Kareem Shaheen “Isis destroys historic Christian and Muslim shrines in northern Iraq” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/20/isis-destroys-historic-christian-muslim-shrines-iraq
ISISは３月19日、イラク北部Hamdaniya地区*1でシーア派及び基督教の「聖なる場所（holy sites)」を破壊したことを示す写真を公開した。
この記事からは、何処のシーア派のモスクが破壊されたのかという固有名はわからない。
One photograph released by Isis showed a fighter holding the group’s banner above the dome of a Shia mosque that had been ransacked. Others showed the militants holding banners portraying Imam Hussein, the prophet Muhammad’s grandson and one of the most revered figures in Shia Islam, with captions describing them as evidence of “shirk” or association with God, a charge equivalent to apostasy.Another photograph showed a bearded militant laying explosives in a Shia mosque.
A series of images also showed the total destruction of what appears to be the tomb of Mar Behnam, a fourth-century site built by the Assyrian king Senchareb and maintained by the Syriac Orthodox church, with nothing left in the wake except rubble. The fate of the nearby Mar Behnam monastery, built in the 12th century as a retreat for Christians to “renew their faith”, is unknown, said Patriarch Ignatius, who returned on Thursday from a visit to Syria.
Mar Behnamの墓の破壊。『ガーディアン』の記事では、墓に「隣接するMar Behnam修道院の帰趨は不明」となっているが、他紙の記事及びWikipediaによれば、ISISは修道院それ自体を破壊している*2 。
Mar Behnamは異教徒である父親のアッシリア王 Sencharebに殺された殉教者。Wikipediaからちょっと切り抜き；
Mar Behnam was born in the 4th century to Sennacherib II, the Assyrian pagan king of Asuristan. During a hunting trip at Mount Alfaf he met Mar Mattai where he was converted to Christianity and became a disciple of Mar Mattai. He later brought his sister Sara to be healed of leprosy and they were both baptised alongside Behnam's forty companions.Upon learning of his children's conversion, Sennacherib attempted to convince them to denounce their faith, however they fled to Mar Behnam's hermitage. The king sent soldiers to intercept them who killed his children and their forty companions on a hill near Nimrud. The king later regretted his actions and was himself baptised by Mar Mattai. He also built a monastery on the mount where Mar Mattai healed his daughter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar_Behnam_Sahada
In the 6th century, a Persian merchant built a shrine on the hill where Mar Behnam died, this later became a large monastery that came to be administered by the Jacobites until 1839 when it was passed to Syriac Catholics. The monastery is traditionally administered by an abbot from Bakhdida.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar_Behnam_Sahada
修道院の起源について、記述に食い違いがあるようだ。どちらがほんとうなのかはわからない。また、修道院がどの教団に属しているのかについても混乱してしまった。「シリア正教会（ the Syriac Orthodox church）*3によって維持され」とあるが、現在は「シリア・カトリック教会（Syriac Catholic church）」*4に属している。記事の中でコメントを行っている 「イグナティウス長老」は「シリア・カトリック教会」の「アンティオキア長老」。「シリア・カトリック教会」はヴァティカンからは独立しているが羅馬教皇とはフル・コミュニオンの関係にある。
The monastery was built in the 4th century by an Assyrian king named Senchareb as a penance for killing his son Behnam and daughter Sarah after they converted to Christianity.The monastery, after its establishment continued its work and contributed greatly to the Christian world under the care of the Syriac Orthodox Church. Sculptures in the church show that renovations were done in 1164 and between 1250-1261. Records show that the monastery suffered greatly during the period from 1743 - 1790 which was due to attacks carried out by Nader Shah the then muslim ruler of Persia against the Christians in the region.
The monks of the monastery established contact with Rome in the 18th century, which led to the gradual conversion of inhabitants of Beth Khdeda to the Syriac Catholic Church.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar_Behnam_Monastery
さて、 イグナティウス長老はISISとともに「西側」も激しく批判している；
また、Mar Behnamの墓は基督教とともにアッシリア文化にも属している。アッシリア人としての反応；
The patriarch had received news of the site’s destruction two weeks ago, but it was confirmed with the release of the images.The patriarch derided what he described as the “machiavellian” strategy, hypocrisy and lies of the coalition fighting Isis, saying western states must block the group’s provisions of arms and financing. He described the seizure of Nineveh by Isis as a conspiracy in which the west is complicit.
“These states that say they have values and principles should not have left them to come,” he said, adding that Christians were being evicted from their ancestral homes across the Middle East.
ISISは今月に入ってから、ニムルドとハトラという古代都市遺跡を破壊し*6、さらに古代アッシリア帝国の首都ドゥル＝シャルキン*7の破壊にも手をつけている*8。
“This piece of history cannot be recreated,” said Diana Yaqco, a spokeswoman for A Demand for Action*5, an organisation campaigning for Assyrian rights, describing the latest attack. “[Isis] not only despises our religious beliefs but our literature, arts, and history which is irreplaceable and one of a kind.”She added: “We call on the responsible organisations to put an end to this. Or we as a people will be wiped out completely along with our churches, buildings and history all together. We will become rubble and dust and make no mistake the world leaders and international community will be judged for watching it all happen right before their eyes.”
*1:See eg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Hamdaniya_District
*2:See eg. Heatrher Saul “Isis militants blow up 4th-century Christian Mar Behnam monastery in Iraq” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-militants-blowup-ancient-4th-century-christian-mar-behnam-monastery-in-iraq-10123238.html John Hall “ Another blow to Christianity and civilisation: ISIS destroy 4th Century Mar Benham monastery in Iraq” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3002530/Another-blow-Christianity-civilisation-ISIS-destroy-4th-Century-Mar-Benham-monastery-Iraq.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar_Behnam_Monastery
*3:http://syrian-orthodox.com/ See eg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriac_Orthodox_Church http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B7%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E6%AD%A3%E6%95%99%E4%BC%9A
*4:http://syr-cath.org/ See eg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriac_Catholic_Church
*5:http://www.ademandforaction.com/
*6:See http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20150309/1425838986
*7:See eg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dur-Sharrukin http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%89%E3%82%A5%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%83%AB%E3%82%AD%E3%83%B3
*8:See eg. Kareem Shaheen “Isis ransacking of ancient Assyrian city confirmed by Iraq's head of antiquities” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/12/isis-ransack-ancient-assyrian-city-confirmed-iraq-head-of-antiquities-dur-sharrukin Sameer N. Yacoub “Iraq probes reports of ancient site destruction” http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/03/08/ancient-site-khorsabad-attacked-by-islamic-state-reports.html
