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 With civil wars in Iraq and Syria now being fought along mainly
sectarian lines, Saudi Arabia's Shi'a minority feels increasingly
vulnerable in a country where anger is rising among the majority
sect at the plight of Sunnis in other countries.
Sunni jihadis now speak about Shi'ites as a greater enemy to members
of their sect than the Western governments that were formerly their
most hated foes. The Saudi government has done little to stem a
corresponding upsurge of provocative language there, cracking down
on only extreme examples and emphasizing a shared national identity
irrespective of sect.
"For sure criticism of Shi'ites by clerics and religious television
stations creates the atmosphere where this can happen. In our own
schools the teachers tell our children that we are not Muslims,"
said a witness of the shooting who did not want to be named for fear
of repercussions.
Monday's attack took place in al-Dalwah, located in Eastern
Province's al-Ahsa, an oasis that is home to around half the
kingdom's Shi'a minority. It prompted a police manhunt that has so
far led to 20 arrests and the deaths of three suspects and two
policemen in a gunfight.
Top Sunni clerics have condemned the attack, which officials have
blamed on al Qaeda, and Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef
visited Eastern Province to offer condolences to bereaved relatives
of the victims.
Those actions have given comfort to the villagers. But some of them
believe more needs to be done to stop hostility towards members of
their sect.
"HARASSED AND INSULTED"
Saudi Arabia follows the strict Wahhabi Sunni school, which is
closely tied to the ruling Al Saud dynasty, and some of its senior
clerics have taught that Shi'ism is heretical.
Privately owned religious television stations broadcast rhetoric
against Shi'ites and influential clerics are allowed to attack the
sect on Twitter.
The day after the attack the government shut down the Wesal
religious television station that employed a cleric who was detained
last month for Tweets glorifying the killing of Shi'ites in Yemen -
but many of the sect only wonder why the station was not closed down
earlier.
"We need the government to change the school books that say Shi'ites
are bad. We need them to do more against the people on Twitter who
hate Shi'ites and encourage people to kill them," said a man
standing outside Dalwah's Shi'ite prayer hall, the Hosseiniya.
"We're not asking for them to build us places of worship, or to let
us go out onto the streets to protest. We just don't want to be
harassed and insulted by people," he added.
For the people of Dalwah, a small village clinging to the foot of
the rocky outcrop of Jebel Qara and wedged between palm-green date
farms, their horror at the attack was particularly acute because it
targeted their Ashoura commemorations.
Ashoura, the tenth day of the month of Muharram, is observed by
Shi'ites as a day of mourning for Hossein, their third Imam and the
grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who was killed by Sunni soldiers
in an early dispute about leadership of Islam.
These annual mourning rituals unite Shi'ites across the Middle East
but also anger many Sunnis, particularly those who follow Wahhabism,
who see the ostentatious displays of grief as an insult to their own
early leaders.
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As a result it is only in the Qatif district of Eastern province,
where the majority of inhabitants are Shi'a, that they are permitted
to publicly observe these rituals. In al-Ahsa, where only half the
population belongs to the sect, they are forbidden from holding
processions or displaying mourning flags. ATTACKERS "LAUGHING"
When the shooting started in al-Dalwah village, Mohammed al-Musharaf
turned to shield his one-year-old baby Bassem, shouting Don't shoot!
Don't shoot!". He saved his son, but died right there on the street,
Musharaf's brother said.
The grief in the small village, where most people are related to
each other, was obvious on Wednesday. Of a group of men and boys
standing outside the bullet-spattered Hosseiniya, no one wanted to
give their names, worried about reprisals.
"I have spoken enough. I have no words," said an elderly man in a
white robe, whose son was killed in the shooting.
A younger man said he had been standing outside the Hosseiniya when
the three militants advanced down the street towards him after
leaving their car under the trees.
"They were shooting at me and I ran with my head down and escaped.
They weren't saying anything as they were shooting but they were
laughing," he said.
Taleb al-Mutawa, a relative of some of the victims, is organizing
Friday's funeral which many thousands of people are expected to
attend.
"Everybody has condemned what happened.. People from the government
side, from the Chamber of Commerce and from big Sunni families have
said they want to participate," he added, praising the government's
response to the attack.
The Senior Council of Scholars, the top Saudi religious body,
condemned the attack as a "a heinous crime whose perpetrators
deserve the harshest religious penalties."
That message was echoed by the Grand Mufti in a television address,
saying the attack was intended "to open the door to sectarian
conflict so that we kill and destroy each other."
Mutawa, a relative to some of the victims, said he hoped the strong
government reaction after the attack would continue and would help
make things better.
"Now the blood speaks, and it says 'stop'," he said.
(Editing by Sophie Walker)
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