I’m confused about the Great Moderate’s withdrawal here. Does this mean he will no longer be issuing those can’t-we-all-just-get-along fatwas, like the one about how homosexuals “should be killed in the worst, most severe way of killing.” (That one got a 14-year-old boy killed on his doorstep this spring, and is still inspiring Shia death squads.)
Or the one about how non-Muslims “should be considered in the same category as “urine, feces, semen, dead bodies, blood, dogs, pigs, alcoholic liquors, and “the sweat of an animal who persistently eats [unclean things].”
With a strong, moderating influence like Grand Ayatollah Sistani, it’s frankly shocking that Iraq could be tearing asunder. Let’s hope he reconsiders.