The call of the Friday prayer sermon, Ali Al-Masoudi, of the Shiite religious authority, Mahmoud Al-Sarkhi, to demolish religious shrines and shrines continues in the Iraqi street, and the authorities announced the arrest of Al-Masoudi and 29 of Al-Sarkhi’s followers in 9 central and southern governorates.

The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, gave al-Sarkhi 3 days to disavow al-Masoudi, otherwise he would resort to legal, legal and customary methods, as he put it.

A poster showing al-Sarkhi (centre) at one of his supporters' mosques in Basra (Reuters)

Who is the screamer?

Al-Sarkhi was born in the city of Kadhimiya in Baghdad in 1964, and studied in his hometown, and graduated from the College of Engineering at the University of Baghdad in 1987. It is said that his lineage goes back to Imam Hassan bin Ali bin Abi Talib (may God be pleased with them), and he did not enter the religious seminary in Najaf until the year 1994, and he was among the students of the late Shiite cleric Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, who was assassinated in 1999 during the era of the late President Saddam Hussein.

His fame increased and he became a voice and a reference for some Iraqi Shiites after 2004, and Mahmoud al-Sarkhi describes himself as "Ayatollah", and it is the highest Shiite title that is granted only to those who have reached the degree of ijtihad, but he did not obtain this title by traditional methods, as no Shiite reference gave him Testimony of Ijtihad, and most Shiite clerics in Iraq are unanimously agreed that he does not have the capacity of reference that allows people to imitate him.

According to cables published by WikiLeaks, Al-Sarkhi joined the Mahdi Army (the military arm of the Sadrist movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr) following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

After that, Al-Sarkhi separated from the Sadr movement, and his supporters carried out a number of operations against the American forces in southern Iraq, as his supporters were planning to launch an attack on the Bucca prison (southern Iraq), and organized a demonstration against Iran in front of the Iranian consulate in Karbala, according to the leaked cables.

Another cable from 2006 described al-Sarkhi as a "militant cleric" and his armed faction (the Army of al-Hussein) was the most anti-Iranian.

Al-Sarkhi is known for his critical views of the parties that ruled after the US invasion of the country in 2003, and he has positions rejecting all the positions of the supreme Shiite religious authority, Ali al-Sistani, who is the first religious authority for the Shiites of Iraq, especially the fatwa he issued and included the declaration of jihad against the Islamic State organization, which occupied large areas of northern Iraq. and northwestern Iraq in 2014. Al-Sarkhi called for dialogue with ISIS, not "jihad" against it, because that would ignite a civil war and fuel sectarian strife in Iraq.

This angered the government of Nuri al-Maliki at the time, and security forces bombed al-Sarkhi's headquarters in Karbala, and dozens of his followers were killed. Since then, al-Sarkhi has kept a low profile, and has not appeared in public.

Security forces bombed al-Sarkhi headquarters in Karbala and dozens of his followers were killed in 2014 (Reuters)

The Iraqi government said at the time that al-Sarkhi's followers were planning to take over the shrine of Imam Hussein in the city of Karbala (south of Baghdad), which was denied by al-Sarkhi's supporters, who explained that the clashes erupted because of the security forces' attempt to arrest al-Sarkhi.

He identifies himself as an Iraqi Shiite reference belonging to the Twelver Shiite sect. He has followers estimated at tens of thousands, and resides in different Iraqi governorates, most notably Babylon, Karbala, Nasiriyah, Diwaniyah and Basra.

Reasons for disagreement

Al-Sarkhi belongs to the school of the Shiite authority, Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, which is characterized by its comprehensiveness, depth and breadth.

Al-Sarkhi believes that the concept of “the most knowledgeable” must be proven through ijtihad, and adopts opinions that differ from the positions of other religious scholars. 1999).

Shiite sources indicate that the dispute between al-Sarkhi and a number of Shiite references represents a continuation of the dispute between these references and the reference Muhammad Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr.

These authorities - including Shiite references - accuse Al-Sarkhi of not correcting his jurisprudence and science, because he does not have a recognized certificate from the seminary;

This means that he is not qualified to be a reference.

Al-Sarkhi's anti-Iran stance, and his followers' attack in 2006 on the headquarters of the Iranian consulate in Basra, and later their opposition to Iranian influence;

Another reason for the dispute between him and a number of Shiite clerics and political organizations.

Among the most prominent of Al-Sarkhi’s writings are “The Solid Thought (The Introduction) which is in 4 parts, The Solid Thought (High Fundamental Researches) in 8 parts, the Antidote Study (printed), special cases of the matter, and the practical assets investigations (words investigations, the arguments investigations, and the practical assets investigations). (Manuscript), and the practical message (the clear curriculum).

The shrine of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib in Najaf (Reuters)

The origin of the fatwa to demolish shrines

Al-Sarkhi’s followers base their call for the demolition of religious shrines as being contrary to the Islamic religion, on the authority of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him), the fourth of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs. Shall I not send you what the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, sent me?

(Do not leave a statue without obliterating it, and no honorable grave without leveling it).

Shiite and Sunni books transmit this hadith in different formats, and a number of Islamic schools infer from it the prohibition of building high graves.

But Shiite references and researchers say that the shrines are not graves, but the grave is present and does not represent the height that they talked about demolishing. As for the buildings, they do not represent the grave, such as the wooden box, window, room or shrine, and they cite that the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, was buried in his house. Likewise, a number of Shiite imams did.

But this may be "the first time that a Shiite movement has appeared to demand the demolition of religious shrines."

Millions of Shiites annually and on multiple occasions visit religious shrines in Iraq.