SHRINE CITIES BLOG CLOSED

I’ve decided to shift the focus of my blogging away from the narrow focus of this blog to a broader regional focus which includes Iraq and the Persian Gulf. This blog is closed.

AYATOLLAH HAKIM VISITS KARBALA

The Ayatollah Muhammad Said Hakim visited the Imam Hussein Mosque in Karbala on September 22, coinciding with the celebration of Eid al-Fitr. There he met with the chief cleric at the mosque, Abd al-Mahdi Karbala’i, who is one of the two main representatives of the Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Karbala.

The Ayatollah Hakim’s visit is notable because he is one of the Big Four of Najaf, and the cleric most likely to succeed Sistani as Iraq’s leading marja if Sistani predeceases him. If that happens, then Karbala’i would become likely become Hakim’s representative in Karbala, although Hakim could choose someone else.

MALIKI VISITS KARBALA

Prime Minister Nuri Maliki visited Karbala over the weekend, where he met with Abd al-Mahdi Karbala’i, representative of the Ayatollah Ali Sistani. According to ImamHussein.org, the visit came within Maliki’s visit to the province to oversee a ceremony for the granting of housing units to the families of martyrs and political prisoners. The article noted that Karbala Governor Amal al-Din Har and other local officials were also present.

The issue of compensation for those who suffered under the Baathist regime is somewhat controversial in Iraq, because with limited state funds, different political leaders have different prioritization schemes as to who should be compensated first. For Maliki, compensation for Shia victims of the Baath, members of his own Dawa Party being among them, has been a priority.

APOLOGIES FOR SLOW BLOGGING

Apologies to all my faithful readers out there, both of you, for the blogging gaps of late. I’ve got several posts for Friday sermons partially done and I just need to finish them up and publish them. Hopefully more regular blogging will resume this week.

KARBALA SATELLITE CHANNEL TO LAUNCH

According to the website of the Imam Hussein Mosque in Karbala, a new satellite channel called “Karbala TV” is beginning broadcasting this Ramadan. In fact, the report indicates that it is supposed to go live today, Saturday. This appears to be the website: Karbala TV.net.

You will see at the bottom left four links to other Karbala websites (if you don’t read Arabic, the words won’t mean anything, but you can see what I mean). The one of the top right is just a link back to Imam Hussein.org. The two on the left are links to Karbala radio, streaming, but although the interfaces differ, the audio content was the same when I tried it, so its not clear what the difference is. The one on the bottom right is a link to the official website of the Imam Abbas shrine, the sister shrine of the Imam Hussein mosque.

The website doesn’t appear complete. If you try to click on where it says “About Us” (من نحن), there is no link. The “Contact Us” link does work and allows you to send them an email. The middle one is about where you can watch Karbala TV, on NileSat and ArabSat. Apparently they aren’t offering it over the internet at this point. I hope they do, because I don’t own a TV, and am not going to get one just to watch Karbala TV, as thrilling as it would surely be to anyone who reads this blog.

(Most major Arab TV channels, including al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya, are available online, so you don’t need to own a TV to watch them. If Karbala TV goes online, I’ll be sure to let you know.)

SHRINE CITY OIL?

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani announced in a recent visit to Najaf the discovery of three new oil fields in Najaf and Karbala (Oil Minister Announces Discovery of Three Oil Fields in Karbala and Najaf, Shia News Agency). They are identified as Kafal and West Kafal, which lie between the two provinces, and Marjan, which is located in Karbala. Shahristani indicated that development of the three fields would be put up for licensing during the next round of bids to be held by the end of the year.

SISTANI WANTS OPEN LISTS IN ELECTIONS

A couple of weeks ago I noted in a post on Ahmad Safi’s Friday sermon that he indicated that the Ayatollah Ali Sistani was in favor of maintaining the “open list” voting system for next year’s parliamentary elections. Now there is a report from Nasiryah News quoting government spokesman Ali Dabagh as saying that he was told that Sistani wanted open lists following his trip to Najaf. Although, as I mentioned in a previous post, Dabagh apparently only met with Sistani’s son, rather than with the marja himself, nonetheless there is no reason to doubt this report, consistent as it is with Safi’s sermon.

This issue arises now because one of the bills which parliament is currently debating is the new election law. The 2005 election law did not require open lists, meaning that parties did not have to disclose the identities of the individuals on their list. Some have argued that if a new law cannot be agreed upon, Iraq could simply run the elections under the old law. This may have been a subterfuge to simply avoid passing a new law with an open list system. Be that as it may, Sistani’s intervention more or less settles the issue of what the Maliki government’s position will have to be on the matter.

