NABI YOUNIS, Mosul— For many residents in the newly liberated eastern districts of Mosul, the half-demolished shrine of the prophet Nabi Younis is a reminder of a more harmonious time.
On July 2014, one of the first actions that the Islamic militants carried out when they arrived in Mosul was the demolition of the shrine highly revered by Muslims, Christians and Yezidis for many centuries.
The Nabi Younis shrine was built on the reputed burial site of a prophet known in the Koran as Yunus and in the Bible as Jonah dating back to the 8th century BC. It was one of more than 30 shrines, as well as 15 Shiite husseiniyas and mosques, levelled in and around Mosul.
Demographically, the eastern parts of the city are notably different from other more Sunni inhabited neighborhoods. Districts around the Nabi Younis shrine include intertwined communities of Shiites, Sunnis, Yezidis, Christians, Turkmen and Kurds who have shared the area in peace for countless generations.
Many of the families here have established deep relations with other ethnic groups often through marriages and kinship over the past years. It would be a difficult task to make out different nationalities or faiths among residents here merely by their appearance or language.
“I wear Arabic clothes, but I am Kurdish. Here ethnicity and faiths have no divisive power. The Shiite and Sunnis have no problem with one another, the problem is merely politics, not us,” said Abu Shirin a Kurdish resident of Nabi Younis neighbourhood wearing a traditional Arabic outfit.
“The Kurds were more repressed in the past when Saddam was in power,” said Bahzad, a Kurdish vendor, referring to the former Iraqi ruler. “But ISIS made no distinction. It killed every one, Kurds, non-Kurds,” he continued.
The Iraqi government has said it will dedicate a budget to rebuild the religious sites destroyed by ISIS around the country. Although for many residents in Mosul, the priority is security and the resumption of basic services like running water and electricity.
“We will earn our livelihood anyway possible, but we can’t do that if we have no security or lack running water,” said Malik, a construction worker making 25,000 dinars ($20) a day rebuilding destroyed homes.
“That’s what we need; water, electricity and some security,” he added.
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