Head of Iraqi Muslim Scholars is a Thug and a Terrorist according to Iraqis
Including the other Iraqi Sunni Muslim Scholars, Muqtada Alsadar and the Iraqi government.
So al-Dhari goes to Yemen and holds a symposium at Sanaa University wherein he incites and justifies further violence while denying responsibility for the slaughter of innocent Iraqis with the absurd claim that its really the Iraqi government that is blowing up people on their way to pray, shoppers in markets and poor workers just looking to feed their families.
From The Mudville Gazette. some background to our earlier report of Sheikh Harith al-Dhari’s visit with Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh. From Nov 17th’s LATimes:
Iraq’s Shiite-led government issued an arrest warrant Thursday for the country’s leading Sunni Arab cleric, accusing him of colluding with insurgents, a potentially explosive charge that could exacerbate tensions between the country’s warring sectarian groups and further divide a fragile national government.
The move against Harith Dhari, head of the Muslim Scholars Assn., came two days after an audacious daytime kidnapping in Baghdad ruptured the government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, setting Sunni politicians against Shiites.
Colluding with insurgents means a little more then spreading their propaganda. Other Sunni Sheiks have denounced him as supporting al-Qaeda, and when a group of Sheiks makes a statement like that, usually they know what they are talking about. On being charged by the Iraqi government, Dhari fled to Jordan before making his trip to Yemen. From the Washington Times, via Mudville:
Sunni sheiks from Iraq’s volatile Anbar province have denounced a powerful Sunni cleric as “a thug” for supporting the al-Qaida terrorist group.
The Anbar Salvation Council, a group of sheiks formed to resist foreign militants in Iraq, also denied accusations by cleric Harith al-Dhari that it was cozying up to the Iraqi government in exchange for money, the New York Times reported Sunday.
“We, on behalf of the Anbar tribes council, say to Harith al-Dhari: If there is a thug, it is you; if there is a killer and a kidnapper, it is you,” the Times quoted Sheik Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi as saying.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani added Dhari was stirring up sectarian strife and trying to enlist the aid of Sunni-led countries to foment violence in Iraq.
A very thorough guy that Greyhawk; we have more from one of his Iraqi readers who describes a fatwa issued by a variety of Sunni and Shiite groups, including nine of al-Dhari’s former associates, prohibiting the murder of fellow Iraqis. And yes, it is murder and no, anyone who disagrees with al-Dhari is not an apostate deserving of death.
The following is my translation of a headline and article, which appeared in Iraq’s “Alsabah” & “Aswat Al-Iraq” of November 30th.
‘Basra’s Sunni religious leaders issue a Fatwa banning killing Shiites or belonging to extremist or terrorist groups’.
‘Sunni leaders in Basra representing, Party of Islam, Muslim Scholars Association, The Sunni Endowment and heads of Sunni tribes, issued a Fatwa (religious opinion or edict) banning and forbidding the spilling of Shiite blood or joining any terrorist or extremist organization. The Fatwa also called for the rebuilding of the Asqariah shrine in Samarah.
Sheik Abd Al-Karim Jerad (Sunni), head of the ‘Party of Islam’, said, in a press release on Wednesday, ‘All Sunni religious references in Basra had a conference on Tuesday and issued a unanimous Fatwa (religious opinion) forbidding and banning the spilling of all Iraqi blood (Sunni or Shiite) and all other sects’. He pointed out that this Fatwa reinforces ones from the past issue by these same groups. He added, ‘the Fatwa also forbad and banned joining any extremist or terrorist groups, for they are the source of the rancor. The Fatwa also stipulated the speeding up of rebuilding the Asqariah shrines in Samara. We are calling for the unity of citizens legally and nationally. I call on the Basra security forces to fulfill full security, pursue criminals, extremists and terrorists’. He added that Multi National forces should leave in accordance to a timetable and give the country full independence. Jerad then said,’ while this Fatwa came in response and solidarity with Muqtada Alsadar’s request, it also came to reinforce earlier Fatwas issued by these same groups.’
Muqtada Alsadar had asked, in his Friday sermon, Sheik Hareth Althari (chairman of the Muslim Scholars) to denounce the spilling of Shiite blood and stand against extremist organizations. This brought about the Fatwa, which was signed by nine Sunni scholars
While his former colleges are working to abate the violence in Iraq, bridge sectarian divides, and diminsh the culture of Takfir, Al-Dhari gets a warm reception from Yemeni officials and a public speaking engagement at a State University in order to exhort support for the resistance. Meanwhile the stream of fighters from Yemen to Iraq (one at a time, by air flights to Syria) continues unabated with the assistance of some Yemeni officials and notables. As the highly politicized special security court noted, its not illegal for a Yemeni to murder Iraqis.
More from Jamestown.
