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Tater's pop is an inspiration for democracy
Almost a quarter of a century after his death, an Iraqi Shiite theologian is inspiring a generation of democrats in the Middle East. Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Sadr, executed by Saddam Hussein in 1980, advocated constitutionalism, democracy and the rule of law—the same values the United States says it wants to spread in the region to help stamp out terrorism. A group of leading Arab lawyers, thinkers and democracy activists, is hoping to engage Washington to develop the US initiative, called the Partnership for Peace in the Middle East and North Africa.Chibli Mallat, the Arab group's strategist, is the prize-winning author of a biography of Sadr, written in English but widely translated into Arabic. Sadr was the uncle of Moqtada al-Sadr, the young cleric who led two Shiite revolts this year against US-led forces in Iraq. He lacks the wide respect his uncle commanded. Mallat says Mohammad Baqer al-Sadr was the main intellectual power behind the Constitution of Iran, which includes Ayatollah Ruhallah al-Khomeini's own theory of the velayat-e faqih, or rule of the jurist—the doctrine that an eminent Shiite cleric can be the absolute legal authority. "Sadr was a subtler, more innovative and dynamic thinker than Khomeini," said 43-year old Mallat, the founder of the School of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law at London's prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies. "In his work you find a streak of democratic majoritanism and readiness to espouse democracy without the direct rule of the clergy. Politically, Khomeini was more effective." In discussions about a new Iraqi constitution, no senior Shiite figure has called for velayat-e faqih but rather for reconciling Islam with popular sovereignty. The most influential cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has stressed the importance of elections, which are due in January. The main Shiite parties planning to take part in the elections—Dawa and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq—are Sadr's political heirs. Dawa's draft election manifesto reads in many parts like that of a Western social democrat party and invokes Islam to stress human rights. "Sadr was the embodiment of Iraq. His work and ideas are fundamental to a democratic Iraq," said Iraq's Vice President Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who heads Dawa. Sadr's body was exhumed last year from an unmarked spot and moved to a new grave in Wadi al-Salam (the valley of peace), the sprawling cemetery of Najaf. The body of his sister, killed at the same time, was never found. Zuhair al-Amidi, the man who buried Sadr's body after he was executed, kept the place secret until Saddam was toppled last year. "If people had known where the grave was it would have become a shrine and the authorities would have razed it immediately," he said. Even Khomeini, whose relationship with Sadr was uneasy, mourned him when he was killed and described him as the mentor of all Shiites. Khomeini spent many years in exile with Sadr in Najaf, a center of Shiite scholarship. US influence could help realize what Sadr envisioned, although he resented Washington's support for authoritarian forces in the region. The United States lobbied hard at the G-8 summit in June to pass the Partnership for Peace in the Middle East and North Africa. The administration started to push Arab states after the September 11, 2001, attacks on US cities to accept the initiative, which includes economic reform, education and political participation. European countries felt the initiative ignored their own efforts to advance reform in the Middle East, known as the 1995 Barcelona declaration, but backed it after Washington included a stronger commitment to a fair peace between Israeli and the Palestinians. The Arab democrats group, which includes Bahaaldin Hassan, head of the Cairo Centre for Human Rights, Saudi dissident Abdul Aziz al-Khamis and Kuwaiti writer Mohammad al-Rumeihi, want the initiative to hold Arab rulers accountable for human rights and push for the rotation of power. "All prisoners of conscience must be released, while former presidents turned into retired citizens, and leaders responsible for crimes against humanity put behind bars," said their declaration, drafted by Mallat, and issued before they met senior G-8 officials in New York two months ago. Just before the US invasion of Iraq, Mallat organized a petition of Arab thinkers that called for the focus on Iraq to be switched from the issue of weapons of mass destruction to human rights and the rule of law, including stationing international human rights monitors in Iraq. Mallat made his first visit to Najaf earlier this year, a Maronite Christian welcomed in the homes of senior Shiite clerics who knew that his first port of call was the grave of Mohammad Baqer al-Sadr. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-12-09 |
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