DABAGH MEETS WITH MARJAS IN NAJAF

Ali Dabagh, the Iraqi government’s chief spokesman and a key aide to Prime Minister Nuri Maliki, travelled to Najaf on Saturday to meet with the leading ayatollahs of the hawza, Ali Sistani, Ishaq Fayyad and Muhammad Said Hakim. The press release provides no interesting details of the discussions (per normal), noting that Dabagh discussed current political matters with them, and that Sistani emphasized – as he has in the past – that he stands in complete neutrality toward all political parties.

UPDATE: After this post came out, al-Malaf Press published a report indicating that Dabagh’s trip to Najaf might have related to a split between himself and the prime minister. It states that Sistani in fact refused to meet with Dabagh, but instead had his son Muhammad Reza meet with the government spokesman. Apparently the Maliki-Dabagh rift arises from a dispute over whether Iraqi officials should seek U.S. help in regard to internal national reconciliation efforts. Dabagh said that U.S. VP Biden should stay out of it during his trip to Iraq; Maliki wanted the U.S. engaged.
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These kinds of visits are fairly common, but they are worth noting for two reasons. One, they don’t make these visits on any kind of schedule, so the visit indicates a need to make sure the Shia-led government is consulting with the Najaf hawza when important decisions need to be made. Maliki has been travelling to the United States, so I presume that Dabagh made the trip in his place. Maliki usually comes himself. I bet this was related to the party coalition talks currently underway in preparation for next year’s parliamentary elections.

The second reason they I take note of these visits is that there is a kind of Kremlinology of Shia Clerics one can conduct by noting who gets visited and in what order their names are mentioned. This is important because of the succession issue. Sistani’s name is always first. Said Hakim’s is usually second, but sometimes Fayyad has been, and he is here. I note that Bashir Najafi, the other member of the Big Four, is not mentioned. MS Hakim and Fayyad are the main contenders to succeed Sistani right now. Looking at a second source, al-Malaf Press makes clear that Dabagh’s statement put Fayyad second.

FRIDAY SERMON, JULY 17, 2009

In his Friday sermon, Abd al-Mahdi Karbala’i, representative of the Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Karbala, headlined the issue of Iraq’s water problem (Sheikh Karbala’i Calls Public Officials to Take a United Position on the Water Issue). Karbala’i also discussed the pilgrimage to Kathimiya and the commemoration of the martyrdom of the seventh imam, Musa bin Jaafar al-Kathim. Although the commemorations themselves went over well, Karbala’i warned against the recent uptick in violence returning Iraq to where it was before.

On the water issue, Karbala’i spoke of the shallowness of the Tigris and the Euphrates because of the lack of rain, and the negative effect this has on the agricultural sector. He added that it was important to avoid over-dependence on the oil section, the development of agricultural competencies and expansion of that sector being a key way to maintain fuller employment.

FRIDAY SERMON, JULY 10, 2009

At the Imam Hussein Mosque in Karbala, Sayyid Ahmad Safi, representative of the Ayatollah Ali Sistani, focused on security issues and the need for parliament to pass a new elections law (Safi Calls for Officials to Prosecute Terrorism, Imam Hussein Mosque). Safi stated that “terrorists by their heinious acts are attempting to return us to square one. And they are attempting sectarian incitement, hoping to bring disorder by various means.”

Safi also discussed the need for parliament to pass a new elections law for the next parliamentary elections, now scheduled for early next year (the precise date has not been set, although it must be held within a certain number of days of four years from the last parliament). Safi argued that it was important that the new law be passed and that the “open list” system used this this year’s provincial elections be used for parliamentary elections.

I would question the importance of the open list/closed list issue; although it meant that in January the names of individuals running on party lists were known, the election in fact turned entirely upon the large personalities of the key figures leading them – Prime Minister Nuri Maliki, Vice-President Adel abd al-Mahdi, etc. The more important issue for outside observers is whether the passage or non-passage of this new electoral law is used as a justification for ignoring the legal deadline and extending this parliament the way the provincial elections were continually postponed.

Sadr al-Din Qabanji of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq spoke at the Najaf mosque on a variety of issues (Key Points of Sayyid Sadr al-Din Qabanji During the Friday Sermon), including a major ISCI theme, opposition to reconciliation with the Baathists. ISCI interprets “Baathists” very broadly to include many members of the Baath currently in, or attempting to join, the Iraqi political process. He also called on the Najaf provincial government to provide a large and appropriate space for the Institute of the Martyrs. Qabanji further discussed the water issue, impliedly criticizing Syria and Turkey in that regard.