Fahad Desmukh Profile picture
Sep 13, 2020 12 tweets 3 min read Read on X
This is a good summary by @cybertosser of the factors for the timing of this sectarian upsurge. While the factors related to political economy are of course paramount, the role of social media has also created a novel situation that is particularly worrying because... 1/n
2/ Unlike earlier when rival scholars would have to pore over each others' dense technical volumes to find something that could be deemed heretic, now a lay Sunni sitting at home anywhere can watch a Shia majlis pretty much anywhere streamed live. And within a few hours...
3/ bite sized clips from the majlis are uploaded to social media for easy consumption. It may be possible for a well meaning Sunni to set aside the cursing of some of the Sahaba because those zakirs are often labelled "extremists" by orthodox Shias themselves...
4/ But there are some aspects of Sunni and Shia ideology that are just not compatible, and social media is bringing these differences right into the open at a vernacular level. So as we saw this year, a Shia zakir was arrested not for saying something "extreme"...
5/ but for reciting the Ziarat Ashura, a very mainstream Shia prayer attributed to Imam Baqir (the fifth Twelver imam and Hussain's grandson). The prayer includes sections cursing those responsible for the tragedy of Karbala and who opposed...
6/ the prophets's family generally according to tradition. The prayer specifically names Yazid, Muawiya, Abu Sufyan and the Umayyad clan generally and curses them for their actions. This opens a can of worms for the Sunni because it cannot be argued...
7/ that this prayer is only recited by "extremist" Shias. I dont want to get into the historicity of the sources, but suffice to say in the view of most Sunnis, Muawiya could not have been bad as he was a Companion of the Prophet and his chosen scribe.
8/ These contradictions in history are real. The Prophet's scribe Muawiya and the Prophet's dear cousin and son in law Ali went to war at Siffin. The Prophet's wife Aisha and his companions Talha & Zubayr went to war with Ali during Jamal...
9/ And these 1400 year old disputes are now playing out in the comments sections of youtube, facebook & twitter. The situation isnt symmetric. By virtue of being a minority community, Shias are generally more familiar with Sunni thought & practice than vice versa
10/ In fact, a few months ago when a dispute came to light on social media on the question of Fadak, zakir Asif Raza Alvi welcomed the threats of legal action because he wanted the 1400 yr old dispute of Fadak to be decided in a Pakistani court using historical sources!
10/ So while the state-backed gun-toting sectarian groups are the most immediate danger, I fear the potential of more widespread sectarian strife at a community level, when it will not just be the extremists of each side, but friends and neighbors fighting each other also ...
11/ because of this environment created by social media.

I might delete this thread later as I dont want to die 😬🙏

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More from @desmukh

May 17
Two days ago, the Israeli PM's official spokesperson @ofirgendelman shared a video of a "Hamas child actor in Gaza" claiming that Palestinians are faking their own injuries in the ongoing genocide of Gaza. But he's lying. Let's debunk it in this thread (credit to @misbarfc)🧵 1/

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2/ The original clip was shared by Palestinian videographer and journalist Mahmoud Maher Zaqout from his TikTok account over two years ago on Feb 15, 2022:

tiktok.com/@m_zaqout/vide…


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3/ Later, videographer Mahmoud Zaqout would share a trailer from his Instagram account for a film titled "The Covenant" ("العهد") with a release date of March 1, 2022, about firefighters injured in the line of duty:

instagram.com/p/CafRJL3gEwb/


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Read 8 tweets
Mar 22, 2023
PTI has hired yet another another US lobbyist to improve Imran Khan's relationship with Washington. This time it is Praia Consultants LLC run by former Serbian ambassador Vladimir Petrović at a cost of US$8,333 per month 🧵1/4 efile.fara.gov/docs/6857-Exhi…
2/4 The new PTI contract with Praia seems to be a replacement for Fenton/Arlook LLC (renamed South/North Communications) who were hired by PTI USA in Aug 2022 for public relations at a cost of US$25,000 per month
efile.fara.gov/docs/6972-Exhi…
3/4 This overlaps with a separate contract between former Special Assistant to PM Imran Khan @IftikharDurani and ex-CIA officer Robert Grenier for a fee of US$25,000. Initially contracted in May 2021 but renewed again in June 2022
efile.fara.gov/docs/6979-Exhi…
efile.fara.gov/docs/6979-Exhi…
Read 5 tweets
Feb 18, 2023
🧵 Raag Bhairavi & the Essence of Hindustan 🎶

1/ This is the Bollywood song "Tu Hindu Banega na Musalman Banega" written by Sahir Ludhianvi and composed by N Datta for the classic anti-communal film Dhool ka Phool (1959)

2/ ☝️ This song was composed in Raag Bhairavi -- arguably the most widely used raag in Hindustani music.

In this thread, we'll survey how cultures across historic Hindustan's geographic, ethnic and linguistic diversity have all turned to Raag Bhairavi to express their ideas
3/ The thread is a continuation of, and will follow the same pattern as, my earlier thread about the Raag melodic framework itself (using Raag Bhimpalasi). See below if you haven read it 👇

Read 22 tweets
Dec 4, 2021
In this video, the perpetrators of the Sialkot "blasphemy" lynching proudly justify their act by citing a relatively obscure (until recently) hadith:

"مَنْ سَبَّ نَبِیًّا فَاقْتُلُوْہٗ"
"Kill the one who insults the Prophet"

How did this hadith become popularised? A thread 🧵
2/ As far as I can gather Khadim Hussain Rizvi and TLP pretty much single-handedly gave this obscure hadith mass currency.

Listen to this speech by Khadim Rizvi
3/ Then, over the last year or so, pro-TLP social media accounts began sharing content from these speeches about the hadith.

Here is an entire song and music video about it:
Read 11 tweets
Oct 10, 2021
Defining Hindustan Through Raag 🧵

1/ This is the racy iconic Bollywood song "Tu cheez badi hai mast mast". It might not look very classical, but the melody is based in the Hindustani classical music system using Raag Bhimpalasi...

2/ In this thread I want to explore how deeply and widely South Asian musical culture has been informed by the raag system. I want make the case that one can even use it to define the bounds of what we call "South Asia" or rather "Hindustan"...
3/ From Kabul to Chittagong, from Kathmandu to Kerala (or further to Colombo), classical musicians can converse fluently through the language of raag.

Eg this is the Peshawar based Rubab maker and player Ustaz Sarparaz playing in Raag Bhimpalasi also
Read 23 tweets
Mar 28, 2021
The festival of #Holi in Indo-Muslim music 🧵

1/ Kaafi by Bulleh Shah "Hori khelungi keh bismillah" with a beautiful incorporation of a Quranic verse

«اَلَستُ بِرَبِّکُم» پریتم بولے سب سکھیاں نے گنگھٹ کھولے

«قالُوا بلیٰ» ہی یوں کر بولے لا الہ الا اللہ
2/ "Alastu bu rabbikum" (from Quran 7:172) is usually interpreted as the primordial questioning of human souls by Allah asking "Am I not your Lord". Bulleh Shah has visualized this scene as an ecstatic celebration akin to Holi celebrations...
3/ The performance above is by Madan Gopal Singh. Here is a slightly Urdufied qawwali adaptation of the same Bulleh Shah Holi poem performed in Bihar by Meraj Afzaly:

Read 7 tweets

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