Iraqi Sermons on the Sunni Withdrawal, Saudi Calls for Destruction of Shrines
The USG Open Source Center translates select passages from Sunni and Shiite sermons from last Friday in Iraq. Many of the Shiite preachers condemned the recent fatwas of Wahhabi Saudi clerics calling for the destruction of Shiite shrines. (Wahhabi Islam, like radical Protestantism, despises saints’ shrines and denounces the idea of an intermediary between God and man. Shiite Islam is all about intermediaries–primarily descendants of the Prophet– between God and human beings.) The Shiites also condemned the decision of the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front to withdraw from the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government. The Sunni clerics applauded the move.
‘ Iraqi Friday Sermons Critical of Al-Tawafuq’s Withdrawal, Saudi ‘Takfiri Fatwas’
Iraq — OSC Summary
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Major Iraqi television channels – Baghdad Al-Iraqiyah, Baghdad Baghdad Satellite Channel, Baghdad Al-Sharqiyah, Baghdad Al-Furat, Cairo Al-Baghdadiyah, and Baghdad Al-Diyar – are observed on 3 August to carry the following reports on Friday sermons:
Al-Iraqiyah:
Baghdad Al-Iraqiyah Television in Arabic – government-sponsored television station, run by the Iraqi Media Network – is not observed to carry any reports on Friday sermons due to a technical failure.
Baghdad Satellite Channel:
Baghdad Satellite Television in Arabic – television channel believed to be sponsored by the [Sunni Arab] Iraqi Islamic Party – is observed to carry at 1012 GMT a Friday sermon from an unidentified mosque. Shaykh Abd-al-Karim al-Samarra’i delivers the sermon.
In this Friday sermon, the [Sunni] preacher says that many nations are “launching a fierce struggle against this wounded nation, which is now exposed.” He adds that these nations are “plundering its resources to the point where it has become a toy in the hands of the whole world.” The preacher says this based on a saying by the prophet. He says that the prophet defined the “disease,” which is “love for life in this world and hate for death.”
The preacher adds: “When the nation is affectionately attached to life in this world and hates death and meeting Almighty God, it will then refuse to move from weakness to pride and glory.” He says that “loving life in this world and being affectionately attached to it lead to perdition and destruction.”
He says that this also “leads to defeats and setbacks, particularly in the battles of faith in which the truth confronts falsehood. Almighty God tests the hearts of the faithful ones in these battles. If he finds that they are pure and are not affectionately attached to life in this world, the result will be victory. However, if these hearts are affectionately attached to life in this world, leaving behind love for meeting Almighty God, the result will then inevitably be defeat.”
Commenting on the withdrawal of the Al-Tawafuq (Accord) Front from the government, the preacher says: “As a result of this exclusion and marginalizing, this front has withdrawn from this government in the hope of giving a chance to this government, which claimed that the front has been obstructing its march throughout the past period. So, let this government take this chance to show us what it will do to the Iraqis.”
Al-Sharqiyah: Within its 1300 GMT newscast on 5 August (repeat, 5 August), Baghdad Al-Sharqiyah Television in Arabic – independent, private news and entertainment channel focusing on Iraq, run by Sa’d al-Bazzaz, publisher of the Arabic language daily Al-Zaman – carries the following report on the 3 August Friday sermon by [Shiite] Shaykh Sadr-al-Din al-Qabbanji:
“A senior Iraqi official said on Friday: The withdrawal of the Al-Tawafuq Front from the government is not right and we call on them to reconsider their position. He added: We assure them that if they insist on the withdrawal they will only harm themselves.”
The report adds that “Sadr-al-Din al-Qabbanji, a leader in the Iraqi Islamic Supreme Council (IISC), added in a Friday sermon: I say that they, Al-Tawafuq will return while they are submissive, unwilling, and regretful.”
Addressing the Al-Tawafuq leaders, he says: “You either be politicians or leave the world laughing at you. However, if you fear legal prosecution then this is a different issue, which is one of the missions of the judiciary.”
