Iraqi Shiite clerics maintain humility, influence - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Haytham Mouzahem (Syria Pulse)

Haytham Mouzahem (Syria Pulse)

Mar 7, 2014

An Iraqi man and wife with child walk past a sign professing support for "Hawza," or Shiite religious leadership, 08 September 2003 in the holy city of Najaf, some 180 kms south of Baghdad. US President George W. Bush, in his first major speech on Iraq since May, urged the United Nations 07 September 2003 to overcome "past differences" over the US-led invasion of Iraq, appealing even to opponents of the war for troops and money. AFP PHOTO/Karim SAHIB (Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images — An Iraqi man and wife with child walk past a sign professing support for hawza, or Shiite religious leadership, in Najaf, Sept. 8, 2003. — KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images

عربي

Najaf’s wax statues kindle meltdown for conservative Iraqi clerics

Adnan Abu Zeed

An Iraqi Shiite scholar (C) lectures his students during a lesson at a religious school for clerics, known in Arabic as Haouza, in the holy city of Najaf, 160 kms (100 miles) south of Baghdad, 05 August 2006. The teaching method at the clerical school in Najaf has not radically changed since its establishment in 1056 AD, with the exception of adding natural sciences subjects to the curriculum. AFP PHOTO/ALI AL-SAADI (Photo credit should read ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images)

Najaf seminaries maintain traditional teaching methods

Haytham Mouzahem

Haytham Mouzahem

Iraqi Shi'ite al Hawza cleric Sheikh Jassim Al-Saidi prays in a Baghdad
mosque June 3, 2003 after being released from detention by U.S. forces.
Al-Saidi said that he had been accused of instigating violence towards
American forces occupying Iraq. REUTERS/Faleh Kheiber REUTERS

CLH/ - RTROS2A

Competition Heats Up Between Qom, Najaf

Ali Mamouri

The dueling ayatollahs

Ali Mamouri