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Topic: Shia clergy

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	Iran
		Shias revere Ali as the First Imam, and his descendants, beginning with his sons Hasan and Husayn (also seen as Hosein), continue the line of the Imams until the Twelfth, who is believed to have ascended into a supernatural state to return to earth on judgment day.
		Shias believe that during the greater occultation of the Twelfth Imam he is spiritually present--some believe that he is materially present as well-- and he is besought to reappear in various invocations and prayers.
		The access of the clergy to a steady and independent source of funding was an important factor in their ability to resist state controls and ultimately helped them direct the opposition to the shah.
	bahai-library.com /?file=hooglund_iran_religious_life (5069 words)

	The Society and Its Environment
		The Shia clergy have become the major political actors not only at the national level but also at the local level, where the chief cleric in each town has assumed the functions of a de facto district governor.
		Clergy from Soviet Armenia were at one time active among the Iranian Armenians and had some success in exploiting their sense of community with their coreligionists in the Soviet Union.
		The highest ranks of the Shia clergy -- the clerics who had obtained the status of ayatollah -- were no longer considered part of the national elite by the mid-1970s, although this social group had been very important in the elite from the seventeenth to the mid- twentieth century.
	www.parstimes.com /history/society_environment.html (21323 words)

	AllRefer.com - Iran - Irans Role in Lebanon \| Iranian Information Resource
		The Shia clergy in Iran have long had an interest in the Shia population of Lebanon.
		Clergy for the Lebanese Shia communities were trained in Iran before the Revolution, and intermarriage between clerical families in both countries had been occurring for several generations.
		Lebanon's most prominent Shia cleric, Imam Musa as Sadr, who mysteriously disappeared in 1978 while on a trip to Libya, was born in Iran into a clerical family with relatives in Lebanon, a fact that facilitated his acceptance in the latter country.
	reference.allrefer.com /country-guide-study/iran/iran151.html (516 words)

	Islamic Fundamentalism. (Yasmin Mather) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
		Shias mainly live in Iran, parts of Iraq, and as a minority in Lebanon and Afghanistan; the rest of the Islamic world is predominantly Sunni.
		The clergy, which had survived the repressive measures of the Shah’s dictatorship by compromising with the regime, was in a much better position to benefit from political discontent than secular, socialist groups who had had lost many in their ranks through execution and imprisonment.
		In fact religious Shia leaders were functionaries of the court (in the Safavid/Qajar dynasties), lived in the court and were part of the establishment and the state.
	www.isf.org.uk /ISFJournal/ISF3/IslamicFundamentalism.htm (3514 words)

	PIECE OF MIND
		It should be mentioned that the Lebanese Shia community in itself was, in the years previous to the Lebanese civil war, largely transnational, identifying with Holy Shia cities such as Najaf, Karbala and Qom.
		In the absence of a Shia party, the disaffected Lebanese Shia, especially the youth, jumped into the political process by joining the Lebanese left, particularly the Communists, the Nasserites, the Ba’ath or the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, which were all largely secular or pan-Arabic in nature.
		As the political deadlock in Lebanese government continued, the Shia of the south had to deal with increasing PLO interference in their daily lives and also a barrage of attacks from the Israeli defense forces, which indiscriminately targeted southern villages to ‘deter’ Palestinian activity.
	oak.cats.ohiou.edu /~aa342389/hizb1.html (3015 words)

	The Shia Insurrection
		The insurrection in Shia areas of Iraq was not a sudden explosion, nor was it primarily inspired by the events in Falluja.
		When the U.S. first invaded, the Shia were ambivalent: They welcomed the overthrow of Hussein, but feared that the first Bush administration's betrayal of their cause in the early 1990s would somehow be repeated.
		As the year went on, as economic and social dislocation remained unresolved or even worsened, the Shia came to see the occupation as an oppressive force implanting itself deep in Iraqi soil and an obstacle to the reconstruction of their cities and their lives.
	www.motherjones.com /news/dailymojo/2004/04/04_516.html (1980 words)

	Government (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
		Shia clergy who had played a key role in mobilizing opposition to the shah obtained important positions in the postrevolutionary government.
		Although the clergy continued to dominate the highest ranks of the government in the 1990s, it was divided into liberal and conservative factions.
		In the summer of 1979 a popularly elected assembly drafted the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran; this constitution was approved in a popular referendum in December.
	www.hekmat.net /iran/government.htm (1671 words)

