Grand Ayatollah Sistani Condemns Israel
The Arabic original of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani's fatwa condemning the Israeli attack on Lebanon is here.
Someone sent me an English translation by email. I think the fatwa should be read as a sign that Sistani is extremely anxious that the Lebanon war will send Shiite Iraq spinning out of control and lead to a major confrontation between Iraqi Shiites and the US and British troops.
Statement from His Eminence Sayyid Sistani (long may he live) on the events in Lebanon
In The Name of Allah The Compassionate, The Merciful
For several days Lebanon has been exposed to a continuous Israeli aggression, targeting its defiant people and its infrastructure on a wide scale. This has led to hundreds of people being martyred and wounded and tens of thousands of people being displaced as well as vast destruction to houses, roads and other civilian establishments.
All this blatant repression is occurring under the persistent disregard of the whole world - except for a few ineffective words of condemnation and disapproval here and there. The world community needs to move on to stop the continuation of this flagrant aggression. The Muslim nation also needs to stand by in solidarity with the oppressed Lebanese people and aim to ensure the humanitarian requirements of the wounded and the displaced and others are met. The representatives of the religious Marja’iyyah in Lebanon and Momineen in general must implement the aforesaid with all the means they receive.
The oppressions suffered by the nations of the region, among them the Lebanese, will increase the nations’ anger and rage towards the international policies supporting and/or condoning such actions - which will naturally intensify the tension and hinder peace and security throughout the region.
May Allah protect Lebanon and its dear people and have mercy on its martyrs and grant the wounded a speedy recovery and good health.
The Office of H. E. Sayyid Sistani (long may he live) Najaf, 20 Jumada al-Akhar 1427 [16] July 2006
posted by Juan Cole @ 7/22/2006 06:06:00 AM
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7 Comments:
Juan: I appreciate your reporting, verbatim, the comments of the Ayatolla.
However, I don't see how you read into them--or out of them--the conclusion that he is worried about the conflict in Lebanon igniting anti-US/Brit Shiite hostilities in Iraq.
To me it reads like boilerplate Arab critique: Jews=Devils; Muslims=Angels.
Where did you tease out the subtleties?
Military action specifically to take out the missiles is legitimate, since they are being used in a war crime, which is the indiscriminate bombing of Haifa civilians.
I don't think it is a war crime as you write. It is an act of war, yes, but
1) Israel has turned a border skirmish (the rapt of two soldiers and the killing of three, which the Hezbollah maintain were out of the Israelian border) into an all out war against Lebanon, using disproportionate power, as stated by the UN and the ICRC.
2) Under these conditions the Hezbollah has a right to defend itself (since the departure of the Syrians, it's the only military power that count in Lebanon).
3) To paraphrase Rumsfeld, the Hezbollah makes war with the arms it owns, not the ones she would have, aka arms which aren't as sophisticated and as precise as that of the Israeli.
4) Don't you think that they would prefer to have more powerfull and precise arms able to make more damages to the Israeli and to target them more precisely, for instance in order to destroy their fire power ? their planes etc.. ?
5) You already accused the Hezbollah of potentially comitting war crimes and planning worse, when Nasrallah said that they weren't targetting the chemical plants of Haifa, but could have. The same day you wrote that, the Israeli were targetting and destroying all kind of plants in Lebanon; I read in our newspapers that among these targets were a milk plant and a chemical plant.
6) For the moment, the war crimes, the disproportionate use of force aimed at civilians are clearly the fact of the Israeli who are getting full support from the Americans.
Sistani decries violence in Lebanon, blaming Israel, but does not mention the US or Hezbollah. Do any of his statements ever mention the US by name? Has he met personally with any Hezbollah officials? How might one characterize the posture of Sistani and his followers towards Hezbollah?
Curiously, he does not call for any civil disobedience or armed protests. Maybe he thinks Iraq already has enough fat in the fire, but also shows the limits of clerical missives. Bush may again feel reassured that the natives, although restless, will do nothing.
Well said...thank you Juan so much for this website.
Two or three days ago, I expressed the gut feeling that Iraq had six months to a year to live as we know it. The more things like this from Sistani I read, the more convinced I am.
Robert Dreyfuss wrote in TomPaine essay posted today "What is unfolding in Iraq is a staggering tragedy. An entire nation is dying, right in front of us. And the worst part of it is: It may be too late to do anything to stop it"
Am afraid Juan was right. THe blowback from the Israeli attack on Lebanon won't have to be that intense to hasten the day for that day is near when the country will finally disintegrate.
Saddens sad but I am sure of it.
Iraq Uploaded
What the War Networks Won't Show You
Shot by the Soldiers Themselves [MTV}
6 months to a year tops...
Such a humane and reasonable statement. Far better than any religious leader, or even any editorial page, in this country.
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