Ways to avoid Shi'ite death squads in Iraq.

Here's an item from a list of pointers to Iraqi Sunnis on how to avoid being a victim of Shi`ite death squads:

Learn how to curse Yazid and Mu‘awiya and Bani Umayya [early Sunni caliphs hated by the Shias] and in the way the Shias do.

The Umayyad Caliphate began in 661 A.D., the same year that Ali ibn Abi Talib was assassinated. Somehow this ignited Shia Muslim resentment that has lasted for centuries. Apparently Shias to this day go around cursing these early Umayyad Caliphs. This would mean that something that happened 1,345 years ago still requires Shias to go around cursing long-dead Muslims as part of their Muslim identity.

Wouldn't you think an American a little strange if he went around cursing Benedict Arnold for his treason back in the 18th century? And that was only about 227 years ago, over a thousand years shy of the Sunni depredations of 661. Equally strange would be Englishmen still cursing George Washington for his part in separating the Colonies from England, which transgression is still only like yesterday in the Grand Scheme of Things^TM from what we can see.

Forgive us if we take any form of Muslim "outrage" with a grain of salt. Making hatred of these guys an article of faith in your religion is as dumb as our being torqued over the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 642 A.D.

Which is not to say that Muslims can't have fresh grievances. However, there does appear to be something in the Shia soul, at a minimum, that doesn't grasp the concept "Get over it!"

"Passing." Daniel Pipes' Weblog, 8/15/06 (bracketed comments in original).