Today's Zaman (Turquie) : "Iran and Iraq: diverging Shiite patterns" par Ömer Taspinar

Iran and Iraq: diverging Shiite pattern

Americans are often puzzled when Iranian society is described to them as the most secular in the Middle East. Who can blame them? After all, they are used to images of mullahs and bearded men shouting “Death to America” each time they see Iran on TV.

Yet, behind this façade of anger against “the great Satan,” which is certainly characteristic of some segments of Iranian society, 30 years of Islamic rule has indeed created a society where the proper role of religion and politics is now intensely being debated. To understand the evolution of Iranian society toward a more secular basis, some comparison with Iraq, the other Shiite state in the region, can be quite telling.
While religion is no longer a source of political legitimacy in Iran, Iraq offers a different picture.

Under the spiritual guidance of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq appears to have take some important lessons from the mistakes of the Islamic revolution in Iran. Ayatollah al-Sistani is a cleric who adheres to what is sometimes referred to as the “quietist” school of Shiite Islam. According to the quietist school, the Shiite clergy should disavow an overt role in politics. In other words, the realm of religion should not encroach on the realm of politics. Needless to say, this willingness to distance Islam from politics does not stem from a strong belief in secularism. To the contrary, it comes from a willingness to hold religion above politics. Religion, simply put, should transcend politics because it is too sacred to be politicized and trivialized at the hands of politically ambitious clerics with questionable theological expertise.

Interestingly, this quietist school in Iraq has managed to maintain a much higher level of political and social legitimacy for the religious authority of Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani. As a result, the marjiyya -- the term used to describe the authority of most senior ayatollahs in Shiite Islam -- has more spiritual influence in Iraq than ..................


par Ömer Taspinar



http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/columnists-181424-iran-and-iraq-.....