RELIGION-IRAN: Splits Emerge in Quest for New Shia Muslim Leader

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Cherif Cordahi

CAIRO, Feb 21 1995 (IPS) - A struggle over who is to be the next religious leader of more than 100 million Shia Muslims worldwide is threatening to split the Shia community and is sending tremors through Iran’s political establishment.

Analysts say that a decision by Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, to pull out of the race has eased a crisis in Iranian politics between hardline clerics who maintain their dominance in the country and the more moderate who want to reduce their role in state affairs.

However, tensions remain over the issue of who will take up the mantle of Marja Taqlid, or the Supreme Source of Emulation, a post which gives the world’s Shia Muslims religious guidance.

Shia doctrine, born of a split in mainstream Sunni Islam, says a potential Marja must show signs of great piety and deep religious learning. Khameini, who took over the mantle of Iran’s Guide of the Revolution from the late Ayatollah Khomeini, is said by some to lack these qualifications.

However, his supporters argue he possesses political experience which, they say, are the new qualities needed to lead the world’s Shia.

Shia abroad, including leaders of Iran’s most ardent supporters, argue otherwise. “There are enough political leaders in the clerical establishment,” says Hussein Hussein, a Shia leader in Lebanon. “The Marja needs to be somebody who does not want to get involved in political affairs.”

The post of Marja wields strong social clout in Shia affairs. Whoever is in place is seen as the top consultant on Shia jurisprudence and whose edicts have to be followed.

Because the Marja can levy religious taxes, this means he is financially independent from the state and can remain outside its control.

Khameini, who heads the hardline clerics in Iran, wanted the title so as to consolidate his position within the Islamic state and in the world’s Shia community. His decision to pull out is seen as a minor victory for supporters of a more pragmatic Iran run by President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani.

Since he took over the presidency from Khameini in 1990, Rafsanjani has found his room for manoeuvre limited because of persistent opposition from Khameini.

Rafsanjani favours moderating the Islamic regime set up by Khomeini in the 1979 revolution against the Shah. On the economic front, he has tried to reverse nationalisation policies pursued until Khomeini died in 1989.

He also urges cutbacks in fuel and food subsidies that soak up 12 billion dollars in government funds. He has moved to repay international loans and adopt a more conciliatory approach to the West to end Iran’s isolation in the world.

But at every corner, the Iranian leader has found his policies hampered by Khameini who argues for maintaining the clergy’s role in politics in order to ensure “social justice” for the people.

Hardline clerics now fear that the post of Marja will be used to roll back their hand in society now that Khameini is out of the race.

Of six remaining candidates, leading names like Ayatollah Ali Sistani and Ayatollah Mohammed Rohani, favour a less politicised role for the Marja.

Less likely to win is Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, once Khomeini’s appointed successor. But he is likely to remain a thorn in Khameini’s side.

The struggle over the Marja has also highlighted deep divisions in Shi’ism between the holy Shia cities of Najaf in Iraq and Qom in Iran.

For while Ayatollah Sistani, who hails from Najaf is favoured, analysts argue that his selection could prove to a problem for Teheran because his residence outside the country would weaken Iranian control over the post, and by extension, over the larger Shia community.

They claim that Khameini is already moving to reclaim the initiative by reinforcing his position as Guardian Jurisconsult, or Vali Faqih, an institution written into the Iranian constitution that makes him the highest religious authority.

This means that if the next Marja challenges his authority he can argue that he is more superior and can therefore overrule any Marja edicts.

However, Khameini is likely to face opposition from both Rafsanjani and Montazeri.

Although Montazeri remains under house arrest in Qom, his former title as successor to Khomeini gives him clout. He fell out with Khomeini over the issue of human rights abuses saying the Islamic revolution had intended to bring about Islamic justice and that rights abuses by the Khomeini government were un-Islamic.