Iraqi Who Could Declare ‘Holy War’ Is Keeping Quiet

Although Saddam Hussein has proclaimed his country to be in a “holy war” against the West, Muslim experts say the only man who could legitimately declare it, Grand Ayatollah Abolghassen Khoi, has remained silent.

The ayatollah, who lives in the sacred Iraqi city of Najaf, also resisted taking sides in the 8-year war between Iraq and Iran. Islamic scholars in the United States say he has remained neutral in Iraq’s wars because both have pitted Iraq against other Muslim nations.

Bruce Lawrence, head of comparative Islamic studies at Duke University, cited another reason. “Saddam Hussein has already killed many of the independent Muslim figures in Iraq,” he said. “The only way Khoi can remain independent without being killed is to keep quiet.”

Prof. Seper Zabih of St. Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif., said that most Muslims have ignored Hussein’s holy war declaration because “everyone knows he is a secular guy, and now he is appealing to religion. He has no religious authority.”