Serious report for "The Economist": Is Iran in control of Najaf after the departure of al-Sistani?



04/12/2015 06:45 PM

He wondered "Economist" magazine about the future of the Shiite authority in Iraq, pointing out that Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani at the age of 85 years, and there is no successor. The magazine says that there are few places quiet and safe, such as the tomb of Ali bin Abi Talib, in southern Iraq, Najaf. Afterthought that the schools and the ayatollahs and their students, whose number is estimated at about 13 thousand students, less preoccupied with His Holiness the war, which is trying to prevent Iran from control of Najaf.

The report indicates that as the sole financier Tehran Iraqi parties, the main supplier of weapons to the Shiite armed groups, they have influence in Iraq. But control of Najaf may be the grand prize. And see the magazine that the person who stands between the spiritual leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and aspirations to become the spiritual leader of 200 million Shiites in the world, is a cleric patient Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Pointing out that the latter's refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the velayat-e faqih, or the qualifications of Ayatollah Khamenei. He says religion is a prominent: "Sistani is designed, and does not want a religious state, but a civil state."

The report reveals that the senior Shi'ite leaders shift their allegiance to Khamenei, whom the former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a leader of the Dawa and the Badr Party, which is one of the most powerful Shiite groups, and with a population of 20 thousand fighters, which put on the barracks image of the Iranian reference. magazine and find it in a country where militias superior to regular Iraqi troops, this means Iran control everything in the country, except for Kurdish areas, and areas controlled by the organization Daash.

The report draws to Sistani tried to stand in front of Iranian influence, and stop an obstacle to the attempt Nuri al-Maliki to stay in power for a third term after elections in 2014, and provided unconditional support of attempts to current Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi limit the authority of the Shiite armed groups. The movement of the magazine quoted officials as saying The al-Sistani, and with the exception of fighting al Daash, moved away from Iran to participate in other adventures.

Noting that al-Sistani rejected most of the time demands of the Lebanese Hezbollah ratification of his participation in multiple conflicts, he opposed the intervention on behalf of the Shiite Houthis in Yemen, and refused to endorse the idea of fighting the Sunni opposition in Syria, as well as Shiites in Iraq.

He said that those who kill in defense of Syria Assad "is not a martyr," he heard one of the clergy. According to the report, that the Iraqis at the moment still give allegiance to al-Sistani. According to one of the clergy, it "is still the reference that holds the keys of Najaf." Adding that the absence of a successor to al-Sistani, there is a real question surrounding the future of the Najaf religious schools, especially when you go around the reference.

The magazine found that more candidates chance to live in Iran, a person favored by al-Maliki, a Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi. Although he was born in Najaf, but it is occupying an important position in the Iranian religious establishment, and is one of the strongest supporters of Khamenei, and took over as the Chief Justice for decades, which is in the Guardian Council member, who oversees the consideration of the nomination of the Parliament requests.

The report states that official Najaf played down the possibility of taking Shahroudi authority in Iraq, said: "Najaf small remains for him, he wants to succeed the Supreme Leader." notes the magazine that Shahroudi at the moment is trying to distance himself, but his followers are putting the finishing touches on the largest estate in Najaf. And not far from the residence of al-Sistani attend Iranian Foundation for the opening of the Museum of Ayatollah Khomeini, where he lived and studied for 15 years before his exile to France. The report quotes a researcher at the Iraqi Religious Affairs Saad Salloum, saying: "If Matt Sistani Fsnoda under the velayat-e faqih."

Concludes "The Economist" report with reference to it away from Iraq, Iran is trying to influence the Shiite Saudi Arabia, which raised concerns that the Kingdom has received Haider al-Abadi in Riyadh earlier this year. As Western capitals look expectantly to the situation in Iraq, where al-Sistani saw in one of the few positive symbols in Iraq after the 2003 stage and a Western diplomat said: "Praise be to God that al-Sistani here."

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