Shiites' new clout leads to fissures within their community

By Hamza Hendawi
The Associated Press

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KUFA, Iraq — The political empowerment of Iraq's Shiite Muslims after decades on the sidelines is producing grave internal rifts, with rival factions and religious leaders competing for advantage before Iraqi sovereignty is restored June 30.

With so much at stake, the line between politics and religion has blurred. Shows of force are common, and mudslinging is on the rise.

Tension among Shiites in Iraq is not new, but it's more widely pronounced than at any time since Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979 and sidelined the sect in favor of the minority Sunnis.

Three clerics are drawing the most attention in the fight for Shiite turf: Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Husseini al-Sistani, arguably Iraq's top Shiite cleric; maverick cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the son of a respected religious leader gunned down in 1999; and Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a junior cleric who took over leadership of a key Shiite political group after his brother died in a bombing in Najaf last August.

Others competing for leadership are Shiite politicians with close U.S. links, such as Ahmad Chalabi and Iyad Allawi who, like al-Hakim, are members of the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council. They spent years in exile, however, and their political careers may end if they lose American backing.

Many Iraqi Shiites believed to make up about 60 percent of Iraq's 25 million people, are secular-minded, middle-class city dwellers. Those most active in Shiite politics, however, are mainly clerics, whose supporters are generally poor.

Cracks in the Shiite community are most visible in the holy city of Najaf and the nearby town of Kufa.

In Najaf, portraits of al-Sadr and his late father compete for space on walls, shop windows, power poles, taxis and buses with images of al-Hakim and his late brother and, to a much lesser extent, al-Sistani.

Supporters of the Iranian-born al-Sistani, who lives in a modest, rented Najaf house, argue Iraqis' welfare was behind his demands that the new constitution be written by directly elected delegates. He also wants members of a provisional legislature to be elected, not selected through regional caucuses as the Americans want.

With al-Sistani's profile high — tens of thousands have demonstrated to support him — his nationality has become a point of contention. Leaders of the rival al-Sadr group are angry that a non-Iraqi was so heavily involved in the shaping of the nation's future.

"His demands and ours are almost the same, but it is not acceptable for an Iranian to be shown to speak for Iraq's Shiites," said Abbas al-Robai, a senior al-Sadr aide in Baghdad. "We ignore his citizenship somewhat when he is speaking about religious matters."

Supporters of al-Sistani and al-Sadr clashed late last year in the holy city of Karbala, leaving up to 10 dead. The two groups also have had a long-running tussle over which should hold the prestigious job of leading Friday prayers at Najaf's Imam Ali shrine.

Al-Sadr's supporters also laid siege to al-Sistani's home at Najaf in April, demanding that he leave the country. Tribesmen loyal to the older cleric forced them to abandon the siege. Al-Sistani has not left his home since.

The siege followed the stabbing death in Najaf on April 10 of moderate cleric Abdel-Maguid al-Khoei. Yitzhak Nakash — a leading authority on Iraq's Shiites — said al-Khoei "exemplified the sober and moderate face of Iraqi Shiism" and his death signaled an "ominous turn" in the power struggle within the sect.

The death of al-Khoei, a son of al-Sistani's late mentor Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei, was blamed on al-Sadr supporters, who deny the charge.

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