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ELITE Issue 13, November 2019 Page 14

Sistani : a Power

in Shadow
Abdallah Ahmed Mark Magdi

the judiciary and regulatory bodies bear a major re sponsibility in
The Iraqi uprising erupted at the beginning of October, triggering
the fight against corruption, prosecuting the corru pt heads and to
anger among the people of permanent crises such as the deterioration
recover the money of the people from them. But in t he past, no
of the country's economic situation, and the corruption of the Shiite-
real procedures were taken. On the contrary, some c laim that the
who dominates the government which has worsened Iraq after years
role of the Marji'a is exaggerated politically, mak ing it able to
of ethnic
influence the regime and the political parties invo lved. His role is
violence and the war against the Islamic State. The protests currently
misleading and has nothing to do with the truth.Som e may now
in Iraq are not led by any particular political faction or party. The
think that Sistani's loyalty to the Shiite communit y is higher than
protests have erupted from the areas of the Shiite majority and were
that of the state, and proponents of this trend see it as a flimsy
later joined
image,with no real power. Some believe the existenc e of the
by the rest of the people, including the Sunnis. In current protests,
American conspiracy, which uses the Marji'a as a du mmy, offers
we find more than 311 people were killed and more than 9000 were
the most prominent mislead, exploit its religious p osition and the
injured and almost 4,000 demonstrators were arrested which led to
passion of ordinary people to achieve foreign inter ests. Some
aggravation of the situation without any changes.
believe that the Iraqi governments were initially a pproved by
While talking about influential actors in Iraq, we should not lose
America from 2003 until the departure of their forc es in 2011, but
sight of the role of the Shiite Marji'a Ayatollah S ayyid Ali al-Sistani,
the failure of the United States is obvious after l eaving the
and his great influence in the decision-making proc ess. Sistani is the
country, represented in the sever disobedience of t he
highest Shiite religious leader in Iraq. The religi ous Marji'a is the
governments that were
highest religious reference who has the authority t o make legal
brought by the US.
decisions within the confines of the Islamic law fo r the Shiite. To
Iraq is living between a painful reality and a dark future, some
them, he has reached the highest rank of diligence in the
officials may change, or the whole system may chang e leading to
development of legal provisions. His effect can be touched in many
the establishment of a new system. Another result w ould be that
situations like when he gave an advisory opinion al lowing the Iraqi
Iraq will rely on America instead of Iran. It is al so a big
people to carry weapons to fight ISIS.
possibility that the Iraqi people will follow whate ver the Sisti
In the midst of what is currently raging in Iraq, a l-Sistani is in
says.We recently did not and will not be against th e Iraqi
solidarity with the legitimate demands of peaceful demonstrators, a
revolution, and we are not against its requirements , the people
position he has affirmed in his speeches over the p ast years, he has
have full freedom to determine their destinies, but we want to
also opposed the current government performance, an d implicitly
enlighten the minds of the Iraqi people so that the se protests
rejects Iranian meddling in the form of armed milit ias. He expressed achieve positive changes, and not to be controlled or exploited by
his rejection about the violent behavior leading to the direct killing of any foreign authorities.
They started to tend to cooperate with Iran; this threatened the US
peaceful demonstrators and many elements of the sec urity forces. He
interests later. This is proved by the visit of Ira nian President "Hassan
stressed that the killers of demonstrators must be prosecuted and brought
Rouhani" to Sisti in 2014, although Sistani had ref used in 2013 to
tojustice, whatever their affiliations and position s.
receive former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmad Inej ad,and this
This behavior reveals the seriousness of the government to protect its indicates the Iraqi rapprochement with Iran due to the importance of the
Marji'a for the Iraqi people. These challenges face 's the Sistani for the
people by finding steps towards its reform, and the condemnation of
first time as he cannot decide which side to join. This made him lose
the burning of the institutions of the state and private property. He
many followers due to the fluctuation between the I ranian and American
issued a statement in the previous Friday Khutbah asking the three
sides. The Marji'a should not be represented by a p articular person, but it
branches of government for real reform, and the House of
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*Both authors are fourth level political science students
Representatives bears the biggest responsibility in this area, is supposed to come from the people to the people.
ELITE Issue 13, November 2019 Page 14