	Background of Hazara Community
		In other Shia communities the clergy has played a central role: in Iran, the clergy openly engaged in politics from the early 1960s, gradually affecting their standing in Afghanistan as well.
		The uppermost clergy, ayatollah, is appointed by consensus among the lower clergy.
		First, he obtained a fitwa, a religious decree from the Sunni clergy, declaring on war against the Shia Hazara to be a religious war against infidels,-a jihad, and a holy war.
	boozers.fortunecity.com /jerusalem/47/Background/background.html (4949 words)

	Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / Country Studies / Area Handbook Series/ Iran / Glossary
		An expert in religious jurisprudence, specifically a Shia cleric whose mastery of the Quran, the traditions of the Prophet and the Twelve Imans, and the codices of Shia Islamic law permit him to render binding interpretations of religious laws and regulations.
		Modesty in attire; defined by the Shia clergy to mean that women and girls must cover all their hair and flesh except for hands and face when in public.
		Among Twelver Shias the principal meaning is a designation of one of the twelve legitimate successors of the Prophet Muhammad.
	lcweb2.loc.gov /frd/cs/iran/ir_glos.html (1219 words)

	AhlulBayt Discussion Forum -> Battle in Najaf over soul of shiism
		They were too afraid of the regime's violent repression of Shia aspirations, and Najaf's standing was diminished because of Hussein's restrictions on the Shia clergy, many of whom were imprisoned or executed.
		The distinctions between Shia and Sunni Islam are similar to those between Catholic and Protestant branches of Christianity, involving style of ritual and philosophical orientation, rather than fundamental pillars of faith.
		Today, most Iraqi Shia clerics appear to agree on one thing: They view the U.S. military presence in their country as a form of occupation and they have been agitating since the fall of Saddam last month for Washington to pull out as quickly as possible.
	www.shiachat.com /forum/index.php?showtopic=9708 (4025 words)

	[lbo-talk] Iraq: desecularization?
		Shia clergy push for Islamist state Majority sect builds up power base and ridicules western 'liberty' Ewen MacAskill in Najaf Saturday May 3, 2003 The Guardian The acting director of the Qadissiya hospital in Sadr City, Baghdad, is Sheikh Tahsin al-Ekabi, a Shia cleric.
		The Shia - the majority sect of Islam in Iraq - who were suppressed by Saddam, are running not only hospitals but every aspect of life, including community and cultural centres and police stations.
		The US is not happy that Shia gunmen are guarding the hospitals and have said they will confront the problem.
	mailman.lbo-talk.org /2003/2003-May/012796.html (1030 words)

	Islamist Politics in Iraq after Saddam Hussein: Special Reports: Publications: U.S. Institute of Peace
		While the Shia in particular rejoiced at the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, it is now the United States, in their view, that stands between them and the attainment of national power.
		Politics among the Shia in the Muslim world is typically characterized by the central role of the clergy.
		Shia everywhere are taking note of this event and will strengthen their own claims to civil liberties and democratic representation.
	www.usip.org /pubs/specialreports/sr108.html (8510 words)

	Al-Ahram Weekly \| Region \| Showdown in Najaf (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
		Najaf lies at the heart of Shia identity, a symbol of the Shia heritage.
		The city is where the shrine of Ali Ibn Abi Talib stands reminding the Shia of justice and glory they have not experienced since his death, and it is the final resting place for their loved ones and ancestors.
		The Shia clergy are not a hierarchy and the Ayatollahs do not report to one another.
	weekly.ahram.org.eg /2004/705/re12.htm (718 words)

