THE POPE IN IRAQ: Religious leader’s visit plays part in long-standing Shia religious rivalry

26/02/2021
715 3 minutes read

On Friday, March 5, 2021, Pope Francis, the world’s leader of the Catholic Church, is planning to start his historic visit to Iraq. This will begin with a meeting with the Iraqi President in Baghdad, followed by meetings with local Christian leaders.

By Mustafa Habib

The next day, Saturday, Pope Francis will travel to Najaf to meet with the spiritual leader of millions of Shiite Muslims, Ali al-Sistani. Then there will be a multi-faith meeting in the city of Ur in Dhi Qar province – this is reputed to be the birthplace of the prophet Abraham, who is said to be the father of the three faiths, Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

The next day, Sunday, Pope Francis will travel to Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, where he will conduct a mass. The religious leader will also travel to the nearby northern city of Mosul, which was once controlled by the extremist group known as the Islamic State. There he will pray for victims of this and other conflicts.

But it is Pope Francis’ stop in Najaf that is likely to be most significant. The Pope often calls for interfaith dialogue, and this is important especially for the two main sects of Islam, the Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims.

This will also be the Pope’s first trip to a predominantly Shiite Muslim country. He has already visited Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco, all of which are Sunni Muslim-majority nations.

While in Egypt, Pope Francis met with one of the world’s leading Sunni Muslim clerics, Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al Azhar in Egypt.

But the meeting in Najaf means more to Shiite Muslims than that. The only other spiritual leader that challenges al-Sistani for dominance among Shiite Muslims is Iranian spiritual leader, Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei is based in the Iranian city of Qom and the rivalry between the two schools of Shia Islam goes back centuries. The two religious centers have very different philosophies too. Clerics in Qom believe that they are custodians of the Iranian people and that, therefore, they should have political power. As a result, Iran is a theological state. Whereas the clerics in Najaf, in Iraq, prescribe separation of church and state.

Contemporary Iraq has plenty of examples of how this rivalry has played out. Al-Sistani, of Najaf, supported young Iraqi anti-government protests against political corruption. Meanwhile groups allied with Iran stood against the protesters and Iranian officials described the demonstrations as a conspiracy.

There is also disagreement between the two sides about Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF. These are semi-official paramilitary groups that were made up by volunteers to fight against the extremist Islamic State group. The groups are now a contentious part of Iraq’s security forces. Al-Sistani believes the groups should be fully incorporated into Iraq’s military. But Iranian officials, who support some of these groups with weapons, pay and guidance, want the PMF to remain independent of the rest of the Iraqi forces.

This led the paramilitary groups allied to al-Sistani to defect from the PMF, saying that from now on they would only take orders directly from Iraqi state actors.

“The conflict between the Najaf authorities led by al-Sistani and Qom led by Khamenei is moral and intellectual struggle,” Aqeel al-Waili, a student of theology based in Najaf, says. “It is about the question of who is the rightful spiritual leader of Shiite Muslims.”

Al-Waili believes the Pope’s visit will give Najaf precedence on the global stage and will put emphasis on Najaf’s attitude toward politics.

“In fact, there are a lot of similarities between the Vatican and Najaf on issues like non-involvement in politics and keeping religion private,” he argued.

Last week, a delegation from Rome arrived in Najaf to arrange the upcoming meeting between the two spiritual leaders.

And while most Iraqis seem to be eagerly awaiting the visit and the positive attention it would bring their country, Shiite Muslim forces close to Iran remained unenthusiastic.

Prominent cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who aligneds himself mostly with Najaf, also put out an official statement saying that the uptick in rocket attacks on Baghdad’s Green Zone, where embassies and government offices are based, are all attempts to hinder Pope Francis’ visit .

26/02/2021
715 3 minutes read

Related Articles

Photo of DOUBLE THE PAIN: In underfunded, overcrowded Basra hospitals, birthing mothers are abused

DOUBLE THE PAIN: In underfunded, overcrowded Basra hospitals, birthing mothers are abused

31/03/2022
Photo of HAUNTED POST BOXES: Visiting Nasiriyah’s 1,000 abandoned letter boxes and the men who used to service them

HAUNTED POST BOXES: Visiting Nasiriyah’s 1,000 abandoned letter boxes and the men who used to service them

25/01/2022
Photo of ON REPEAT: The Sunni Speaker of Parliament returns. Will the same happen for Iraq’s prime minister and president?

ON REPEAT: The Sunni Speaker of Parliament returns. Will the same happen for Iraq’s prime minister and president?

25/01/2022
Photo of THE OPPOSITION IN NASIRIYAH: How anti-government demonstrators succeeded in Iraq’s federal elections

THE OPPOSITION IN NASIRIYAH: How anti-government demonstrators succeeded in Iraq’s federal elections

30/12/2021

182 Comments

  1. Greetings from Colorado! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to check out
    your website on my iphone during lunch break. I love
    the knowledge you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.
    I’m amazed at how quick your blog loaded on my mobile ..

    I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, amazing site!

  2. With havin so much content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism
    or copyright infringement? My site has a lot of unique content I’ve
    either created myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is
    popping it up all over the web without my permission. Do
    you know any methods to help prevent content from being ripped off?
    I’d genuinely appreciate it.

  3. Have you ever considered creating an e-book or guest authoring
    on other websites? I have a blog based on the
    same information you discuss and would really like
    to have you share some stories/information. I know my audience would enjoy your work.
    If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e-mail.

