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Iraq-Jordan
Sistani 'not seeking Islamic law'
2005-02-09
A spokesman for Iraq's most influential Shia cleric has denied reports that the cleric is demanding that Islam be the country's sole source of law. Hamed Khafaf said Ayatollah Ali Sistani believes Iraq's new constitution should respect what he described as the Islamic cultural identity of Iraqis. Shia success in the election led to speculation that the ayatollah wanted a constitution based on Sharia law. Mr Khafaf said the speculation was baseless. He insisted that Ayatollah Sistani's position had not changed. In Ayatollah Sistani's view, his spokesman went on to say, it was up to the elected representatives of the people in the new National Assembly to decide the details. Mr Khafaf said the ayatollah had approved the current wording of Iraq's interim constitution, which states that Islam is a source of legislation and no law contradicting Islamic tenets may be passed. Reports at the weekend that prominent Iraqi Shia clerics were now pushing for a constitution based solely on Islamic Sharia law caused concern among Iraqi secular and Kurdish leaders. BBC regional analyst Sadeq Saba says the statement by Ayatollah Sistani's spokesman suggests that the ayatollah has no intention of turning Iraq into an Iranian-style theocracy.
Posted by:Steve

#11  This is fairly good news - he has seen the experience fo Iran, and decided to keep his voice a moral one, not a temporal political one.

Your view is biased, quite obviously.

You may want to readjust it in terms of facts, not popular images from movies and TV, and distorted history from socialist liberal atheists authors and professors of the 20th century.

The "power hungry" religious person is a hollywood fiction. Far more death in this past century is at the hands of the godless in the name of "the people". Pol Pot, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, etc.
Posted by: OldSpook   2005-02-09 10:58:44 PM  

#10  This is fairly good news - he has seen the experience fo Iran, and decided to keep his voice a moral one, not a temporal political one.

Your view is biased, quite obviously.

You may want to readjust it in terms of facts, not popular images from movies and TV, and distorted history from socialist liberal atheists authors and professors of the 20th century.

The "power hungry" religious person is a hollywood fiction. Far more death in this past century is at the hands of the godless in the name of "the people". Pol Pot, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, etc.
Posted by: OldSpook   2005-02-09 10:58:44 PM  

#9  Mac Suirtain---Sistani isn't an Iranian spud like the Tehran Tater punk.

Great image and use of language! LOL!
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2005-02-09 11:23:29 PM  

#8  This is fairly good news - he has seen the experience fo Iran, and decided to keep his voice a moral one, not a temporal political one.

Your view is biased, quite obviously.

You may want to readjust it in terms of facts, not popular images from movies and TV, and distorted history from socialist liberal atheists authors and professors of the 20th century.

The "power hungry" religious person is a hollywood fiction. Far more death in this past century is at the hands of the godless in the name of "the people". Pol Pot, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, etc.
Posted by: OldSpook   2005-02-09 10:58:44 PM  

#7  I think Sistani actually wants the best for the people of Iraq and has no intentions of following the footsteps of the mad mullahs nextdoor. Sistani isn't an Iranian spud like the Tehran Tater punk.

But as always, only time will tell.
Posted by: Mac Suirtain   2005-02-09 3:36:49 PM  

#6  Never trust the utterances of power hungry priesthood. Especially when it comes replete with a Taqiyyah license.
Posted by: Duh   2005-02-09 1:04:18 PM  

#5  "Ayatollah Sistani's spokesman suggests that the ayatollah has no intention of turning Iraq into an Iranian-style theocracy." Well DUH! If Theocracy is failing in Iran, it aint going to work in Iraq. He would find himself in a three-way civil war, that he couldn't possibly win. And make no mistake the Mullacracy in Iran is heading for a fall in the not too distant future.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2005-02-09 11:27:56 AM  

#4  The "always" is the problem. I know very many, in fact most, religious folk who don't fit the description. But there is an element in any priesthood (not only religious) that "knows what is good for everybody" and seeks the power to enforce it even on those who disagree. That's what politics is about. I'm also thinking gun controllers, anti-smokers, drug warriors, and leftist academics. They are priests too, just not in organized religions.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2005-02-09 11:21:35 AM  

#3  Doesn't fit with my experience either.
Posted by: Tom   2005-02-09 11:14:57 AM  

#2  that's an awfully cynical view of all religious practitioners that you can't back up. I reject that blanket characterization.
Posted by: Frank G   2005-02-09 11:04:21 AM  

#1  Priests anywhere *always* lust for political power. It is inherent in them. They can no more not want political power than they can want to stop breathing. *Crafty* priests, however, prefer to use gradualism to achieve those goals, unlike their hot-headed brethren who just cannot abide the idea of the sinful managing their own affairs..
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-02-09 10:45:24 AM  

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