A Note from the Author :
Dear Friends, I am Sharing with you this chapter five of the book i am reading , the title is : The New IRAQ. I hope you enjoy reading my 1st post on my Blog.
Dear Friends, I am Sharing with you this chapter five of the book i am reading , the title is : The New IRAQ. I hope you enjoy reading my 1st post on my Blog.
State – Building by the Book
Islamic leadership in the New Iraq
-------
Every few weeks since 1997,
according to a friend in Iran, a mule ambles across the Iran- Iraqi border
bearing a bearded rider, his water flask, some snacks, and a satchel. A short
distance beyond the last Iranian town, the rider reaches the first Iraqi check
point, where border guards ask a dozen tough questions peppered with two or
three mortal threats. He slips them a generous bribe worth one or two American
dollars and continues on his way. A few days later, he arrives at Najaf, the
second holiest city to Shi’is, but he is no ordinary pilgrim.
Najaf is not the pulsating center of
religious traffic it used to be. Several holy places were destroyed by Saddam
in the 1980’s. Some of the city’s religious authorities were arrested and
tortured to death after the Shi’is uprising against Saddam in the after mat of
the 1991 Gulf War. In the center of town in a two- story house adjoining a
historic mosque, the highest- ranking shi’i cleric in Najaf is teaching a young
student tajwid, a traditional style of chanting
Qur’an. Sayyid Ali al-Sistani is the marja (religious
authority), whose rulings
on Islamic law are
binding for millions of Shi’is in Iraq, the Gulf States, Lebanon, India,
Pakistan, and elsewhere. He gets up to answer the knock on the door.
The man from Iran greets him with kisses
on both cheeks. The Sayyid’s eyes fall on the satchel. He sets it down on the
table and removes the documents inside: dozens of e-mails in Arabic printed on A4
paper sheets. They are istifta’at,
requests from Shi’is all over the world for a religious edict to answer a moral
or religious quandary: Can I marry a Jewish girl? Should I settle a business
dispute with my Muslim partner in a secular court? Will I suffer in the world
to come if I fight in a war against a Muslim country?
No comments:
Post a Comment