  5. I don’t even know how I ended up right here, but I believed this submit
    was once good. I don’t know who you are but definitely you are going
    to a well-known blogger in the event you aren’t already.
    Cheers!

  7. You actually make it appear really easy with your presentation however I to find
    this matter to be really something that I feel I would never understand.
    It sort of feels too complex and extremely large for me.
    I’m having a look forward to your next submit, I’ll try to get the grasp of it!

  8. I have been browsing online more than 3 hours lately,
    yet I by no means discovered any attention-grabbing article like yours.
    It is lovely price sufficient for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers
    made just right content material as you probably did, the web will likely be much more useful than ever before.

  10. Wonderful blog you have here but I was curious about if you knew of any discussion boards that cover the same topics discussed in this article?
    I’d really love to be a part of community where I can get feed-back from other experienced people that share
    the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me
    know. Appreciate it!

  13. I’m not sure where you are getting your info,
    but good topic. I needs to spend some time learning
    much more or understanding more. Thanks for excellent info I was looking for this information for my mission.

  19. Hello would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working
    with? I’m going to start my own blog soon but I’m having
    a hard time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
    The reason I ask is because your design and style seems different
    then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique.

    P.S My apologies for being off-topic but I
    had to ask! asmr https://app.gumroad.com/asmr2021/p/best-asmr-online asmr

  20. I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you make this
    website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?
    Plz answer back as I’m looking to design my own blog and would like to find out
    where u got this from. thanks a lot quest bars http://bit.ly/3C2tkMR quest
    bars

  26. I’ll right away clutch your rss as I can’t in finding your email subscription hyperlink
    or e-newsletter service. Do you have any? Please let me know in order that I may subscribe.

    Thanks. scoliosis surgery https://0401mm.tumblr.com/ scoliosis surgery

  39. Приглашаем вас на консультации
    детского психолога. Профессиональные психологи Консультация по Skype.
    Психотерапия онлайн! Консультация психолога онлайн.
    Психотерапия онлайн! Консультация психолога в Киеве Онлайн-консультация у психолога.

  54. Howdy would you mind stating which blog platform you’re using?

    I’m going to start my own blog soon but I’m having a tough time
    choosing between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and
    Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design and style seems different then most blogs
    and I’m looking for something completely unique.
    P.S Sorry for being off-topic but I had to ask!

  61. Hi everybody, here every person is sharing
    these kinds of know-how, so it’s good to read this webpage,
    and I used to go to see this webpage everyday.

  63. Simply desire to say your article is as astounding. The clearness in your post
    is simply nice and i can assume you’re an expert
    on this subject. Well with your permission allow me to grab your RSS feed to keep up to date with
    forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please continue the rewarding work.

  64. I feel this is one of the so much significant information for me.
    And i am glad reading your article. However wanna observation on few basic things, The website style
    is wonderful, the articles is actually nice : D. Excellent
    activity, cheers

  108. I blog quite often and I genuinely thank you for your information. This article
    has truly peaked my interest. I am going to book mark your
    site and keep checking for new information about once per week.
    I opted in for your Feed as well.

  109. Woah! I’m really loving the template/theme of this blog.
    It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s hard to get that “perfect balance” between usability and visual appearance.
    I must say you have done a very good job with this.

    Also, the blog loads extremely fast for me on Chrome.
    Exceptional Blog!

  115. After going over a handful of the articles on your web page, I really like your way
    of writing a blog. I saved as a favorite it to my bookmark webpage
    list and will be checking back in the near future. Please visit my web site as well and let me know what you think.

  118. Just wish to say your article is as amazing.
    The clarity to your submit is just excellent and i can think you’re a professional in this subject.

    Fine with your permission allow me to seize your RSS feed
    to stay updated with coming near near post. Thanks a
    million and please keep up the rewarding work.

  119. Great post. I was checking constantly this blog
    and I’m inspired! Extremely useful info specifically the final
    section 🙂 I care for such information a lot. I used to be looking for this particular information for a very long time.
    Thank you and good luck.

  120. When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four e-mails with the same comment.

    Is there any way you can remove people from
    that service? Thank you!

  122. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.
    You definitely know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your
    blog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?

  123. Hi there this is kinda of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use
    WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.
    I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding experience so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience.
    Any help would be enormously appreciated!

  124. You could definitely see your expertise within the work you write.
    The sector hopes for more passionate writers like you who are not afraid
    to say how they believe. Always follow your heart.

  136. Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really
    well written article. I will make sure to bookmark it and return to read
    more of your useful information. Thanks for the post.
    I will certainly return.

  138. What you published was actually very logical.
    However, what about this? what if you typed a catchier title?
    I ain’t suggesting your information is not solid., but what if
    you added a headline to possibly get a person’s attention? I mean THE POPE IN
    IRAQ: Religious leader’s visit plays part in long-standing Shia religious rivalry – Al Menasa is a little boring.
    You should glance at Yahoo’s front page and watch how they create news titles to grab viewers to open the links.
    You might add a video or a pic or two to grab people excited about what you’ve got to say.
    In my opinion, it would make your posts a little bit more interesting.

  145. Do you have a spam problem on this site; I also am a blogger,
    and I was wanting to know your situation; we have created
    some nice practices and we are looking to swap methods with other folks,
    please shoot me an e-mail if interested.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Back to top button