Mr. Jabar Saidawi said, “The United Kingdom, the United States, Wahhabis and Zionists have inflicted fatal blows on the Shi’ah religious authorities (the sources of emulation) and the fatwas of these authorities.” RNA – In an exclusive interview with Rasa News Agency in Ahvaz, Jabar Saidawi, an expert in West Asian affairs, referred to the fatal blows inflicted by the United Kingdom, the United States, Wahhabis and Zionists on the Shi’ah religious authorities (the sources of emulation) and the fatwas of these religious authorities, he stated, “These four sinister governments are always trying to create distance and division between the Shi’ah laypeople and the religious authorities because they are well-aware that the people and the authorities are two complementary powers and that they can’t continue their political and religious life without the other.”
Referring to the disorganization, insufficiency and economic and cultural problems in Iraq, said, “By exploiting such problems, the enemies were able to shout slogans against the religious authorities in the language of the Shi’ah laypeople, in other words, the Western-Gulf Arab media were able to put the people’s beliefs under pressure.”
Mr. Saidawi added, “The enemies were able to undermine the strong beliefs in defence of wilayah (guardianship) and the religious authorities and propel slogans against the religious authorities. This is a dangerous and rare phenomenon because we haven’t yet seen the Shi’ahs take a stand against the religious authorities and chant slogans but rather, the religious authorities have been honoured throughout all stages of history.”
He said that by shaking off popular beliefs, the Zionist-Western-Arab media seeks to change popular beliefs about the religious authorities and stated, “If we continue with such a trend and lack of proper culture-building and proper and necessary actions, we will certainly see more difficult problems. Our media is becoming more active and is informing the Iraqi people of the enemies’ great sedition because if they didn’t do this, this great sedition wouldn’t be known by the oppressed Shi’ahs of Iraq.”
He said, “While occupying Iraq at the present time, the United States tells the Iraqis that their country is occupied by Iran and for this reason, some Iraqis have chanted the slogan ‘Out, out Iran! Free, free Baghdad!’ and believe that they are an Iranian colony. Currently, the electricity, oil and security files are in the hands of the Americans and the British and the Iraqis can’t do anything without American approval.”
Mr. Saidawi referred to the grumbling and uneasiness of the Americans in regard to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU) and said, “The acceptable performance and satisfaction of the Iraqis with the expansion of security, success in politics, resistance against the United States, and the formation of the grumbling after the fatwa issued by Ayatollah al-Sistani are among the major reasons for the American and Western opposition to Popular Mobilization Forces.”
He said, “With its clever political presence, the United States tried to contain or slow down the religious authorities and was successful in this regard. The United States is striving to prevent the issuance of fatwas about protecting security or promoting economic and political issues. In this regard, Western media outlets have diminished the power of the religious authorities in various fields by producing very strong media content and having good communication with the audience.”
Rasa News Agency
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