Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani urges Iraqis to stop fighting U.S. forces

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Nice to hear the reversal.

LONDON (Reuters) - An Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim leader has urged Iraqis not to hinder U.S. invading forces after previously asking them to resist efforts to topple President Saddam Hussein, a Shi’ite group in the UK said on Thursday.
In a religious ruling, or fatwa, Shi’ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani urged Iraqis to stop fighting in and around the Shi’ite holy shrine of Najaf, the Al Khoei foundation in London told Reuters.

Grand ayatollahs are the highest authorities in Shi’ite Islam and Sistani is the only one in Iraq. The fatwa applies nationwide.

“Until now the Shias of Iraq and the followers of Sistani were confused on whether to take up arms against the Americans, whether to fight,” said a spokesman for the foundation, which represents followers of Sistani.

“This is reassuring to everyone. The regime wanted to portray the Shias of Iraq and Sistani as supporting him (Saddam).”

Sistani is the supreme religious authority at the al-Hawza al-Ilmiyya theological school in Najaf and had been under house arrest on President Saddam Hussein’s orders.

This was the first fatwa Sistani has issued since his house arrest was recently lifted, the spokesman said, and it was expected to prompt fighters inside the holy shrine of Najaf to give themselves up within a couple of hours.

Last September Sistani issued a fatwa urging Muslims to stand united “and do their best to defend dear Iraq and protect it from the schemes of covetous aggressors.”

That was the first time this key theological school had issued such a fatwa.

Iraq is ruled by the pan-Arab Baath Party, which has traditionally espoused secular nationalist ideology, but in recent years Saddam has been encouraging Iraqis – split between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims – to turn to religion.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=2502910

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I heard that on radio too. Not sure whats the truth behind it. One Shiite leader said to fight against invasion, other (or same) is asking to not interfere. Or is it .....??

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Ali Sistani <----- Name sounds Iranian

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This article was absent one key point: it was issued after a long talk with the American representatives. I'm not implying that we threatened him or any such thing, Im sure we didn't.. but do not believe that this sprung from some spontaneous grand epiphany on his part.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by spoon: *
This article was absent one key point: it was issued after a long talk with the American representatives. I'm not implying that we threatened him or any such thing, Im sure we didn't.. but do not believe that this sprung from some spontaneous grand epiphany on his part.
[/QUOTE]

Spoon:
If I were that cleric or anyone else in Iraq, I'd have waited a good long time before issuing something that was anti-Saddam. We've seen reports of Iraqi civilians being executed by their own merely for waving at US soldiers. Whether those reports are true or not, they are certainly sobering to the people on the ground. That cleric and a lot more Shias like him were absolutely brutalized for the 1991 uprising. I'd sure want to be convinced that the US was serious about completing the job this time and sticking around for awhile before putting my neck in the noose.

This fatwa is a very courageous statement by someone who must be a very courageous man.

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And now the words from another cleric stepping up to be counted:

“Let the allied armies save this people from its occupiers (the Baghdad regime), who are not Iraqis,” said Abdul Hussein al-Quzweini, a Shi’ite cleric, in an address.

“Why are other peoples crying about the Iraqi people (during the war)?” he asked. “Where were they during 35 years when prisons and detention centers were full of Iraqis?”

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by myvoice: *
...Do they listen to Saddam the butcher's call to jihad or the religious edicts of their clerics?
[/QUOTE]

There are different "edicts".

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[quote]

This fatwa is a very courageous statement by someone who must be a very courageous man.

[/quote]

Wow! what a turn around. Thought all of em were cowardly towel heads in thier caves and all dreaming new evil...well you learn something new everyday.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by mufakkar: *
Wow! what a turn around. Thought all of em were cowardly towel heads in thier caves and all dreaming new evil...well you learn something new everyday.
[/QUOTE]

I guess you've had your head in a hole like the ostrich ... or maybe somewhere else. No one that I know of has ever said all Muslim clerics are "cowardly towel heads in their caves and all dreaming new evil."

With these Shia clerics coming out with these pro-coalition fatwas, I do expect to see many in your camp turn on your own.

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majority of the shia world wide follow Ayottallah Sistani's taqleed...like the article says Grand ayatollahs are the highest authorities in Shi'ite Islam..we believe they are the assitants of Imam Mahdi (as)

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Sheraz CT: *
majority of the shia world wide follow Ayottallah Sistani's taqleed...like the article says Grand ayatollahs are the highest authorities in Shi'ite Islam..we believe they are the assitants of Imam Mahdi (as)
[/QUOTE]

Thanks for that input. I hope the majority of Shi'ites in Iraq and elsewhere respect this fatwa.

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Sorry MV but the Fatwa has alreasdy been denied, and said nothing in this regard was issued by the cleric, in an live interview to Abudhabi TV.

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Yeah, it is all going to boil down to who can issuing a good Fatwa. Fatwas don’t bring back the dead, and it ain't going to save Saddams butt. Wonder how many Fatwa issuers have actually participated in Jihad themselves?

The final Fatwa has been issued by the US against Iraq. No more Fatwas are needed.

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see .. another speed bump in the flow of my logic..

weren’t the Iranian ‘youth’ and ‘street’ expected to renounce these ayatollah’s and revolt against them in some kind of a miracle ‘uprising’ in love for the US??

are these ayatollah’s good or bad?? or good when they issue such fatwas and bad otherwise??

should the people follow his early fatwa or this one??

what guarantees him not changing his fatwa next time he changes his abaya??

I need an aspirin :mudhosh:

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Spoon is right. Didn't you see the live CNN reporting? Ayatollah Seestani asked the huge and very angry crowd of people who had gathered and were threatening and blocking the way of the forces to the Masoleum of Imam Ali (as) to back down AFTER he recieved assurances from the "commander"/representative of the forces that they would NOT under any circumstances attempt to enter the Sanctuary of Imam Ali. Had he not intervened, the US would got the long awaited uprising much to their horror.

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[quote]

guess you've had your head in a hole like the ostrich ... or maybe somewhere else. No one that I know of has ever said all Muslim clerics are "cowardly towel heads in their caves and all dreaming new evil."

With these Shia clerics coming out with these pro-coalition fatwas, I do expect to see many in your camp turn on your own.

[/quote]

[quote]

Sorry MV but the Fatwa has alreasdy been denied, and said nothing in this regard was issued by the cleric, in an live interview to Abudhabi TV.

[/quote]

errr.... I believe the word you used was "brave" still stand by it???

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Still stand by it. As I said, I expect many in the Muslim world to turn on their own. You may choose to believe any story you want. Right now I'll believe the one that has been confirmed by a respected Shi'ite organization in London and that appears to be confirmed on the ground in Najaf where the city appears now to be in almost total control with a whole bunch of happy Shias.

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well here’s a little something from another link you quoted myvoice

Warnings of Iraqi Bombing of Shiites

But several Islamic scholars have noted that Ayatollah Sistani was not a high-level cleric in a vast network of Shiite clerics, many of whom have been supported by the regime in Baghdad

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I haven't questioned the veracity of the story, I was just showing my surprise at how you guys have this new found love for shias. Do you even know who they are and what they stand for? I wonder how long it will be for these guys to turn into those "goddamned shi'ites" once the media starts featuring organisations like Hizbbollah preparing for the next attack on Iran and/or Syria...I wonder how "brave" these people shall remain in your eyes if they ever voice support for the above.

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No love but the message was a good one. If Bin Laden calls for peace with the U.S. tonight there would no love for that man either, but I would like the message.

As far as this particular Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah I don't know enough about him, but I like his latest message.