Al-Qabbanji adds: “Regrettably, some states provide the terrorists with weapons, others provide them with money, and some others provide them with the media and the space channels. Other states send suicide bombers to Iraq to destroy the new Iraq.”
He says: “Some neighboring states plan to topple the government in Iraq. We hope that such news reports are untrue.”
Wondering, Al-Qabbanji says: “Why some of them respond to the decisions, recommendations, and pressures by the US secretary of state and the secretary of defense and do not respond to their Iraqi brothers.”
He points out: “Saudi Arabia is called upon to curb the advocates of the takfiri (holding other Muslims to be infidel) fatwas (religious rulings). This is although it has announced, through its Foreign Minister Sa’ud al-Faysal, its desire to open an embassy in Iraq. This is a good step, but it is not enough. We are waiting from Saudi Arabia a clear stand toward the fatwas of the takfiris and the preachers of the rulers.”
Al-Furat:
Within its 1700 GMT newscast, Baghdad Al-Furat Television Channel in Arabic – television channel affiliated with the Iraqi Islamic Supreme Council (IISC) led by Abd-al-Aziz al-Hakim, carries the following report on today’s Friday sermons:
“Friday preachers denounced the takfiri fatwas [excommunicating Shiites] exported by the Saudi scholars and which incite against Islamic holy places. In another development, the preachers termed the Al-Tawafuq Front’s withdrawal from the government as a response to the will of an extremist line in the front. The Friday preachers also rejected the Arab silence over the Saddam regime’s invasion of neighboring Kuwait.”
Hazim al-A’raji, imam and preacher of Friday sermon at the Al-Kazimiyah shrine, says: “The Arab League denounced the attack on the Umm al-Qura Mosque. Yes, the mosque is the house of God, and we denounce the attack on it. However, I say where was the Arab League when the takfiri Wahhabi scholars in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait issued a fatwa, which will last for generations and hundreds of years, on destroying the Imam Al-Husayn Shrine?”
Commenting on the withdrawal of the Al-Tawafuq Front from the government, Shaykh Jalal-al-Din al-Saghir, imam and preacher of the Buratha Mosque, says: “The moderate elements in the Al-Tawafuq Front were pressured to adopt such a stand. A conspiracy was being hatched and they spoke to us about it to the effect that what they call the mujahidin of hotels in Amman used to exert big pressures on them to force them to withdraw from the government.”
On the anniversary of the Saddam regime’s invasion of Kuwait, Shaykh Salih al-Haydari, imam and preacher of the Al-Khillani Mosque, says: “Yesterday marked the anniversary of the invasion of Kuwait. However, the reaction to this was weak by the states neighboring Kuwait. This anniversary shows Saddam’s criminal and heinous actions. Some states sponsor Saddam’s supporters.”
The channel carries an episode of its weekly “Friday Sermons” program at 1808 GMT, as follows:
Shaykh Jalal-al-Din al-Saghir, imam and preacher of the Buratha Mosque, says: “Ten rockets were fired at the city of Balad yesterday. The same number of rockets was also fired at the city. One of these rockets hit the outside gate of the shrine of Al-Sayyid Muhammad, son of Imam Al-Hadi, may God’s peace and blessing be upon him. Although we have no doubts that the patient people in Balad and Al-Dujayl can stand fast and can be patient, we say that this patience should be rewarded by the government by quick measures in order to repulse the aggression against them. There is information about a major attack on the city of Balad. This could repeat the tragedy of Diyala.”
He warns the government against “the nature of the false reports,” “which are submitted by the security forces in the Al-Saydiyah area to the Interior Ministry.” He says: “These reports say that the area lives in peace at a time when we see the terrorists of Al-Qa’ida and the so-called Islamic Army and the 1920 Revolution Brigades moving about in broad daylight, killing the Sunni and the Shiite, and displacing the Sunni and the Shiite.”
