Word: clerics
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...disaster could provide fuel for efforts by Sunni opponents of the proposed constitution to court Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shi'ite cleric who has twice led armed uprisings against U.S. troops. The base of his support is in the Shi'ite slum of Sadr City, home to one-third of Baghdad's population. If al-Sadr called on his poor Shi'ite followers to join Sunnis in opposing the charter, it is likely it would be defeated. Abdul Salam al-Qubaisi, spokesman for the Association of Muslim Scholars, a hard-line Sunni group, claims al-Sadr is working...
...possible al-Sadr is using his flirtation with the Sunnis to win concessions from other Shi'ite leaders. Fattah al-Sheikh, a member of al-Sadr's movement, told TIME the cleric has not yet made a decision on the constitution. Though most Shi'ite leaders support it, al-Sadr in the past has criticized the idea of dividing Iraq into three autonomous regions, as called for in the constitution...
...everyday chats in mosques and youth clubs. "That atrocity broke our hearts," says Mohammed Kozbar, spokesman for the North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park. "I've been shocked and surprised by the news that these young people are British Muslims." Until early 2003, the radical Egyptian-born cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri was the imam at Finsbury Park, reeling in enthusiastic young followers with his fiery sermons. Now Abu Hamza is awaiting trial on charges that include stirring racial hatred, and a gentler brand of Islam is drawing people back to the mosque. "We have a responsibility...
...line triumph in Iran is already causing deep anxiety in neighboring Iraq, which is riven by Sunni and Shi'a factionalism. Now some Iraqis worry that whatever remains of their fragile détente may be shattered by pro-Shi'a Iranian interventionism. Says Isam al-Rawi, an outspoken Sunni cleric in Baghdad: "Ahmadinejad is a man with narrow religious views, and he wants to export these." But Iraq's Shi'a establishment, which has deep ties to Iran, is nonplussed. "Ahmadinejad is a young man, a new player," says Rada Jawad Taqi, a Shi'a member of Iraq's interim...
...even the closest allies, it seems, always work together. Italian prosecutors have issued warrants for the arrest of 13 alleged American c.i.a. operatives suspected of abducting Osama Mustafa Hassan, an Islamic cleric in Milan, in order to take him to Egypt. Prosecutors allege that the 2003 operation was an "extraordinary rendition," in which terror suspects are seized and sent to other countries for interrogation and, in some cases, according to former captives, torture. At the time of his abduction, Hassan was under investigation by Italian authorities for alleged links to al-Qaeda. The Italians say they have photocopies...