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| Africa North |
| Damage to Libya shrines prompts crisis |
| 2012-08-27 |
| The destruction recently of several archaeologically significant Sufi shrines in northwestern Libya, with the apparent acquiescence of members of the security forces, has prompted a political crisis and underscored the threat radical Islamists pose to democracy there and elsewhere in the Arab world. Puritanical Muslims who call themselves Salafists, or companions of the Prophet Mohammed, badly damaged major religious sites in the north western town of Zlitan and in the capital, Tripoli. Another Sufi tomb was damaged late on Saturday in the city of Misurata. The sites are revered by Sufis, a branch of Islam known for its moderation but considered heretical by Salafists, who are closely associated with the Wahabbi form of Islam propagated by Saudi Arabia |
| Posted by:tipper |