Shaykh Salih al-Haydari, imam and preacher of the Al-Khillani Mosque, says: “Yesterday marked the anniversary of the invasion of Kuwait. However, the reaction to this was weak by the states neighboring Kuwait. This anniversary shows Saddam’s criminal and heinous actions. Some states sponsor Saddam’s supporters.”
Al-Haydari adds: “So, the position and the indication are clear. In addition to this, this event, Saddam’s occupation of Kuwait, was the cause of building the huge foreign camps in the Arab states, particularly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Before this event, there were no such a big number of US military units. As a result of Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait, the US forces deployed in a very large part of Arab territories. Despite this, we have not heard an analysis or a reference to this issue.”
He says: “There were also fatwas issued by some scholars in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. These scholars hold other Muslims, particularly the Shiites, to be infidel. These fatwas call for destroying the holy shrines in Iraq and elsewhere, particularly the shrine of Imam Al-Husayn, may God’s peace be upon him, in holy Karbala.”
Shaykh Sadr-al-Din al-Qabbanji, says: “Newspapers say, and we hope that this is untrue, and we assume that this is untrue, God willing, that some neighboring states plan to topple the current government and to create a change in Iraq. These states did not plan to topple Saddam, but regrettably, they are now planning to destroy this new and free Iraqi reality. We hope that such reports are untrue. We expect these states to end their interference in Iraqi affairs and to stop supporting terrorism.”
Al-Qabbanji adds: “Some Arab states have finally submitted to the recommendations of the US secretary of defense and the US secretary of state who made a visit to the Middle East, during which they obtained a decision from a number of Arab states to support the political process in Iraq and to refrain from obstructing the political process or toppling this government. We ask these states: Why do you respond to the US secretary of defense and the secretary of state and do not respond to your Iraqi brothers when they tell you stop harming us and support us in the media and politically?”
He says: “Why do you succumb to the foreign pressures and do not succumb to your Arab origins and the obligations of these origins? Iraq is being slaughtered while you are watching. Does Iraq need weapons today? Iraq is now suffering from a fuel crisis, but you send us weapons and booby-trapped cars. Come and help us in supplying us with fuel and electricity instead of helping us with booby-trapped cars, suicide bombers, and media and political support for terrorism. If you want to save Iraq, I say that Iraq is now suffering from a real crisis. The services crisis is a real crisis. Where is your help to Iraq in the fuel crisis?”
Al-Qabbanji says: “In addition to this, we are still waiting for a more serious stand from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This is although it has announced, through Saudi Foreign Minister Sa’ud al-Faysal, that it is planning to open an embassy in Baghdad. This is not enough. They should adopt a clear position on the takfiri fatwas that incite against us. Where is the position of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Saying that you want to open an embassy and to support the political process are only courtesies because you issue one takfiri fatwa after another against us and against the shrines of our imams. Where is the kingdom’s political position? We are waiting for this and we will take it as a point against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia if it does not denounce these fatwas and curb the preachers of the rulers, the evil preachers. Saudi Arabia should be held responsible for the takfiri fatwas.”
Al-Qabbanji adds: “To those who provide the terrorists with weapons, whichever state it maybe, I say: Let them know that these weapons are not used against the Americans. We are being killed and the shrines of our imams are being destroyed by these weapons. This is despite the fact that no innocent one in Iraq should be killed, an Iraqi or a foreigner.”
Commenting on Al-Tawafuq Front’s withdrawal from the government, Al-Qabbanji says: “First, we believe that this withdrawal is not right. Second, we call on them to continue to attend (the government’s meetings) because they are one of the components and we want Iraq to be for all its components. We call on them to reconsider their position.”
Commenting on the withdrawal of the Al-Tawafuq Front from the Iraqi Government, Shaykh Hasan al-Zamili, imam and preacher of the Al-Diwaniyah Friday sermon, says: “We believe that this position is an indivisible part of the plan to topple and foil this government.” . . ‘
© 2024 All Rights Reserved