Libyan Sufi shrine, library destroyed by fundamentalist Muslims

In Zliten, Libya, a Sufi shrine and a historical library, containing years of religious and academic writing, were both destroyed, Al Jazeera reports.

Witnesses say that an armed group claiming to be Salafi carried out the assault on the Sufi shrine, which is the tomb of al-Asmar, a 15th century Muslim scholar.  The library was burned, reducing its valuable contents to ash.

The Salafi are fundamentalist Muslims who believe that the religious practice of Sufism includes the worship of idols.

The military says that those responsible took advantage of sectarian fighting in the city.  The government condemned the attacks, but witnesses report that security forces stood by and just let the destruction go ahead.


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D. Beeksma

One of the growing crowd of American "nones" herself, Deborah is a prolific writer who finds religion, spirituality and the impact of belief (and non-belief) on culture inspiring, fascinating and at times, disturbing. She hosts the God Discussion show and handles the site's technical work. Her education and background is in business, ecommerce and law.

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  • http://www.houseofbetazed.com Mriana

    Shades of the Alexandria Library.

  • aziz

    great job,,,

  • http://atlantarofters.blogspot.com The Sanity Inspector

    And the Touareg jihadists are doing the same thing in Timbuktu. How awful! "The tree is known by its fruit."