Thomas Friedman proves yet again that he is not shy about showing his ignorance: on Rafidah

Given the shallowness of mind and his lack of abilities, Friedman typically takes something someone told him and builds an article about it.  Even with books: he does not read books, but interviews the author of books and asks them--given his lazy mind--to summarize the book and then writes an article about it.  Look at this: "But on the homes of Shiites they marked “Rafidha,” which means “those who reject” the Sunni line of authority as to who should be caliph, or leader of the Muslim community, after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. But here’s what was interesting, the Iraqi official said, the term “Rafidha” was largely unknown in Iraq to describe Shiites. It is a term used by Wahhabi fundamentalists in Saudi Arabia. “We did not know this word,” he told me. “This is not an Iraqi term.”"  Of course, Rafiah has has been used for centuries and not only by Wahhabis.  In fact, the term is as old as Islam itself and was originally used to refer to opposition and Mu`awiah used it about followers of `Uthman.  It is later traced to refer to Shi`ites.