, a branch of Iran’s Al-Mustafa University teaches Senegalese students Shi’ite Muslim theology, among other subjects. The branch director is Iranian and a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hangs on his office wall.

The Legacy of Muhammad Sorour, Key Figure in Rise of Sunni Extremism – Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington

See his website.
His wikipedia entry is here.

Winter, S.: A History of the ‘Alawis: From Medieval Aleppo to the Turkish Republic. (eBook, Paperback and Hardcover)