Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Fast Facts

[dontlop]

Here's a look at the life of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric.

Personal:

Birth Name: Sayyid Ali Husaini Sistani

Birth Date: August 4, 1930

Birth Place: Mashhad, Iran

Father: Sayyid Mohammad Baqir, father, a religious scholar

Mother: mother's name unavailable publicly

Marriage: wife's name unavailable publicly

Children: Muhammad Rida al-Sistani - eldest son. Total number of children unavailable publicly.

Religion: Shiite Muslim

Other Facts:

He is a member of a well known family of religious scholars and began studying at the age of five.

Al-Sistani has written many books and treatises on Islamic law and life.

Under Saddam Hussein's regime, the Ayatollah was under house arrest for many years.

Rarely does interviews and is rarely seen in public.

Timeline:

1952 - Al-Sistani moves to the holy city of Najaf, Iraq, to study with Shiite clerics there.

1990 - He is chosen by other religious figures to lead an important network of schools in Najaf.

September 2002 - He issues his first political fatwa, urging Muslims to unite and defend Iraq against outside aggressors.

April 2003 - Al-Sistani's house arrest is lifted after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The Ayatollah issues his second political fatwa, urging the Iraqi people to remain neutral and not to interfere with the U.S. forces.

June 3, 2004 - Al-Sistani endorses the new Iraqi government. Says the new government lacks "legitimacy of elections" and does not represent "in an acceptable manner all segments of Iraqi society and political forces." ... "Nevertheless, it is hoped that this government will prove its efficiency and integrity and show resolve to carry out the enormous tasks that rest on its shoulders."

August 3-26, 2004 - Fighting engulfs the city of Najaf. Militiamen loyal to Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr battle U.S. forces for control of the area.

August 6, 2004 - Al-Sistani, who seldom leaves his home in Najaf, travels to Great Britain for treatment for heart problems.

August 25, 2004 - The Ayatollah returns to Iraq and begins negotiating a ceasefire in Najaf. Before his return he asks all Iraqis to "...march to Najaf in order to rescue the city."

August 26, 2004 - Arrives at his home in Najaf, where he and Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr reach an agreement to put an end to the violence in the region.

February 13, 2005 - The results of Iraq's January 30, 2005 election are released. Al-Sistani's United Iraqi Alliance comes in first, with over four million votes.

December 2008 - Al-Sistani endorses the Iraqi government and U.S. military troop withdrawal proposal.

January 2009 - He releases a statement urging Iraqis to vote in the upcoming provincial elections but states that he is not endorsing any candidates.

March 2011 - To express his dissatisfaction with political leaders the Ayatollah refuses to meet with them.

March 2013 - Al-Sistani issues a fatwa prohibiting shedding Iraqi blood, particularly Sunni blood.

June 13, 2014 - Through his representative, appeals to his followers to join the security forces in fighting ISIS Militants. "Citizens who are able to bear arms and fight terrorists...should volunteer and join the security forces to achieve this holy purpose."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/17/world/meast/grand-ayatollah-ali-al-sistani-fast-facts/

[dontlop]

Killing of Sunni clerics raises sectarian tensions in Iraq

http://m.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/killing-of-sunni-clerics-raises-sectarian-tensions-in-iraq

BASRA, Iraq // Gunmen shot dead three Sunni clerics in the Shiite-majority southern province of Basra, an attack likely to increase already significant sectarian tensions in the country.

Gunmen ambushed the clerics’ car on Thursday night in the mostly Sunni district of Al Zubeir near Basra city.

Two clerics were wounded in the attack, said Raikan Mahdi, head of the district’s security committee.

He said the clerics were returning from Basra after attending a meeting on celebrations for the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday.

Prime minister Haider Al Abadi, a Shiite, condemned the killings, saying they were carried out by “terrorist gangs” who must be brought to justice.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, which comes at a time of heightened tensions between Iraq’s Shiite majority and Sunnis, who mark the prophet’s birthday on Saturday.

The Sunni extremist group ISIL launched a sweeping offensive in June that overran major parts of Iraq and has repeatedly attacked Shiites, whom they consider to be apostates.

Baghdad turned to Shiite militias for support against ISIL, and while they have played a key role in the fighting, they have also carried out kidnappings and extrajudicial killings targeting Sunnis.

Interior minister Mohammed Ghabban, member of a political bloc affiliated with one of the most powerful Shiite militias – blamed the attack on “forces serving the [iSIL] project.”

But the parliament speaker Salim Al Juburi, a Sunni, implied that Shiite militiamen were responsible. “We will not allow the replacement of the civil state that we seek to build with a group of warlords and militia leaders,” he said.

The fighting triggered by ISIL’s offensive has led to Iraq’s highest annual civilian death toll since the height of sectarian violence in 2006-07.

There were at least 12,282 civilians in 2014, with the majority – nearly 8,500 – during the second half of the year following the expansion of ISIL in June out of western Anbar province, the United Nations said yesterday.

The extremist group has also seized large areas of Syria, where it is fighting against the Bashar Al Assad regime as well as other, moderate rebel groups.

Syria’s main western-backed opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, opened a three-day meeting in Istanbul on Friday to discuss a range of issues, including a Russian initiative to broker a resolution to the civil war, and elect a new president.

* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press

And

ISIS Executes 13 Sunni Clerics for Refusal To Join Them

http://m.clarionproject.org/news/isis-executes-13-sunni-clerics-refusal-join-them

Don't be so quick to be blaming things on maliki

Edited February 15, 2015 by dontlop

[sandfly]

THANKS D

[tlars brother]

dontlop if you honestly don't believe that these three sects cannot live together, whey is the hell don't you just sell your IQD and get the hell out of this investment.  ??