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Shiite
Authority Declares Jihad Against Occupiers
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"Now
the idol has been pulled down, so the occupation troops should
leave our country," said Khalisi
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Additional
Reporting By Abdul Raheem Ali, IOL Staff
CAIRO,
April 15 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraq’s Shiite
authority Mohammad Mahdi al-Khalisi called Tuesday, April 15, on Iraqis
to act in concert and declare Jihad against the American occupation
forces.
"Now
that the idol (statue of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein) has been pulled
down, the occupation troops should leave our country. Iraq had gone
astray 40 years ago and it is high time it came home," Sheikh
Khalisi said in a statement, a copy of which was sent to by
IslamOnline.net.
"In
the name of all scholars and leaders of the Shiite Najafi revolution in
Iraq, who paid the ultimate sacrifice in defending Iraq against the
occupation of 1914 and 1920, I urge all Iraqis to stand shoulder to
shoulder to prevent occupation troops and foil malicious plots weaved by
Washington and London from looting the fruits of such sacrifices,"
Khalisi wrote.
Urging
Iraqis to stroll together in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala, the
Shiite authority called for "rising above trivial matters and
taking the initiative to set up committees to run the country’s
affairs, provide security and services to the Iraqis, turn anarchy off
and regulate the Iraqi resistance."
He
also urged them to throw a spanner in the malevolent plots aimed at
driving a wedge between Iraqis and igniting a deadly civil strife,
rejecting any pro-U.S. government in post-Saddam Iraq.
Born
in 1938, Sheikh Khalisi is one of senior Iraqi Shiite authorities, who
stood up to the Baath ruling party in Iraq.
He
also spearheaded anti-regime demonstrations in 1970s and as arrested in
1979 and released after the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Khalisi
left Iraq and was sentenced to death in absentia.
Iraqis
Should Rule Iraq
Meanwhile,
the leading Shiite dignitary in Iraq Ayatollah Ali Sistani said Tuesday
Iraq has to be governed by Iraqis, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"Our
country must be governed by its people, by its best children,"
Mohammed Reda Ali Sistani said for his father, who refuses to talk
directly to journalists.
"It
is for Iraqis to choose who governs; we want them to control the
country."
Ayatollah
Sistani remained inside his house in Najaf after gunmen told him Sunday,
April 13, to leave the country.
The
gunmen were said to be from the same group that hacked
to death prominent pro-Western Shiite cleric Sayyed Abdul Majid al-Khoei in Najaf
on Thursday, April 10.
"For
as long as those who submit to the Najaf Hawza (religious school) have
influence, we can expect them to be threatened," the son told AFP.
"These
events are regrettable; we are going through a bad period in this town
which is one of the most sacred in the world."
Mohammed
Reda said his father was not seeking "any post" in the new
Iraqi government.
The
73-year-old ayatollah has even stopped granting his daily two-hour
audience to visiting foreigners, faithful or colleagues.
A
crowd of 1,500 men came to his house Tuesday, as they did on Monday,
April 14, to offer "protection."
A
Kuwaiti Shiite cleric, Mohammed Baqer Musawi al-Muhri, on Monday openly
accused the followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, the 22-year-old son of
Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, a senior Shiite authority assassinated in 1999,
of threatening Sistani.
Muhri
also charged the group was targeting another Shiite cleric in Najaf,
Mohammed Said al-Hakim, threatening unspecified punishment unless he
pledged allegiance to Muqtada al-Sadr.
Sadr
was unavailable for comment Tuesday, also for "reasons of
security," but members of his entourage denied the accusations.
"They
are lies," Sheikh Adnan al-Shahamani said.
Inter-Shiite
rivalries for religious and political supremacy in Najaf have risen to
the surface following the collapse
of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime.
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