Diplomatic Crisis Deepens In West Asia
Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday accused Saudi Arabia of stoking regional tension after the kingdom broke off diplomatic relations and said Iranian embassy staff must leave. By severing diplomatic relations, Saudi Arabia is “continuing the policy of increasing tension and clashes in the region”, said ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari.
Saudi Arabia’s execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr could escalate tensions in the Muslim world even further.
Difference Between Shia And Sunni Muslims
A schism emerged after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632. He died without appointing a successor to lead the Muslim community, and disputes arose over who should shepherd the new and rapidly growing faith.
Some believed that a new leader should be chosen by consensus; others thought that only the prophet’s descendants should become caliph. The title passed to a trusted aide, Abu Bakr, though some thought it should have gone to Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law. Ali eventually did become caliph after Abu Bakr’s two successors were assassinated.
After Ali also was assassinated, with a poison-laced sword at the mosque in Kufa, in what is now Iraq, his sons Hasan and then Hussein claimed the title. But Hussein and many of his relatives were massacred in Karbala, Iraq, in 680.
His martyrdom became a central tenet to those who believed that Ali should have succeeded the Prophet. (It is mourned every year during the month of Muharram). The followers became known as Shias, a contraction of the phrase Shiat Ali, or followers of Ali.
The Sunnis, however, regard the first three caliphs before Ali as rightly guided and themselves as the true adherents to the Sunnah, or the Prophet’s tradition. Sunni rulers embarked on sweeping conquests that extended the caliphate into North Africa and Europe. The last caliphate ended with the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War-I.
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India - Nepal Bus Service Resumes After 27 Years
A friendship bus service between India and Nepal via Champawat in Uttarakhand resumed on Monday after a gap of 27 years, much to the delight of people on either side of the border who have family and trade ties with each other.
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Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday accused Saudi Arabia of stoking regional tension after the kingdom broke off diplomatic relations and said Iranian embassy staff must leave. By severing diplomatic relations, Saudi Arabia is “continuing the policy of increasing tension and clashes in the region”, said ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari.
Saudi Arabia’s execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr could escalate tensions in the Muslim world even further.
Difference Between Shia And Sunni Muslims
A schism emerged after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632. He died without appointing a successor to lead the Muslim community, and disputes arose over who should shepherd the new and rapidly growing faith.
Some believed that a new leader should be chosen by consensus; others thought that only the prophet’s descendants should become caliph. The title passed to a trusted aide, Abu Bakr, though some thought it should have gone to Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law. Ali eventually did become caliph after Abu Bakr’s two successors were assassinated.
After Ali also was assassinated, with a poison-laced sword at the mosque in Kufa, in what is now Iraq, his sons Hasan and then Hussein claimed the title. But Hussein and many of his relatives were massacred in Karbala, Iraq, in 680.
His martyrdom became a central tenet to those who believed that Ali should have succeeded the Prophet. (It is mourned every year during the month of Muharram). The followers became known as Shias, a contraction of the phrase Shiat Ali, or followers of Ali.
The Sunnis, however, regard the first three caliphs before Ali as rightly guided and themselves as the true adherents to the Sunnah, or the Prophet’s tradition. Sunni rulers embarked on sweeping conquests that extended the caliphate into North Africa and Europe. The last caliphate ended with the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War-I.
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India - Nepal Bus Service Resumes After 27 Years
A friendship bus service between India and Nepal via Champawat in Uttarakhand resumed on Monday after a gap of 27 years, much to the delight of people on either side of the border who have family and trade ties with each other.
These air-conditioned buses with free Wi-Fi facility, painted with Indian and Nepalese flags, will enter the Nepalese district of Kanchanpur at 6 a.m. everyday and start for Delhi, and return from there at 6 p.m., in-charge of Sharda barrage international police station, B.M. Upreti said.
The bus which runs between Kanchanpur in Nepal close to Banbasa border in Champavat district of Uttarakhand and Anand Vihar, Delhi was regularised from Monday after being run on a trial basis for a week.
No special documents are required to travel in these buses. A bottle of mineral water would be provided free of cost to the passengers, he said. The service was suspended 27 years ago in the wake of the Indo-Nepal Trade and Transit Treaty
