Global Voices » Iraq/Saudia Arabia: The Clerics War

It all started when the Saudi Sunni cleric Mohammad al-Ureifi attacked the Iraqi Shia Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani in the Friday prayer.

Insulting remarks by a Saudi cleric about the most revered Shia cleric in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, have strained relations between Baghdad and Riyadh. In a Friday sermon in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, a leading Wahhabi cleric, Mohammad al-Ureifi, called Ayatollah al-Sistani an “atheist and debauched”. He also launched an attack on Iraqi Shias accusing them of conspiring with Yemen's Houthis against Saudi Arabia with Iran's support. Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki strongly criticized the Saudi religious institutes after the cleric's remarks. He said Saudi religious institutes had a tendency to launch attacks on Shia clerics due to their hostile attitude towards Shia Muslims, AFP reported.
Via News Essentials ^[1]

Later on, Lebanese party Hizballah condemned the Saudi cleric. On The Angry Arab ^[2] Lebanese American Dr Ass'ad Abu Khalil, on his part, accused the party of being a sectarian party, and wrote a new post on his blog, which describes Al-Sistani as being “the biggest help to the American occupation.” He wrote:

Anyone who doubts that Hizbullah is a Shi'ite sectarian party, should read this lousy statement by the party in defense of Grand Ayatullah Sistani–the biggest help to the American occupation of Iraq, more than ‘Allawi and Chalabi combined. The text of the statement is so reverentially phrased: it talks about Sistani and adds: “may his shadow last.” The man does not even have a shadow: he donated it to the American occupation of the country. It states that harming Sisistani is like harming the party. There is no theory to explain this except the requirements of Shi'ite sectarian solidarity.

Iraqi blogger Iraqi Mojo ^[3] had a different point of view. He said:

WOW. Sistani was the “biggest help” to the American occupation of Iraq, according to the clueless professor in California. How did this schmuck become a professor?? Did Sistani help Americans by promoting peace and repeatedly calling for an end to violence? Yes he did.
Or did Sistani help the American “occupation” by forbidding violent reprisals as Sunni Arab terrorists continue to mass murder Iraqis? Yes he did!
Sistani is the top Shia cleric who called for unity and said in 2007: “I appeal to you to leave aside your divisions with your Sunni brothers.”
But As'ad Abu ***** has never mentioned Sistani's efforts to end the violence in Iraq.
Yes Sistani did help Americans to stabilize Iraq by encouraging the Shia to not attack innocent Sunni Arabs, even as Sunni Arab terrorism continues. Was that wrong of Sistani to do? Or is As'ad Abu ***** and the Sunni Arabs still pissed that Sistani, with his great influence in Iraq, did not call on the Iraqi Shia to kill Americans? Boo hoo, As'ad Abu *****!