Tag Archives: Sistani

Iraq’s top Shiite cleric on Friday called on the powerful Shiite militias that helped reconquer the Islamic State’s territory to choose between politics and arms, backing a key demand of the prime minister. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani stopped short, however, of rescinding a religious edict he made in June 2014 urging Iraqi …

By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem — The hawza (seminary) in Najaf, which consists of religious schools where Shiite clerics are trained, was founded by the most prominent Shiite religious scholar, Sheikh Muhammad al-Tusi, in 1028 — even though some tend to believe that the hawza was established in Najaf decades before …

THE LEVANT EXCLUSIVE – By Dr. Geoffrey Cook –Your correspondent is revisiting and expanding upon an article originally published a few years back by the Muslim Observer (U.SA.), and was datelined Berkeley (Calif.) at its publication.  Since, with the raise of the Islamic (pseudo-)”State” of Iraq and the Levant (a.k.a. ISIL), …