	Cleric's Killing Setback to U.S.
		Al-Khoei and a pro-Saddam Hussein religious leader were stabbed to death on April 10 in front of a mosque in the holy city of Najaf by an angry mob reportedly backing competing Shia clergy.
		He had urged the Shia community to support the U.S. war to topple Hussein and on the day he was killed was preaching reconciliation with former Hussein backers.
		"The loss was significant in terms of a loss of voice of reason among the Shia clergy," he said.
	www.informationclearinghouse.info /article3194.htm (642 words)

	ipedia.com: Ali al-Sistani Article (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
		Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Husaini Sistani (السيد علي الحسيني السيستاني in Arabic, سید علی حسینی سیستانی in Persian), born approximately August 4, 1930, is a Grand Ayatollah, a Shia marja and currently an important person with relation to the occupation of Iraq.
		This helped to keep him away from the attention of the Baath Party that was notorious for its treatment of Shias, and its persecution of Shia leaders in order to keep the Shia population at rest.
		His role as the preeminent leader of Iraqi Shias was cemented after the assassination of Sadr by Saddam Hussein.
	www.ipedia.com /ali_al_sistani.html (706 words)

	Shia News \| Asia \| Jafaria Council of India condemns oppression against Shia community (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
		He has asked Indian Shias to be more vigilant and be aware about the developments around the globe and indicate their fraternity with the fellow brethren.
		The JCI President elsewhere in his speech advised the shia community to put all possible efforts to educate their children and train them to lead a balanced life.
		Dargah Panja Sharief, is a prominent historical Shia centre in the walled city of Delhi.
	www.shianews.com /hi/asia/news_id/0001202.php (360 words)

	(DV) El-Amine: The Shia Rise Up
		Part of the reason for this is that they’ve consistently overestimated the level of support for the occupation among Iraqis, particularly among the Shia, who have forced the CPA to revise most of its major plans: creating a Governing Council, disbanding the military, holding elections, and drafting a constitution.
		This may seem odd, particularly to those who’ve bought into the lies about Iraqi Shias’ allegiance to Iran, but the fact is that the majority of Iraq’s Shia consider themselves Iraqis first and are critical of Iran’s Islamic republic, particularly the idea of wilayat-al-faqih, clerical rule, which Ayatollah Khomeini developed.
		The Shia, on the other hand, were collectively punished for the uprising: the regime killed tens of thousands of Shia and destroyed much of the infrastructure in the South, including the Shia holy sites.
	www.dissidentvoice.org /May2004/El-Amine0518.htm (3425 words)

	New York City - World News (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
		The ruling clergy in Iran had dismissed al-Sistani's position during Hussein's rule, saying he was under Baathist pressure.
		The argument has raged in Najaf since the early 1930s, when the leading Shia cleric at the time reached an agreement with the secular government of a newly independent Iraq to keep the clergy out of politics.
		One of the main groups that advocates political involvement for the clergy is the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, whose leader, Ayatollah Muhammad Bakr al-Hakim, has lived in exile in Iran since 1980.
	www.nynewsday.com /news/nationworld/world/ny-3273183,0,284011.story (1315 words)

	Majlis (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
		Hannan Ahmad and her cousin Sabah Hassan came from a conservative Shia village were women are protected and kept away from main stream life by their men.
		The Shia clergy are opposed to the values and practices of women in Manama, mainly Sunni and minority of educated Shia who drive cars and go out to work.
		The Iran educated clergy loath the liberal and open society which flourished in the island, long before oil was found in 1932, and became a source of strength as Bahrain turned into the banking centre of the Persian Gulf when oil wells dried out.
	www.mideastnews.com /Bahwomen.htm (1086 words)

	DutchReport: Shia support Dutch government
		The highest Iraqi Muslim Shia clergy, say they denounce the use violence by Muslims in the Netherlands.
		In a fatwa they say the Koran says that the use of violence to solve issues is now not permitted in the Netherlands.
		The Dutch government owned news says that this is declared by al-Sistani, the highest shia clergy in Iraq and the grant Ayatollah al-Shirazi who lives in exile in Iran.
	dutchreport.blogspot.com /2004/12/shia-support-dutch-government.html (128 words)

	Left Turn: Notes from the Global Intifada
		Resistance by the Shia didn't emerge again until the late 70s when they were faced with a wave of repression by Saddam Hussein.
		Despite this brutality, the Shias remained loyal to Iraq and fought alongside their Sunni compatriots against Iran's Shia theocracy in the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88).
		Moqtada has gone from virtual obscurity to being the center of Shia resistance to the occupation in less than a year in part by drawing on his father's legacy of being both a respected religious and political leader.
	www.leftturn.org /Articles/Viewer.aspx?id=521&type=M (3432 words)

