It all began with a plea to Sistani from a group of well known and respected scholars. They argued that there needs to be congregational prayers held at the shrine of Imam Ali and that it was a shame no one has been leading the prayers. Sistani listened carefully took it on himself to make sure a short-list of men was carefully studied in order to pick a single scholar to lead the prayers. Eventually they decided on Mohammed Taqi al-Hakim, the younger brother of the other Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim.
On thursday last week he led the prayers at the shrine courtyard which was packed and people had to line up on the streets to pray. The Sadrists saw this and were incensed. A scholar from a rival 'clan' was attracting too much attention on their doorstep (Moqtada's office is only several yards away from the door of the shrine) and they were not going to stay quiet.
They let it go the first day but the next day when the elderly Mohammed Taqi al-Hakim approached the shrine with his modest security detail (I have bumped into him several times in Najaf and I see one, and sometimes two, armed men following several paces behind him) the Sadrists in typical mob fashion blocked his access to the shrine and ordered him to go away.
Next a message was sent to the office of Sistani, which is also very close to the shrine. The words left no one in doubt of just how angry the Sadrists were. "If he comes again we will shed blood [that will flood] up to the knees".
Mohammed Ridha al-Sistani, the Grand Ayatollah's son, and most probably on the orders of Sistani himself, told Mohammed Taqi al-Hakim to stop praying at the shrine to avert a potential catastrophe.
The Sadrist mob effectively vetoed the highest office in the Shia clerical heirachy and forced Sistani to cave in under their pressure. Many moderate scholars in Najaf are furious that Sistani has appeased the Sadrists in such an open way and rightly argue the Sadrists will just get bolder and bolder until they claim the entire city when it will be too late to do anything about it.
Moqtada has just slapped the marja'iya in Najaf and from what it seems, the marja'iya has turned the other cheek.
7 comments:
Interesting post, when did all this happen?
Friday 21/5/2010
allah yinti8im minhom iA
This is extremely worrying. Are you sure that this has happened. May I ask where did you hear this happen?
If that what has really happened, it reflects shortsightedness. Everybody in Najaf know that choosing any cleric from al-Hakim 'clan' to lead shrine prayers would anger Sadrists. This actually contradicts Sistani's well-known rational judgment of things. It was better to pick up a neutral cleric to do the task confessing the difficulty of doing so. It's really a confusing situation to have such a radical group with such a powerful influence in Najaf, the learning center of Shia Islam.
as a christian, i must point out that 'turning the other cheek' does not mean backing down out of cowardice. jesus is the one who tells us to turn the other cheek, and we look to jesus' example when it comes to following his words. and what did jesus do? jesus knew that there were important religious leaders in jerusalem who wanted to kill him, even before he arrived in jerusalem. but he didn't avoid them and say, "let's go to another city instead." he went to jerusalem anyway. and when he arrived, the warm welcome he received could not have erased from his mind the knowledge that those who wanted him dead were also in the city, and that they were sure to make good on their evil intentions when the opportunity presented itself. again, did jesus leave? no. he didn't avoid the city, and he didn't leave the city. instead, he preached openly in the temple, in the face of these threats, and even flipped over the tables of the money-hungry priests who were making a business out of religion. and when they sent men to arrest him in the night, he didn't run. and when one of his disciples cut the ear of one of the soldiers there to arrest him, he told him, "put your sword back into its place. for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword." and he handed himself over to be taken. in another place, speaking about his death in advance, he says, "no one has taken it [i.e., his life] from me, but i lay it down on my own initiative [i.e., of his own free will]." jesus did not call on his followers to take revenge for his death. instead, while on the cross, he prayed, "father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." in the years that followed, the disciples were beaten, imprisoned, tortured and killed. but they never once took revenge against those who responsible. not holding political power, they did the only thing jesus commanded them to do, "pray for those who persecute you," "pray for your enemy," etc. if they had had political power, they would have arrested the murderers.
i don't mean to preach a sermon here, i just want to point out that the decision of the marja'iya to give in to the demands of muqtada al-sadr's men (or perhaps muqtada al-sadr himself?) was not 'turning the other cheek.' it was pure cowardice. turning the other cheek means not responding to threats with threats, not responding to murder with murder. but it doesn't mean backing down because of threats of murder. al-hakim should lead the prayers anyway, perhaps with greater security, and if somehow they manage to kill him, muqtada al-sadr should be arrested and tried for two murders not one. rest in peace sayyed abdul majid al-khoei and allah yerhamu. for the life of me, i don't understand why he's not already in prison, serving a life-sentence, or in the ground.
by the way, this is old, but i thought you should see it:
"In a telephone statement from his town of Basra to Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Maliki said: 'I rule out the possibility that Al-Sadr had any connection to the murder of Al-Khoei.'"
http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=10222
if i could say one thing to muqtada, it would be this:
"vengeance is mine," says the lord. (deuteronomy 32:35)
i meant to add the words, "god forbid."
"... and if somehow they manage to kill him, god forbid, ..."
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