Iraq cracks down on lottery-based suicide sect that has seen dozens of deaths
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Iraq has one of the youngest populations in the world, with about 60 percent under the age of 25.
Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the country has been mired in instability, war, corruption and economic stagnation – a situation that has left many young people with little hope for their futures and or sense of purpose in their lives.
The latest movement to latch on to this sense of despair, shocking the country and prompting a fierce state crackdown, is a religious group that practices a system of lottery-based suicide.
The Allahiyah movement, also known as the Qurban (“sacrifice”) group, is thought to have formed in Basra and Dhi Qar in early 2020 and has as many as 2,500 adherents.
According to local media, the head of the movement is a cleric named Abdul Ali Munim al-Hasani, currently residing in the city of Mashhad in Iran.
Their initial activities sparked little attention, seemingly consisting of rituals and practices at least superficially akin to other Shia Islamic movements in the country.
Gatherings, posted on social media, show large groups of men dancing to loud electronic music and chanting slogans of sacrifice to Ali bin Abi Talib, cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad.
That began to change in 2021, when the first reports emerged of young men associated with the group hanging themselves in Husseiniyahs, buildings designed for Shia religious, spiritual and social gatherings.
The movement reportedly splintered from the followers of Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, an influential Shia cleric whose son Muqtada al-Sadr is one of the most powerful figures in Iraq.
Muqtada al-Sadr has, however, publicly disavowed the Allahiyah movement as “extremists” and warned against young people being attracted to it.
Adherents believe that Ali is a mystical, divine figure, akin to Jesus in Christianity.
Content retrieved from: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iraq-cracks-down-lottery-based-suicide-cult-has-seen-dozens-deaths.
