by Dish Staff
Adam Taylor remarks on the role the preeminent Shiite cleric played in turning the tables against Maliki, leading to his resignation yesterday:
The Post’s Loveday Morris reports that a message from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani was key in convincing Iraq’s political elite that embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki needed to go. The letter from Sistani, sent to leaders of Maliki’s Dawa party July 9, spoke of the “need to speed up the selection of a new prime minister who has wide national acceptance.” Not long after the letter was received, Haider al-Abadi, a deputy speaker for Iraq’s parliament and also a member of Dawa, was called upon to lead the country. On Thursday, Malliki finally admitted defeat.
It’s a bold move. While few people had doubts about Sistani’s theological power, he has rarely acted so directly to influence politics.
The 84-year-old Islamic cleric, infrequently seen in public and generally circumspect when making announcements, is a member of the “quietest” Shiite tradition that is suspicious of religion and politics mixing. However, Iraq’s crisis may now be so bad that Sistani is taking action – and we may just be seeing the start of it.
In a penetrating essay on Shiite Islam’s role in Iraqi politics, Mohamad Bazzi places Sistani in the context of a broader political-theological struggle within the faith:
Since the U.S. invasion in 2003, Sistani has competed with more radical clerics for leadership over the Shiite community in Iraq. This struggle reflects a parallel battle between Iranian and Iraqi clerics for dominance over the larger Shiite realm: … For Iran, the struggle over Iraq is not just a political or strategic one. It is also a theological battle over control of the Shiite narrative. At its heart, the argument is over competing visions of Shiism’s essence. Should the faith be defined by a diverse group of scholars living at seminaries and engaging in esoteric theological debates, while staying out of the political fray? Or should it follow the tradition of absolute political and religious leadership advocated by the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini?
Sistani represents the dominant theological school in Najaf, which rejects the Iranian model of rule by clergy. The Najafi clerics believe their role is to be spiritual leaders and not to participate directly in politics. Since the U.S. invasion, Sistani seized a more direct political role on several occasions, especially in 2004 when he lobbied for early elections and a constitutional referendum. But he never stepped into the political fray as forcefully as he has over the past two months, with his call to arms against ISIS and his leading role in Maliki’s ouster. Sistani’s actions could shift the historic debate regarding the position of clerics.
The Dish 