11/29/2005

Three Bohras killed in Iraq, several wounded

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un

Among the victims was Shk Yahya, the father of Murtaza, one of my closest and dear friends.

In a shocking tragedy yesterday in Iraq 3 Mumineen from London were killed when the minibus they were travelling in was ambushed by gunmen at a checkpoint near Baghdad airport.

The 3 men, Shaikh Yahya bhai Ghulamali, Shaikh Saifuddin Qutbi (Makai) and Shaikh Husain Mohammedali were in a party of 4 Mumineen bhaiyo and 1 bahen who had set out on ziyarat of Karbala and Najaf with the niyyat of Huzurala's (tus) tuulul umr.

Shaikh Saifuddin bhai and Shaikh Husain bhai both died at the scene whilst Shaikh Yahya bhai succumbed to his injuries this morning following surgery. The other two members also suffered from gunshot wounds but are not in any danger.

Mumineen in London converged on Husaini Masjid to offer the families sympathy and support with Shahzada Ammar bhaisaheb Jamaluddin spending nearly an hour consoling them at the side of Al-Muqaddasah Busaheba's ziyarat.

Both Shaikh Saifuddin and Shaikh Husain bhai leave behind young families of 3 and 4 children repectively. Shaikh Yahya bhai also leaves a family and grandchildren with his son just recently married. The three men were dedicated servants of the community; sincere, honest and devoted. Their khidmat was performed from the heart, both physically and through their material wealth. No matter how small or large the khidmat they were on hand to do it, from arranging the parking of cars to organising the reception and ziyafat of Aqamola (tus) they were there in body and soul unfailingly. They will be sorely missed by the Mumineen of the UK and London in particular.

We offer our taaziyat, condolence and dua to the families of the deceased. They must bear with the tragedy and we wish them sabr by the Dua of Imam Husain (as) and Imam Husain's Dai (tus) in this devastating time.

The 3 men had the sharaf of ziyarat and daakhili of Imam Husain (as) in Karbala and now they are in his jiwaar for ever.


amin.

Reports from news media:
Two Britons killed in Iraq named (BBC)
Two Britons killed in Iraq ambush (Al Jazeera)
Third Briton Dies in Attack (Sky)

5 comments:

Aziz P. said...

FYI to readers, I just removed a comment, which I found objectionable because it asked about the "disturbing silence" of the Sunnis in response to eth killings.

I do not maintain that muslims are "silent" when terroists kill in their name, and I do not expect Sunnis to meet teh same absurd standard, simply by virtue of their belief, of having to answer for crimes ostensibly in their name.

No one is responsible for this but the murderers and hirabists who chose to inflict their evil. No one other than they is obligated to take responsibility, speak out or stay silent in any way.

Zack said...

Sorry to hear about the murder of your friend's father.

It shows the character of the "insurgents" that even Muslims on ziyarat are safe from them.

Razib Khan said...

condolence to all :(

Zahir said...

thats fine. I respect your right to delete that comment and perhaps even this comment. But I do believe there is a growing, lopsided annimosity against Shias in the laws of Muslims governments and in the the religious teachings found in popular Islamic books today.

As a twelver Shia, I always take it upon myself to speak out when I see my fellow Shias commiting something that I feel violates 12er Islam. This does not mean that I admit to any responsibility in that act but I do believe that I have a certain legitimacy (and responsibility) within Shia circles because of my faith.

I just conducted a year long survey of the 12er Shia community and we found that Shias were (and are) less likely to report hate crimes to national Muslim organizations. Now we can debate the semantics but clearly there is a problem with accomodating Shias. For more on this, see the Washington Post (Nov 19, B9)

I do not think this villification of Shias is accidental but rather part of a growing trend of "scholars" who are anti-Shia yet increasinly popular within Sunni circles.

If we are not responsible for the actions of our co-religionists, then who is?

Unknown said...

To call this killers Muslims is a travesty! If only they understood what the concept of Islam was? Or for that matter the purpose of Jihad which they proclaim. The only Jihad they are performing is a Jihad against their own community.