Leading Muslim Cleric issues Fatwa!

[DawnCt]

I just heard on Fox News that a leading Muslim Cleric has just issued a Fatwa, asking that Coalition Troops NOT be attacked but assisted instead. Sounds like the truth is getting out.....

 

[PamOKW]

I heard this as part of a commentary on the radio. They said it is one of the leading ayatollahs in the world who, himself, last week was railing against us. The commentator then asked whether we had any word on whether Hell was also freezing over.

Wouldn't it be great if the Muslim leaders could finally break through and work with us?

 

[Geoff_M]

Reuters report on the topic:

Muslim Chief Tells Followers Not to Hinder Invaders

April 3 — By Kieran Murray

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - After battling pro-Baghdad loyalists, U.S. troops moved into the center of Iraq's holy city of Najaf on Thursday, bolstered by an edict from a top local Shi'ite Muslim leader urging people not to interfere with them.

U.S. officers said they believed most of the Fedayeen paramilitary fighters loyal to President Saddam Hussein had dropped their equipment and fled -- but that a few were still in the city putting up a fight.

"Ideally, we would kill them all," Col. Joseph Anderson, a brigade commander of the 101st Airborne Division, told Reuters. "But if they choose to change their mind and flee, there's not much we can do."

The U.S. military said Iraq's senior Shi'ite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who had been held under house arrest by the government, had ordered local people in a "fatwa" (edict) not to interfere with the U.S.-led invasion troops.

"We believe this is a very significant turning point and another indicator that the Iraqi regime is approaching its end," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks told reporters in Qatar.

A Reuters correspondent in Baghdad just one week ago saw a fatwa issued by Sistani still pinned to the door of a main Shi'ite mosque in the capital saying Iraqis would "stand together against any invasion."

In London, the Shi'ite Al Khoei foundation confirmed the ayatollah's new ruling and said that until now his followers had been "confused" over whether to fight the U.S forces.

But Iraq's Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said Shi'ites would remain loyal to Saddam. "As Muslims, their fatwa is to resist the American mercenary forces -- they are evil -- and to consider them invaders who should be resisted," he told al-Jazeera television in an interview.

Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, is one of Iraq's most important religious centers and home to the revered gold-domed Ali Mosque, which contains the tomb of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed.

Some Najaf residents appeared alarmed by the actions of the U.S. troops. CNN footage showed soldiers trying to calm a crowd who apparently thought they were planning to seize the mosque.

U.S. military sources said one of the two brigades of the 101st Airborne in Najaf had been in negotiations with Sistani about how to govern Najaf in the absence of pro-Saddam forces.

"I think he realized we really are here to help Iraqi people," one source said.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20030403_467.html

 

[CRB#33]

I pray continuously that good things like this come more and more frequently.

Thanks for posting.

 

[nativetxn]

Me too, CRB, me too. Thanks Geoff

 

[Keli]

I hope so too. It's good to hear positive reports.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Prayers are being answered!