Ayatollahs Reinforce The Shia Horn (Daniel 7:7)

Khamenei Adviser: ‘Zeal, Devotion’ Of The Shi’a Saved Iraq

October 13, 2014

The head of the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Mohammadi Golpeygani, has said that Iraq would have fallen into the hands of Islamic State had it not been for a fatwa issued by Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq’s highest-ranking Shi’ite cleric, calling on Shi’as to fight.

In June, Sistani issued the fatwa, which was aimed at mobilizing Iraqi Shi’as against the Sunni-led Islamic State, amid fears that Islamic State jihadis would destroy Shi’ite shrines in Iraq.

Golpeygani said that the fatwa, together with the “zeal and devotion” of Shi’as, had prevented Iraq from falling to Islamic State militants.

Golpeygani slammed Islamic State’s extremism and said that the group were “Kharijites” — a term used to refer to a sect of Muslims who rejected the succession of the Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib. In particular, the Kharijites were reputed to declare other Muslims to be unbelievers and to therefore deserve the death penalty.

Sunni opponents of Islamic State, notably some Jabhat al-Nusra members, have accused the group of being Kharijites.

In September, Islamic satellite channels, including some in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, aired an awareness campaign titled “ISIS: The Ignorance of the Kharijites and Penetrating the Intelligence,” which warned of “extremist ideology and Kharijite beliefs in particular.”

— Joanna Paraszczuk

Even Iraq’s Top Cleric Wants Antichrist

Iraq’s Top Cleric Calls For Prime Minister Maliki To Be Replaced – And Iran’s Military Mastermind Has A List Of Names


Michael Kelley and Armin Rosen

Jun 28, 2014, 12.51 AM

Iraq’s top Shiite cleric told political leaders to pick a new prime minister in the next four days, Krishnadev Calamur of NPR reports.

“Tuesday’s session will be the first since an election in April, and comes as parties jostle to form the largest coalition and therefore the right to appoint the prime minister,” Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani spokesman said, according to NPR correspondent Alice Fordham.

Several senior Iraqi Shiite politicians told the Associated Press that Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) General Qassem Soleimani, who calling the shots in Baghdad, has “a list of potential prime minister candidates for Iran’s leadership to consider … [and] is expected to return within days to inform Iraqi politicians of Tehran’s favorite.”

Sistani is Iraq’s highest-ranking cleric, and is the “prime marja,” or spiritual reference-point, for the world’s 150-200 million Shi’ites. He’s had a moderating influence over the past decade of turmoil in Iraq. He negotiated a truce with radical Shi’ite cleric and longtime rival Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army when the militant group took over Najaf’s shrines – some of the holiest sites in Shi’ism – in 2004.

Sistani has long been a proponent of Iraq’s democratic process, organizing a Shi’ite electoral bloc in 2005, and pointedly refuse to endorse any candidates during elections in 2010, thus allowing the political process to unfold free of his overwhelming influence. Sistani also issued a fatwa against sectarian violence in late 2013. Notably, Sistani also urged Iraqis to join the security services to fight ISIS on June 16th.

Iraq’s leading religious figure and a long-time opponent of the country’s most hardcore Shi’ite sectarians now believes that Iraq’s authoritarian and Iranian-supported Shi’ite strongman can no longer remain in power. It’s possible that Sistani wants to prevent Iraq from spiraling into all-out sectarian war, and sees Maliki’s removal as the only remaining off-ramp. Notably, Sistani urged Iraqis to join the security services to fight ISIS on June 16th.

And it’s possible that the Iranians are leveraging Sistani to affect a change in policy that they’re contemplating anyway: the AP notes that Souleimani met with Sistani’s son for two hours this week. With Sistani appearing to broker Maliki’s exit, Iran’s hands can appear relatively clean – and Tehran will get a hand-picked successor to Maliki that seems to diffuse the country’s political crisis without lessening Iranian influence.

Iranian proxy militias have bolstered southern Iraq since at least January, when a call for “protectors of holy sites in Syria and Iraq” led to Shia many Iraqi Shia fighters returning from Syria to protect cities that are now threatened by an ISIS-led Sunni coalition.

Imam Makes Way For Antichrist

Ayatollah Sistani: Assad and Maliki must go

Both Iraq and Syria's leaders should be removed immediately to avoid a devastating Shi'ite-Sunni sectarian split, says Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, the Gulf Daily News reported.
According to the report, the Shi'ite spiritual leader has voiced his objection to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad staying in power after more than two-and-a-half years of violence. He also feels that Iraq needs a new prime minister - acceptable to all components of its society - for the government to be able to safeguard the country's interest and unity.
Ayatollah Sistani's remarks came during a meeting with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in the holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq, said a cleric from the movement of Shi'ite strongman Moqtada Al Sadr. The minister also later met Al Sadr.
The cleric pointed out that Ayatollah Sistani's stance may lead to confrontations with Iran's spiritual leader Ali Khamenei, who backs both Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki and Assad, according to Kuwaiti newspaper Al Siyassa.
Davutoglu, the most senior Turkish official to visit Iraq since the end of 2011 when bilateral relations deteriorated following Turkish approval to keep Iraqi former vice-president Tariq Al Hashimi on its soil, described Ayatollah Sistani as the "safety valve" of Iraq. He also called him a "global peace man" who stands against sectarian sedition in Iraq and the region.
The Al Sadr aide pointed out that Tehran supports a third term for Al Maliki and is closely monitoring the Turkish-Iraqi rapprochement. It is thought that Turkey's extending its hand to Iraqi Shi'ites might help lead to its playing a significant role in soothing sectarian crises in the region and garner Ankara the role of mediator, as it already has good relations with Sunni parties in Iraq. The talks to end sectarian rifts came as a bomber wearing a police uniform detonated an explosives belt in a crowd of pilgrims in the eastern Iraqi city of Al Sadiya, killing 35.