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Iraq
Iraqis: Al Azhar Fatwa regarding council ’’shameful’’
2003-08-28
Iraqi parties blasted al-Azhar - Islam’s most revered authority - at the backdrop of its Fatwa banning Arab and Islamic countries from dealing with the Iraqi Governing Council, calling the US- backed body illegitimate. The Iraqi parties have also rejected the decree from the Arab-world’s highest-ranking Sunni Muslim institution, describing it as a “shame”. They suggested that it would be more useful for al-Azhar not to indulge in political issues that concerned Iraqis.
"Mind your own business."
On August 19, al Azhar issued a Fatwa banning Arab and Islamic countries from dealing with Iraq’s interim Governing Council, saying it lacks religious and political legitimacy. It described the council as been imposed on the Iraqis by the will of the occupation, and does not conform to Islam’s established principle of Shura. But Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the grand sheikh of al-Azhar mosque and university, said on Wednesday the committee that issued that fatwa had no right to make such judgements and would be brought to account. Tantawi told Reuters the clerics would be called to task for issuing the unauthorised ruling. The Iraqi Wifaq party criticized al Azhar’s fatwa, reiterating that only the Iraqi people have the right to choose their political destinity. “Only the Iraqi people have the right to accept or reject the governing council
 neither al Azhar or anyone else for that matter have the right to interfere in internal Iraqi issues,” said Ibrahim al Janabi - Wifaq’s secretary general. Speaking to Al Bawaba via telephone, in what seemed to be a jab at Egypt, Janabi said, “al Azhar is being pressed by certain powers
 we are sorry to hear of such political Fatwas from the highest ranking Sunni institution in the Arab world – it [the Fatwa] has nothing to do with religion and it is shameful and completely rejected.”
Fatwas have something to do with religion? When did that start?
“Doesn’t Israel have an embassy in Cairo? Why doesn’t al Azhar issue a Fatwa banning the presence of the embassy on Egyptian soil? Is what they [Egyptians] do legitimate and what we do not?” asked Janabi, suggesting that al Azhar focus on religious matters rather than political ones.
I don’t know anything about Ibrahim al-Janabi, but he sounds good at least.
For its part, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq expressed its regret at the fatwa, which they described as stupid inappropriate. “The [al Azhar] Fatwa is irrelevant. We are sorry to see the governing council - which represents all the Iraqi people and its parties - not being able to secure recognition amongst the Arabs, while Arab countries have ongoing ties with Israel,” Hamed al-Bayati, the party’s spokesperson, told Al Bawaba via telephone from his office in London. He added, “It is very regrettable to hear such a Fatwa coming from al Azhar
 the Arab countries have already started dealing with the governing council without recognizing it. They are dealing with the situation as it is,” said Bayati, referring to the warm welcome the council’s delegation received in the Arab countries it recently visited.
Standard Arab procedure, denounce in public, deal in private.
The temporary head of the governing council, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, expressed his satisfaction with the result of his Arab tour that included seven countries and a visit to the Arab League’s headquarters in Cairo. The tour included visits to the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The delegation was supposed to visit Yemen as well, but was postponed at the last minute.
"Are you nuts? Yemen is too dangerous."
He described the success of the visit as an implied - yet unofficial - recognition of Iraq’s interim Governing Council. The Arab league has refused to recognize the Iraqi body officially.
Like I said, standard Arab procedure.
Posted by:Steve

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Posted by: tu3031   2003-8-28 10:58:46 PM  

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Posted by: liberalhawk   2003-8-28 3:46:51 PM  

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Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-8-28 1:17:19 PM  

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Posted by: Anonymous   2003-8-28 1:14:46 PM  

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Posted by: Steve   2003-8-28 11:21:53 AM  

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Posted by: mojo   2003-8-28 11:16:59 AM  

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