Kurdish leading cleric: The nearest system to an
ideal Islamic state is the United States.
March 9, 2010
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — A Kurdish leading
cleric running for parliament in Iraq’s national
elections, argues that the nearest system to an
ideal Islamic state is the United States.
“What we are most in need of here in Iraq and the
rest of the Middle East is justice. We don’t need
more people to go for Hajj [pilgrimage to Mecca],
what we need is justice, where the president and the
beggar on the street are equal before the law,” he
said.
“Here in the Middle East, the president is the
president, his wife is the president, his son is the
president, his uncle is the president and so on, so
forth. Where is the justice in this?”
A popular if unconventional cleric, Al Hafeed
believes only a separation of state from religion
can serve the strife-ridden country.
“The best solution is a truly religious country, a
true Muslim state,” said Mullah Majeed Ismail
Mohamed Al Hafeed, who ranks seventh among the
candidates of the Kurdistan Alliance List.
“But this is impossible to find now. So the next
best option is to separate religion from the state
so that everyone gets a fair and just system.”
As a member of the Iraqi parliament, Al Hafeed
intends to bank on his “good relations” with men of
religion in all camps, whether Sunni or Shiite, to
help bring sustained peace and stability to the
country.
“I have attended conferences of the World Council
for Religious Peace and other forums while militias
from both sides were killing each other,” he said.
And added: “I want to be a part of the solution, not
the problem.”
As a “man of religion”, Al Hafeed believes he is in
a strong position to communicate a message of peace
and bring mutual understanding to the sparring
factions in Baghdad.
An additional accolade, often cited by his
supporters in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, is his
pedigree as the great-grandson of Sheikh Mahmud
Barzanji,www.ekurd.netthe
first and only King of Kurdistan who reigned from
1922-1924.
Tanya Goudsouzian,
freelance journalist.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
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