Iraq’s Sadr issues a warning about sectarian unrest among Shias

Muqtada Al-Sadr, the head of the Sadrist movement, issued a warning against enacting a law that would make “insulting scholars” or criticizing them in an unconstructive way a crime after outrage over publications by the Nouri Al-Maliki-led Islamic Dawa Party that denigrated his late father, Muhammad Al-Sadr.

Al-Sadr said in a tweet that “while we are at the gates of the holy month of Muharram, some parties hostile to Imam Hussein, peace be upon him, in particular, and Ahl Al-Bayt in general, hastened to spread Shia-Shia sedition by using violence and weapons against some headquarters.”

“While we condemn this, we caution the believers from becoming involved since there are groups that won’t think twice about killing people and fomenting dissent in the sake of material gain. You must always allude to the Hawza [scholars seminary] whether speaking or acting.

We have already told you that the fight would be ideological, he said. The use of violence in a conflict is strictly prohibited by ideology and religion, hence there should be none.

If “a law is not enacted to criminalise insulting scholars, unjustly, or without constructive criticism, then we have ways far from violence and killing, as this is not our religion,” he said, adding that “the country no longer tolerates such irresponsible acts.”