SAUDI ARABIA'S COSTLY AND UNPRODUCTIVE ARMS RACE VS IRAN

[Aramagedon]

Why are you not writing Arabs with a capital letter?

Look 15-20% of KSA's population is made up by Shias. In comparison there are almost no Shias in Morocco, West Sahara, Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Oman, Qatar, UAE, Syria etc. The only Arab countries with a sizable Shia community are Iraq, small but beautiful Lebanon (local population only 2 million big if we exclude the Palestinians and now Syrians), Bahrain (700.000 locals only), Kuwait (40% of the only 2 million or so locals), Yemen (Zaydi) and finally KSA. In terms of numbers there are only more Shias in Iraq and Yemen than in KSA of any country in the Arab world.

Shias in KSA have only been attacked 2-3 times in their history for the past 82 years. All by less than 10 ISIS lunatics. Despite KSA being situated in the middle of a very volatile region.

Also you forget that there is also a minority of people in Iran who hate Sunnis and that the regime in Iran is not always favorable to their Sunni communities. However it makes no sense to generalize.

Really? Then I do not understand why you insult Arabs as Iranian Arabs are famous for their hospitality in Iran. I have even watched reports about this and seen other Iranian users here say the same thing.

Because you think you are really a very very very great nation. Someone must inject in your balloon and show reality to you.

 

[Arabian Stallion]

Because you think you are really a very very very great nation. Someone must inject in your balloon.

First of all I never talk about modern nation states (which all states in the MENA region are) but rather the history of those lands (Arab world) and its people. Borders, dynasties, countries, entities come and go but the lands, their history and people remain the same by large.

As for your comment this is only something that you have told yourself because there are many faults in KSA and it is FAR from being a perfect country but the situation is the same with every other country in the MENA region and the world for that matter. Besides I very often critize events in KSA and the Arab world. Lastly what you say can be said about you and many Iranians as well. We must understand that most people in the Middle East are proud people and that a forum like PDF often strengthens those notions due to its nature.

Anyway I hope that you read my post which was solely based on factual information which you can study yourself and confirm its authenticity.

Lastly as for Shias, there are more Shias in the Arab world than in Iran (if you do not know this) and almost every holy site of Shia Islam is located in the Arab world. Shia Islam originated in Hijaz and the oldest Shia communities in the world are found in KSA. The one in Madinah being the oldest. Besides I am a Hashemite and thus it would be absolutely pointless for me to hate Shia Muslims. To begin with I do not hate any sect let alone religion. At most disagree.

Also we should make a clear distinction between Wilayat al-Faqih and Shia Islam just as we need to make a clear distinction between KSA's current official clergy and Sunni Islam.

In fact Islam is much more than Sunni or Shia Islam and politics. Here I am talking about Islam and its teachings in their pure form. In fact Sunni and Shia Islam are human constructs and let us not even discuss the actions of past and present Muslim rulers.

Lastly @2800 let us end the silly hostilities once and for all. They are of no use. I know that we both in reality have no problems as we have had many, many cordial discussions but due to a few political disagreements, we at times end up having silly discussions that evolve into what we have seen in this thread. Anyway I wish you and your loved ones a blessed and happy Eid al-Fitr.

 

[Ceylal]

Berbers have a Yemeni descent, they are called Amazigh in North Africa and they came from an Area in Yemen called Amazight ! hence, very related to Arabs, they were mainly Pagans, christians and Jews, before the Islamic Foutouhat..some tribes have given the Arab muslims a hard time, but most tribes accepted Islam wholeheartedly..

Absolutely false they have nothing to do with Yemen or Arabs..

Berber Origins & Fake Genealogies
The Berbers’ supposed Iberian, Cretan, Canaanite or/and Yemenite origins are wholly unfounded, if not colonially impostored to divide and ruin, as anthropologists and historical linguists are increasingly pointing to the native nature of the Berbers. Regarding Ibn Khaldun's widely-quoted Berber ancestors, Olwen Brogan points out that his genealogies are “as artificial as are most similar genealogies.” While specific Oric Bates states that ”The literary opinion generally current among the Arab writers acknowledged several lines of descent for the various groups of Berbers, each group being referred to an imaginary, and usually eponymous, ancestor.”

The histories of al-Bakari and Ibn Qotaybah (who identified the Berbers with the vanquished Philistines and the giant Goliath) Ibn Khaldun calls a "mistake". So are those genealogies tracing the Berbers to Yemen, H'imir or Ber-Bin-Qis, which according to the anonymous author of Mafakher Al-Barbar (‘The Boasts of the Berbers') are false and exist only in the minds of "jahilite" (1312 AD, p. 78).

In relation to the Berbers' Canaanite origin, who adopted the language of the conquered Hamites, myth has it both Phoenix and Cadmus were the sons of Agenor, the son of goddess "Libya" by Poseidon, who left Egypt to settle in the land of Canaan; and thus one reads in Genesis (09: 22): “Ham [is] the father of Canaan” (not vice versa). Unfortunately, both sources are now deemed by science unfit to recorded history; while the science of linguistics does confirm Hamitic languages are much older than both Semitic and Indo-European languages.

It is probably because of these and similar other influences, like Oric Bates had said, “The Byzantine historian Procopius has, like Sallust, preserved a story of African origins which reflect this tendency on the part of the Libyans to relate their remote ancestry to Asia Minor.”

In fact Ibn Khaldun himself, nearly 700 years ago, made it clear that people "chose" to relate their origin to Semitic ancestors because Sam had five profits when Ham had none. One can only wish prosperity for the "chosen ones", and equally hope mercy and forgiveness for the "cursed" son of Ham – the "servant of servants" Genesis says (09:25).

In addition to the above genealogies, relating our biological origin to eponymous male-ancestors, "mitochondrial DNA" genes trace all modern humans back to one female ancestor scientists called "African Eve", who lived 100,000 years ago, in, Africa.