On July 16, 2012, Sayyed Ayad Jamal Al-Din published a column in the Wall Street Journal titled "Political Islam and the Battle for Najaf." Al-Din, who is a Shi'ite cleric, served in Iraq's parliament from 2005-2010. MEMRI has previously translated several of his writings and statements on TV, which include calls for pluralism, separation of church and state, appreciation for the U.S. for overthrowing Saddam Hussein, and expression of the danger that Iran poses to the fledgling democracy in Iraq.
The following are excerpts from the Wall Street Journal article:
"Khomeini Wanted To Use Religion As A Weapon For Achieving His Political Ambitions"
"We are living through a turning point in the history of religion. Islam, the faith held by more than a billion people, is a declining civilization. Political Islam is the new faith replacing it.
"The transformation began with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's revolution in Iran in 1979. Khomeini was a product of the old, traditional Islam. He studied at the religious college of Qom in Iran, where he eventually became a teacher and a respected religious scholar. But his view of religion was different than that of any of his fellow Shi'ite scholars, whether in Qom or in the other great Shi'ite academy in Najaf, Iraq.
"Khomeini wanted to use religion as a weapon for achieving his political ambitions. The other Shi'ite scholars had no interest in politics. They saw themselves responsible solely for studying the religious sciences and teaching what they learned to the Shi'ite community.
"Khomeini achieved his first major political ambition with the overthrow of the Shah in Iran. Soon after, he took control of the religious academy in Qom, seeking to banish scholars who opposed his political exploitation of religion. He did so over the course of the 1980s, under the thick cover of the Iran-Iraq war, replacing the old establishment with a new one that would further his political ambitions."
SUPPORT OUR WORK
"Ironically, Iraq's Anti-Shi'ite Dictator Helped Protect Najaf From Khomeini's Domination"
"Yet there remained an obstacle in Khomeini's path: the Najaf Hawza, the leading religious academy of the Shi'ite world, remained free of his rule. He longed to take Najaf as he had taken Qom, but he was prevented from doing so by the regime of Saddam Hussein.
"Ironically, Iraq's anti-Shi'ite dictator helped protect Najaf from Khomeini's domination. But Saddam also foolishly placed limits on the apolitical Najaf Hawza, restricting its teaching activities and driving many Iraqi Shi'ites to study religion in Iran, where they were indoctrinated with Khomeini's political ideology.
"Khomeini died in 1989, but his ambition was passed onto his successor as Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 provided the opportunity Khamenei had been seeking. The world expected the birth of a new political age in Iraq, but it is also witnessing the death of the moderate Najaf religious establishment. While others were distracted by the bombs which tore through Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, the Iranian government was spreading its tentacles over Najaf.
"Thousands of politically indoctrinated students came from Iran to study in Najaf. Among them were many Iraqis who had earlier left Iraq to escape Saddam's repression. They set up shop in Najaf, opening religious centers, publishing houses, and religious schools offering full scholarships."
"The Current Head Of The Najaf Hawza, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Is An Elderly Man; Iran's Government Is Eagerly Awaiting His death"
"The current head of the Najaf Hawza, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, is an elderly man. Iran's government is eagerly awaiting his death, at which point it will try to put forward a Khomeinist candidate as his successor. Its most likely choice will be Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, the former head of the Iranian judiciary. If he assumes the mantle of leadership in Najaf, Khomeini's work will be complete -- the old Shi'ite faith, with its institutions and its moderate outlook, will have been replaced by the new faith of Khomeinist political Shiism.
"This is dangerous not just for Shi'ites but for the entire world. Khomeinism is based on a doctrine called wilayat al-faqih, or 'government by the religious scholar.' The doctrine begins like this: The Imam al-Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Shi'ite Islam, is the true ruler of the Earth and the heavens in their entirety. With the exception of personal property belonging to individuals, everything belongs to the Imam.
"All existing governments are wrongful usurpers, exercising powers that rightfully belong to him, the true king of the universe. This far, wilayat al-faqih is largely in accordance with tradition Shiism.
"Khomeini's innovation was to suggest that, while the Mahdi is in occultation (as he has been since the ninth century), someone else must take his place and serve on his behalf as ruler of the world. Khomeini believed that this person should be a religious scholar, or faqih.
"In 1964, while living in exile in Najaf, Khomeini nominated himself for the position, announcing his ambition in a small book published in Arabic. The book had little impact in Najaf or anywhere else. Most who were aware of the book treated it as a fantastical story, something akin to a science fiction novel. How could a political exile living a hermit's life in a tiny rented house in Najaf declare himself ruler of the Earth, the stars and the planets, and announce that he would free these possessions from all existing governments in the name of the Mahdi?
"But Khomeini did indeed free a sizable chunk of the Earth from these 'usurper' governments. That part of the world is known as 'Iran.' It is still ruled by Khomeini's successor, who is trying his hardest to bring the rest of the world under his dominion as well.
"But world domination is not enough for the Imam's deputy on earth. The ruling religious scholar must exercise actual control over the lives of every human society, family and individual. He is tasked with liberating the entire world from the existing political authorities, through whatever means necessary. The holy ends justify the means, even if these include paying bribes, telling lies and assassinating opponents. This is the Machiavellian doctrine of Khomeini's political Islam, which makes world domination its highest goal.
"The new faith of political Islam is the very opposite of the traditional Shiism which began with the first imam, Ali ibn Ali Talib. He used to tell his followers: 'I would rather be defeated than achieve victory through injustice.'"
