on Shi`ah Islam

To: newshour@bbc.co.uk

The sacred days of Muharram, `Ashurah, and Arba`in are not properly described as "holidays" or "festivals" when referring to Shi`ah Muslims. This has been said countless times, and the listeners get the impression that the BBC doesn't really care about the quality of their reporting. With the increased availability of such satellite broadcasts as Manar, Jazeera, and `Alam, we listeners are finding it less frustrating to listen to sources which won't make the same careless and lazy errors.

Again I am telling you, for the thousandth time, it seems to me, that neither Najaf nor Karbala are the "holiest city to the Shi`ites" as your correspondant from Baghdad has just erroneously reprorted whilecovering the impending attack on Najaf by the occupying American troops. The holiest Shi`i city is Mecca, the site of Islamic Hajj and the burial site for Prophet Muhammad. The next holiest Shi`i city is Medinah, where Prophet Muhammad lived for many years. The next is Quds/Jerusalem, where Musilms believe that Prophet Muhammad was transcendentally transported in what we call Mi`raj. Then comes Najaf, then Karbala. That owuld make Najaf the FOURTH holoest city to Muslimss, NOT the first.

Do you people have something against consulting Shi`ah Muslims before you let your jaws flap like some ignoramus?