Why was the destruction of the Shi'i
mosque at Samarra* so important?

The history of Sunni Islam is actually the history of the oppression of the Shia, their martyrdoms and burial places. Places like Saudi Arabia to this day do not allow anyone to have a marker or headstone on a grave. This is related to the fact that they simply do not want anyone to know what it is that they did to the earliest followers of the Sunnah of the prophet Mohamed (SA) who are known as Shi'i. I actually lived just down the road from a Saudi graveyard and the people there used to stack rocks on top of the graves hoping against hope to be able to one day come back and be able to recognize where their baby or granny was buried. It is truly unfair and all due to an oppression that seeks to hide the past from us all, their past. The Sunni Oppressor past and as well, to disguise the present from modern observers who would really like an explanation.

The hoary details:

"Gathering the people who lived there, Imam Husain (A) asked the name of the place. Some said that it was called Naynava, others said it was also called Mariya. Imam Husain (A) asked if there was any other name. Someone said it was also known as Shattul Furaat. Then one old man came forward and said that he had heard his ancestors say that one name for this area was Karbala.

When Imam Husain (A) heard this, he smiled and thanked Allah and then said, "Surely this is the plain where my Holy Grandfather has prophesied that I, with my faithful companions shall lay slain after suffering three days of hunger and thirst. We will not move from here - we have reached our destination."

Imam Husain (A) then ordered for his caravan to stop and tents were pitched next to the banks of the river Euphrates.

The caravan of Imam Husain (A) had arrived in Karbala and their tents were pitched next to the river Euphrates. As his companions settled down, Imam Husain (A) took his brother Abbas (A) around the barren desert and pointed out the various places where each of his comrades would fall and be slain on the Day of Ashura.

The people living in the area were from the tribe of Bani Asad. Imam Husain (A) purchased the land of Karbala from them and then gifted it back to them. He then addressed the men of Bani Asad saying, "On the tenth of this month you will see our dead bodies lying on this plain with our heads severed and taken away. Please bury us, and when our devotees come to visit our graves, treat them with honour and point out to them the places of our burial." He then turned to the women of the tribe and said, "O virtuous ladies! If your husbands, fearing Yazid, do not bury us, then please encourage them to do so or do it yourselves." Finally, he turned to the children of Bani Asad and said, "O innocent ones! If your parents, out of fear of the ruler, do not bury us then, by way of playing, bring some earth and throw it on our bodies to hide them." This heartrending appeal of Imam Husain (A) made all the listeners weep. "

For part of the entire story of Kerbala:

http://www.shianews.com/hi/articles/islam/0000082.php

Other chapters appear on the Shia News site and each one is equally delectable and agreed upon by all muslims be they Sunni or Shi'i.

Notes on the shrine at Samarra:

http://www.al-islam.org/shrines/samarra.htm

Perhaps non muslims will soon begin to understand why the Shi'i perform self flagellation during Ashura (Muharram 10) and will recognize what kind of disaster that the US has facilitated (in Iraq where Kerbala is located) out of both ignorance and greed...and either knowingly or unknowingly..it doesn't really matter now whose fault it "is". Because it is.