Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Three Of Most Senior Clerics In Najaf

Juan Cole 05/18/2003

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

*Three of the most senior clerics in Najaf–Ali Sistani, Muhammad Sa`id al-Hakim and Bahr al-`Ulum met for the past two days. They agreed that security needed to be returned to the entire country and that salaries needed to be paid if Iraqis were to repair the steep decline in living standards that has befallen them because of the war. They also agreed on the need to form a provisional Iraqi government (something the team of Paul Bremer has now decided to put off).

The son of Bahr al-`Ulum, Hasan, said that the security situation in Najaf is relatively stable, but that he worries about the big gun trade in the city’s markets. Most families have guns, he said. But the worse problem has been the deterioration in the standard of living of Iraqis during and since the war. He said that some food shipments have arrived, though, and a shipment of medicine for the hospital also came in. – al-Zaman

Najaf is ruled by a local city council that includes tribal sheikhs and men of religion; the American-appointed mayor/police chief is a former Sunni Baath officer who turned against Saddam.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Israel's Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations
  • How Israeli and International Businesses and Financial Institutions Sustain Illegal Occupation
  • Israel: Will Ultra-Orthodox Jews' Opposition to Conscription Bring down Netanyahu's Gov't
  • Women's Cancer Rates are Rising in the Oil Gulf: is Global Heating causing it?
  • Freedom of Movement and Global Apartheid: The United States and Israel

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved