According to a report published on Alarabiya’s website, some Iraqi businessmen are planning to build Jordan’s first Shia mosque in Amman’s Abdoun neighborhood on land worth more than 3 million US dollars. The article states that these businessmen approached Jordan’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs to get approval for building the mosque. The ministry hasn’t confirmed this report yet. The article also went on to say that a number of Shia in Jordan are working to establish an organization called Imam Al Hussein organization.
Interesting! The Shia population in Jordan is very small, almost unnoticeable as according to this report, Jordan’s Sunnis constitute 95% of the population. Since Jordan is currently moving down the path of reform, then I believe religious tolerance should be part of the package. I know this might be a sensitive topic in Jordan, but in my humble opinion I think allowing different religious denominations a place for their particular place of worship is a real strong step in the right direction.
I think this is good news, if the Ministry approves it. Of course, ideas of religious pluralism should be more attentive to other groups and not just to intra-Islamic currents, but I guess something like this is at least a first step.
What are the basic differences between Shiite and Sunnis ? Briefly ? Excuse my ignorance !
Its about time. Anyways, i think the number of Jordanian Christians is always for some reason shown as smaller that it really is. I figured they would ban religion after this whole november 11 thing but i guess i was wrong.
Well, it’s not that the government is being too kind!It’s the Shiitte’s right, wither they are Jordanians or residence(Iraqis) of Jordan!
I hope that it won’t turn like Iraq’s Shiite mosques….u know,the civil war between “Arab Sunni” and “Iraqi Shiite” won’t shift to our grounds.
[Arab Sunni is what the media refers to Iraqi Sunnis,though they insist on using ARab Sunni and Iraqi Shiite, makes u wonder?]
Thanks Nas for the link and the information on the Karak shrine. That was interesting.
Ok, in Mazar Al-Sharif (kerak) there is of course the Sahaba (Prophet’s Companions) Shrines Complex which has all the burried companions who were martyred during the Muta battle (there is actually a famous modern day keraki ghost story about this but thats for another time). Of the companions is of the famous Jafar Al-Tayar, who is of importance in the shia’ sect.
The shia’ of iraq and iran like to visit these shrines so the jordanian government has been recently rennovating the area for the increased tourism. They are paying millions to build a huge building there that has a museum and what not. There’s a deal signed some time ago with the Iranian government to accomodate their shia’ tourists.
See the last time I was there was at least 5 years ago where I saw many shia’ at the mosque, I concluded this must be a mosque for them.
I’ve asked a contact in the government who said plainly there hasn’t been a shia’ mosque because there have never been enough shia’ in the country. Although now with the Iraqis and the war, things have become a little long term.
Natasha, it’s the third article here.
I’ll try and look up the other mosque.
Religious-wise I don’t think Sunnis would object building a Shia mosque. Some have hard feeling because of what’s going on in Iraq, but it’s political.
The number of Shiites in Jordan is increasing (because of the increasing number of Iraq) however there is almost no Jordanina Shiites, and there’a difference. Sine none of Jordanian sare Shiites, no Shiie will hold any political or governmental position in Jordan, so we won’t have any of the tension they have in IRaq.
Finally, the Shiite’s religious freedom was suppressed under Saddam’s rule and the contributes to their uprise in Iraq. Nothing like that happened in Jordan, it was never an issue.
Dear Nas,
Thank you for drawing my attention to the establishment of the church court for the Coptic community in Jordan.. Where can I find this report? Somehow I missed it. I’d appreciate it if you can provide me with a link for the story. I’m very interested in it.
Shia mosque in Karak? That’s interesting, so you think the reporter who wrote the article got it wrong. If we can prove it maybe we should send Alrabiya an e-mail or something.
Well …
First, in terms of religious freedoms, it will be a lot tougher after the attacks, especially on the Muslim community, and especially (i emphasize) on Islamic charities. Also you won’t be seeing a hindu temple anytime soon, it will stick to christian and islamic i.e. state recognised religions, instead, which is fine with me.
Second, dont quote me on this just because im keraki, but I believe Jordan has a shia’ mosque in kerak and it’s rather big. So it wont be jordan’s first
Third, while the population is overwhelmingly sunni, there are 500,000 Iraqis in the country and I’m guessing a portion of them is shia’, I saw a group of them praying at the Kathem mosque in Dayer Ighbar last summer.
Fourth, the sunni vs. shia’ thing is practically non existant in Jordan. The sunnis in Jordan are probably the most moderate in the Muslim world or at least the Arab world in the sense that we dont have that takfiri mindset of “if you dont believe my Islam you are not a Muslim”, which resonates in the gulf countries where the shia’ are oppressed.
Fifth, bigger news than this mosque is being reported and I was suprised that you didn’t blog it Natasha. The Jordanian government has given its approval to the Coptic Orthodox bishop in Amman for the establishment of a church court for the Coptic community in Jordan.