Pope visit carries message of peace: Al Tayeb
CAIRO: Dr Ahmed Al Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al Azhar and Chairman of the Council of Muslim Elders, praised the visit of Pope Francis to Iraq describing it as “historic and courageous.”
In a tweet, he said, “The historic and courageous visit of my brother Pope Francis to Iraq carries a message of peace, solidarity and support for all the Iraqi people. I pray for his success that this trip will achieve the hoped-for fruits on the path of human brotherhood.”
Meanwhile, it was reported that Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the highest religious authority for Iraq, is set to meet Pope Francis in the holy shrine city of Najaf on Saturday, during the first papal visit to Iraq.
It will be a rare in-person meeting for Sistani, whose sermons are typically delivered through a representative.
That has not dulled their effect: his words have sent thousands of Iraqis to polling stations, protest squares or battlefields since the Us-led invasion in 2003.
“Despite a broad shift away from religion around the world, the reverence for Sistani is unmoved,” said Marsin Alshamary, a Brookings Institute research fellow.
The thin, wispy-haired cleric has had to balance the conventional role of the revered establishment known as the “marjaiyah” with the expectation since 2003 that it would also have a political voice.
He did so carefully, departing from the apolitical legacy of the “marjaiyah” while trying to preserve it.
“Sistani is not a quietist, but he’s not a revolutionary either,” said Alshamary.
In June 2014, he issued an historic edict calling on Iraqis to take up arms against the Daesh group, who had swept across swathes of the north.
When mass anti-government rallies erupted in 2019, he supported their demands and met often with the United Nations’ top official in Iraq to set out a reform roadmap.
His call for parliament to drop support for then-prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi prompted the PM’S resignation. Still, he faced criticism from protesters looking for a tougher line, and resistance from political actors.
Around the time the coronavirus pandemic first hit Iraq in the spring of 2020, Sistani went silent and stopped issuing weekly sermons.
Francis and Sistani will meet for a “private visit” in Najaf, where Sistani lives in spartan surroundings.