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Shiite cleric Sheikh Yasser Audi filed an appeal before the State Consultative Council to counter a decision by the Department of Religious Reporting in the Supreme Shiite Islamic Council (SSC) that deemed him and 14 other clerics unqualified to dispense religious and civil status guidance.
The “People Want System Reform” Association said in a statement that it provided Audi with two lawyers, Hassan Bazzi and Najib Farhat, to file the appeal against the decision dated 21/8/2023.
The appeal would be presented to acting President of the Supreme Shiite Islamic Council Sheikh Ali Al-Khatib to review it, the statement said, adding that the Association “is planning to take further actions in that regard, which will be announced in due course.”
A grave precedent
A grave precedent within the Shiite community was set several days ago as one of the bodies of the Shiite Supreme Council, namely the authority in charge of managing religious affairs and civil status, decided to forbid fifteen clerics from conducting religious activities in the country. This measure was quickly criticized by the leadership of the Shiite Supreme Council, which deemed it invalid.
The fifteen clerics – some of whom opposed Hezbollah – were considered incapable of dispensing religious guidance or managing civil status affairs of the Shiite community due to doctrinal or behavioral deviation, or because they lack religious knowledge or claim to be part of the Hawza (religious school).
The decision triggered a wave of indignation, which prompted the Shiite Supreme Council to quickly backtrack and declare it invalid. In a statement issued nearly an hour later, it said that the decision “does not reflect its viewpoint,” and that the vice-president of the SSC, Sheikh Ali Khatib, was not informed of it.
The SSC thus called for the decision to be considered “invalid,” stressing that “no document can be published unless it bears the exclusive signature of the presidency of the Shiite Supreme Council.”