"Stop fighting in holy sites", Al-Sistani says
Najaf (AsiaNews) - Today Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the highest Shiite religious authority, asked American and Al-Sadr forces to end fighting currently underway in Najaf and Karbala.
Al-Sistani's plea has also been a source of reassurance for Muslim faithful who were worried about his health after the initial bombardments that took place early today and yesterday in Najaf. A representative for Al-Sistani in Kuwait said yesterday that there were "serious concerns" about the risks the elderly ayatollah was taking.
Al -Sistani's appeal, directed also at the Shiite Al-Mahdi militants, is as clear denial of the legitimacy of the Jihad declared yesterday at mosques which are close to Imam Al-Sadr.
Yesterday, the Shiite imam of Baghdad, Al-Darragi, harshly criticized "the complicity of silence" exhibited by Ayatollah Al-Sistani regarding the "violation of sacred Shiite sites".
In nearby Iran religious leaders have urged support for Al-Sistani. For many analysts this is a clear sign of the country's distancing itself from association with the Al-Sadr led revolt. Meanwhile the golden dome of Imam Ali-s mosque, an historic Shiite sanctuary, had 4 holes blown through it yesterday.
Both the American and Shiite militants blame one another for the sacrilege.
Imam Al-Sadr went to Kufa yesterday where he was welcomed with joy by the local inhabitants who had also gathered there for Friday prayer services. The imam's trip was an open challenge to the US forces monitoring travel along the 20km route between Najaf and Kufa.
In an exclusive interview with Al-Arabiyya, Al-Sadr, who two days ago had accepted Al-Sistani's request to order his militants to lay down their arms, went back on his word: "No one can break up our Al-Mahdi army." The imam even threatened to use "time bombs" to protect Shiite holy sites from "violation by US troops". Al-Sadr in addition said that there will be "a fight to the bitter end until foreign troops pull out of Iraq."
In Kufa, Al-Sadr warned that Al- Badr militant units (Al- Badr is the armed wing of the Islamic Revolution Supreme Council) stationed near the PGC government building had allied themselves with Coalition forces to fight against Al-Mahdi militia.
There now seems to be a huge split between Shiite Muslims who are for and against Al-Sadr's cause, while the young imam tries to appear as their defender.
A Shiite member of the PGC, when contacted by AsiaNews, said in anonymity that Moqtada Al-Sadr is more isolated than ever before in his "aspiration for martyrdom", desiring to do so "in the shadow of the tombs of the first Shiite martyrs".
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