	IRVAJ English - (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
		“The Shia religious authority has taken on a fatherly role for all Iraqis, but they must pay some specific attention to the Shia, so that they may take back some of their rights which have been stripped from them through the years,” said Mr Karbala'i.
		A Shia politician close to Mr Sistani said he was told by a US official that Washington did not want the election to “create sectarianism”.
		He also insisted the candidate list would not be “a Shia list” but would be “made up of the entire spectrum of Iraq's population, who want to end the occupation through peaceful means and agree on a set of principles”.
	www.iranvajahan.net /cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2004&m=11&d=02&a=10 (950 words)

	Sources of the Iranian Revolution
		After the Shah fled Iran on January 16, the Shia clerics began to maneuver to amass power for themselves at the expense of other groups in the coalition.
		On October 20, 1981, a Shia cleric, Hojjat al-Islam Ali Khamenei, took office as the third president of the new Islamic Republic.
		Throughout the early stages of the revolution and the revolutionary governments, the Shia ulema ("scholars") continued to share with other rebel groups in Iran a tendency toward nativist ideology.
	www.nmhschool.org /tthornton/mehistorydatabase/sources_of_the_iranian_revolutio.htm (1157 words)

	outlookindia.com \| wired
		Mirza Mohammad Athar, who was elected unopposed the chairman of new Shia Personal Law Board, charged AIMPLB with neglecting' the shia community and alleged representation of Shias in the AIMPLB was "poor" and the community "was not even allowed to raise its issues on AIMPLB platform".
		The Shias were "forced to constitute its own Board to take up their issues", he added.
		Though Athar claimed the support of prominent Shia clergy, noted Shia scholar Maulana Kalbe Saadiq and Maulana Kalbe Javvad were conspicious by tce in today's meeting of Shia ulemas here where the announcement of the formation of the new board was made.
	www.outlookindia.com /pti_news.asp?id=275185 (500 words)

	Daily Kos: Politics, Iraqi style
		It seems that one of the three most popular Shia leaders, Muqtada al-Sadr, is planning to oppose our new council in Iraq.
		His speech on Friday was clearly designed to discredit religious figures who have joined the council, and force the mainstream Shia clergy to distance themselves from the coalition.
		Now, he may be a young hothead, but by setting up a parallel government to the occupation, he's clearly throwing down a challenge to senior Shia clerics: choose us or the Americans.
	www.dailykos.net /archives/003455.html (372 words)

	A Glimpse of Iraq: A Glimpse of Sistani
		In response to Nazar’s statement, he went on and on about sunni’s and shia saying that these were doctrines differing on how to interpret Islam and they were all decent and good-intentioned.
		The difference between the shia and sunna, he believed, was far less significant than the danger facing the Iraqi nation at present.
		He said that he firmly believed that the clergy should not interfere with the running of people’s lives, with government or with administration (Now how on earth could you be more secular!).
	glimpseofiraq.blogspot.com /2005/11/glimpse-of-sistani.html (1571 words)

	Clotted Streams (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
		On July 1, 1980, Pakistan's Shia clergy converged on the administrative city of Islamabad to protest against the pro-Sunni policies of the military ruler of Pakistan, Gen Zia-ul-Haq.
		For nearly three consecutive days, the Shia clergy occupied the building blocks housing the secretariat of the federal government as well as the streets in Islamabad.
		The Shia protest shook Gen Zia, who began nurturing his own constituency among the Sunni clergy.
	www.hvk.org /articles/0701/139.html (993 words)

	AllRefer.com - Iraq - Political Opposition in Iraq \| Iraqi Information Resource (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-10)
		In addition, many of the opposition parties seemed to have a weak internal base of popular support because of the prevailing perception that they had collaborated with enemies of Iraq at a time when the country was engaged in war with Iran.
		The religious opposition to the Baath was primarily concentrated among the devout Shia population.
		In 1979, apparently to contain any radicalization of the Iraqi Shia clergy like that which had occurred in Iran, the regime arrested and subsequently executed Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Baqir as Sadr, the country's most respected Shia leader.
	reference.allrefer.com /country-guide-study/iraq/iraq75.html (893 words)

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