Juan Cole: Yes, MEMRI, there is a Fatwa from Khamenei forbidding Nukes

[pampango]

I’m told that MEMRI, which has its origins in Israeli military intelligence, has put out a statement doubting that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ever issued a fatwa forbidding nuclear weapons. (MEMRI claims to be a 501(c)3 non-profit but is actually an effort to cherry-pick Middle Eastern news to present the most negative face of the Arab world to Americans so as to prejudice them in favor of Israel; in this case it is just doing propaganda).

A Reddit.com contributor has effectively answered this piece of disinformation. This posting points out that the official IRNA news agency said in 2005,

“The Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued the Fatwa that the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam and that the Islamic Republic of Iran shall never acquire these weapons.”

Note also that among the major followers of Khamenei’s fatwas are Shiites of South Lebanon, especially Hizbullah. Hizbullah’s al-Manar news service carried on 13 April 2005 a repost of an item about official Iranian negotiator on nuclear issues, Hassan Rowhani, who met with the the Danish FM and:

“Rowhani stressed during his meeting with the Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller that obeying the fatwa of Khamenei ‘is more important for us than the articles of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its additional protocol.’ He explained that the fatwa of the Guide forbids the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons, and that the fatwa is, in the Islamic Republic, an obligatory law.”

أكد روحاني خلال لقائه وزير الخارجية الدنماركي ستيغ مولر أن الأخذ بفتوى خامنئي «اكثر أهمية بالنسبة الينا من بنود معاهدة حظر انتشار الأسلحة النووية والبروتوكول الملحق بها». وأوضح روحاني أن فتوى المرشد تحرم إنتاج وتخزين واستخدام الأسلحة النووية، والفتوى في الجمهورية الإسلامية قانون ملزم.

But let me just add that it is important to understand what a fatwa is. In Islam the laity ask their clerics about how to follow Islamic law. The cleric replies with a considered opinion on the purport of the law, which is called a fatwa. ... So a fatwa is not like an American law that has to be published in the Congressional Record and in official law books. It is just the conclusion to which a cleric’s reasoning leads him, and which he makes known, even in a letter. In Shiite Islam, laypersons who follow a particular ayatollah are bound by his fatwas.

http://www.juancole.com/2012/04/yes-memri-there-is-a-fatwa-from-khamenei-forbidding-nukes.html

I have no idea whether fatwas are perceived by some as gray areas where you can follow them if you want or ignore them if you prefer. I do know that the right gets excised by fatwas that target controversial authors or playwrights, but can apparently write them off as spin when it suits their purpose.

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[On the Road]

2. Just a Minor Oversight in the Coverage There

I wish I could follow one story in the media and have something like a straight, unvarnished presentation of the facts. Jesus.

[AverageJoe90]

3. I'm very highly skeptical.

And even if this had been written, ever heard of a little something taqqiya?

Taqqiya was originally a Shi'ite religious concept that could be used by followers of that branch of Islam if under threat of persecution or duress, and was not intended to be used to conceal malintent.

Unfortunately, a twisted version of it seems to have been adopted by some radical Muslim extremists(like many of the bastards running the Iranian government, including the Ayatollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood.),regardless of branch adherence, in recent decades. It is this version of taqqiya I am referring to, not the original.

Honestly, MEMRI is far from perfect, but I'll have to side with them on this one; it's been all too clear in recent years that Tehran is indeed setting their sights on building atom bombs.