The thing that hath been,
it is that which shall be;
and that which is done is that which shall be done:
and there is no new thing under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9
"Iraq..... the country and prompting a fierce state crackdown, is a religious group that practices a system of lottery-based suicide. The Allahiyah movement, also known as the Qurban ("sacrifice") group, is thought to have formed in Basra and Dhi Qar in early 2020 and has as many as 2,500 adherents..... the head of the movement is a cleric named Abdul Ali Munim al-Hasani, currently residing in the city of Mashhad in Iran.
Gatherings, posted on social media, show large groups of men dancing to loud electronic music and chanting slogans of sacrifice to Ali bin Abi Talib, cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
That began to change in 2021, when the first reports emerged of young men associated with the group hanging themselves in Husseiniyahs, buildings designed for Shia religious, spiritual and social gatherings.
The movement reportedly splintered from the followers of Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, an influential Shia cleric whose son Muqtada al-Sadr is one of the most powerful figures in Iraq. Muqtada al-Sadr has, however, publicly disavowed the Allahiyah movement as "extremists" and warned against young people being attracted to it.
Adherents believe that Ali is a mystical, divine figure, akin to Jesus in Christianity.
"We believe that Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, peace be upon him, is God incarnate on Earth, and that sacrifices must be offered to him in order to gain his satisfaction and forgiveness," a member of the Qurban group told HuffPost Iraq in June.....on June 16 security forces arrested an official of the movement in Dhi Qar Governorate while he was in the eastern Hamza district on his way to Karbala governorate. After being interrogated he confessed to having killed two family members as "sacrifices".
In May, four different Allahiyah followers were involved in suicide incidents across Dhi Qar, including a 15-year-old boy who reportedly died after hanging himself with electrical wire.
According to Al Sumaria News, in recent months Iraqi authorities have recorded at least 25 suicide cases among the ranks of the Qurban group. An operation has been launched to suppress the group's activities, leading to the arrest of many of its members.
Following the killings in Dhi Qar, the governorate's police arrested a further six members of the group, who they said had convinced three of their followers to kill themselves."
ZeroHedge