• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Shia-Sunni religious leaders forbid further bloodshed in Iraq

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Baghdad, Oct 21, IRNA
Iraq-Reconciliation-Mecca Covenant
Religious leaders of both Shia and Sunni communities signed "Mecca Covenant" Friday forbidding further bloodshed and sectarian violence in Iraq.

While Shia and Sunnis in Iraq usually abide by fatwas (religious edicts) issued or endorsed by their top clerics, the sectarian violence is largely practiced by militants who abide only by their own interpretations of Islamic teachings and Hadith.

The Mecca meeting was sponsored by Jeddah-based Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and attended by OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu of Turkey. The signing ceremony was carried live by Iraqi TV stations.

Participants included senior Shia and Sunni clerics, and the top clerics in the holy city of Najaf, the former leader of Iraq's largest Sunni party and a senior official from the largest Shia, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Quotations from the Quran and Hadith, was issued at the end of the two-day meeting and read by Ihsanoglu. It contained 10 points, the majority of which edicts forbidding kidnappings, incitement of hatred, attacks on mosques and Shia places of worship.

It also forbade forcing members of the other sect from their homes and called for the release from detention of Iraqis not charged with specific crimes.

"It is a declaration to everyone stating the position of religion on the sins and crimes committed in Iraq," Ihsanoglu said in an address delivered in Arabic.

The fatwas were vetted and approved by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country's top Shia leader, and radical figure Muqtada al-Sadr, who is not a high ranking cleric but runs the Mahdi Army.

At the end of the signing ceremony, a presenter read a message from al-Sistani and other top Shia clerics supporting the final communique. he also read a letter of support from Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the grand sheik of al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt, Sunni Islam's top seat of learning.

1416/1416