Re: The name Saddam

["Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim" <Jdibrahim@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

phoglund@xxxxxx wrote:

> Richard Fangnail wrote:
> > Why did people usually say "Saddam" instead of "Hussein"- was it just
> > so people wouldn't confuse him with King Hussein - and yet it seems
> > funny.
>
> I have heard that it is because the name "Hussein" holds strong
> religious connotations for his victims the Shi'ite Muslims. The
> Shi'ites celebrate the Ashura festival in the remembrance of the death
> of their greatest martyr, Imam Hussein, who was killed in the Battle of
> Karbala and who is a major symbol of the victims of religious
> persecution for the Shi'ites. Saddam was someone who persecuted and
> murdered Shi'ites, and it would have felt blasphemous to honor Saddam
> with the name of Hussein. For them the fact that the
> persecutor-in-chief of their co-religionists would have the same name
> as the very symbol of victimhood and righteous martyrdom probably was
> the ultimate insult.

This explanaion seems to sound plausible and the Shiites would
certainly have felt more comfortable. The reality is everybody
(including Saddam himself) used his (terrifying) first name. This is
the practice in Iraq. British queen and princes use first names as well.