Coming to terms with Sistani
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Differences with Khomeini
Sistani was born in Mashhad, Iran, in 1929 to a family of religious scholars. He studied at the hands of the grand ayatollah Abdul-Qasim Khoei. Sistani rose in religious rank to be named a marje (religious reference) in 1960 during the heyday of the secular military dictatorship of president Abd al-Karim Qasim. He embraced religion when Arab, rather than Islamic, nationalism was the popular ideology in Iraq, and when the number of theology students was dropping by the thousands. In 1918, for example, 6,000 students studied at the theology schools of Sistani's Najaf, while by 1957 it had dropped to 1,954, of whom only 326 were Iraqis.
Many of those enrolled, according to historian Hanna Batatu, did so only in name in order to secure exemption from otherwise compulsory service in the Iraqi army. Sistani supported separation of religion from the state, under the influence of Khoei, and this spared him persecution by the military dictators of the 1960s and 1970s. In theory, he had no problem with the officers keeping the clergy away from political life in Iraq. Sistani stayed away from politics, leading a monastic life, and attracted millions of supporters throughout Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan.
In theory, he supported the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979, but he grew disenchanted by Khomeini's theocracy. Sistani believed that government should be run by politicians, not clergymen, whose duty would be to maintain law and order and to run economic affairs, day-to-day politics and foreign relations. The clergy should not become politicians, he stressed, because this would corrupt them and distort their religious message. Instead, they should limit themselves to spiritual and religious matters in which the politicians cannot pass sound judgment.
Khomeinism, on the other hand, gave complete political control and responsibility to the clergymen. Khomeini advocated a system called vilayet-e-faqih (guardianship of the jurisprudent); clerical rule in political affairs, while Sistani called for it only in social issues. Khomeini established a cult personality for himself in Iran, much to the horror of the US, which he famously labeled "The Great Satan".
Sistani opposed that an ayatollah like Khomeini would involve himself in such a war of words - something that should be handled by the politicians, not the clergy. Even today, with US forces in Iraq, Sistani has refrained from ever criticizing the US, urging his men not to take up arms against the Americans, yet refusing to meet with any US official on Iraqi soil. He acknowledges that they are invaders, but it is not his duty to fight them out of Baghdad. He welcomed the war on Saddam, with no mandate from the United Nations, yet insisted on having UN inspectors at the elections of January 30.
...nvm Ive run out..how about dog biscuits?
