In These New Times

THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2008

(Missing Links)

There was elation in the long-war community in April 2007 when it was announced that an association of Sunni religious scholars was being set up to challenge the authority of the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq (AMSI), led by Harith al-Dhari, because this was regarded as a repudiation by Sunnis of the resistance-oriented AMSI. Included within the new “mainstream” group was a fatwa-issuing team, and it was headed by one Abdul Malik alSaadi, a highly-regarded Sunni scholar. 

This morning we learn that Sheikh alSaadi has issued a fatwa that bars anyone from signing any agreement in any sphere of activity with the occupation until such time as there has been a total withdrawal of their military forces from Iraq. Haq News Agency says the fatwa “absolutely bars the formation of any agreement in any sphere with the occupation, unless after their complete withdrawal from Iraq and their giving back of complete and real sovereignty to the state….And after their withdrawal, this [agreements] will be permitted economically, not with respect to security”. The fatwa is based on Islamic history, the principle being that since the time of the Prophet it has not been permitted for Islamic governments to form agreements with powers that are occupying their territory militarily, but that non-security agreements are permitted with non-Islamic entities otherwise. 

There is also this:

“Those who govern Iraq at the present time, although they have lost sovereignty, still most of them are members of Islamic parties, and it is incumbent on them to follow the Islamic word, particularly since it is now clear to them what was the game of the occupation or the waging of war against Iraq under the pretext of weapons of mass destruction, or the toppling of the former regime, which did not do one-hundredth of what the occupation has done to the people of Iraq”.

Which means that the position of the Sunni religious authorities, both AMSI and the “mainstream” is essentially the same as that of the Sadr trend, namely that no agreement is permissible until the foreign forces withdraw from Iraq completely, and full sovereignty is restored to the country.