I MET YOU AT THE CEMETERY GATES

Saddam Hussein’s campaign to kill Shia Muslims, ban Shia practices and literally execute/detain Shias which violated those bans was only years ago. Today, an army called ISIS seeking to “cleanse” Shias from the muslim world exists in the same country carrying out massive attacks against shia shrines–there are literal shia muslim families pretending to be sunni in order to remain alive. In Bahrain, Shia Muslims do not have the same rights as their sunni counterparts; they cannot join the police force, army, are refused immigration on the basis of their (notably shia) names, cannot work/live in certain areas, and despite making up 70% of the population, only comprise <18% of the government. In Malaysia being Shia is illegal. depending where you are, Shia muslims are actually rounded up and thrown in jails should they violate those laws/preach shiism/declare their Shiism. Shia villages in indonesia were burned down shias were literally burned alive just in 2012. In Pakistan, several anti-shia terrorist outfits–many enabled by the government–are proudly “expunging shias” from the country via literal assassination and mass attacks in Shia neighbourhoods, mosques and shrines etc. Hazaras have been extensively, inhumanely persecuted and face death not only at the hands of extremists, but at the hands of the state which seeks to revoke their rightful citizenship and place them in harm’s way. In Nigeria, Shia muslims are persecuted by government forces and hundreds were shot and killed in 2015 alone. 

تعلم دينك، لا ترث عليه Learn your religion, do not inherit it.

Cities of the Levant