Obama, the Bomb and the Fatwa: The Bizarre Twist, Iran's Ayyatollah And One Barack
20 March 2014
By Amir Taheri
When lobbying to prevent further sanctions against
Iran over its nuclear program, US President Barack
Obama often refers to a fatwa, an Islamic religious
opinion. According to Obama, the fatwa supposedly
issued by "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei, confirms
Tehran's claims that its nuclear program is entirely
peaceful. Obama does not quote the text of the
mysterious fatwa, nor does he tell us where and when
he saw it.
The trouble is that no one has actually seen the
fatwa, although many people comment on it. In a
bizarre twist, some mullahs even quote Obama as the
source that confirms the existence of the fatwa. "Our
Supreme Guide has issued a fatwa against the use of
nuclear weapons, as confirmed by the President of the
United States," Ayatollah Mahmoud Yussefwand told the
official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) last
week.
Presented as a "Theological Expert of the Scientific
Center," the ayatollah was one of more than 100
mullahs and government officials who attended a
two-day conference in Tehran on "A Theological View of
Nuclear Weapons." None of the speakers claimed that he
had seen the text of the fatwa. Nor did anyone suggest
that the fatwa—if there were such a thing—was meant to
stop the Islamic Republic from securing the means of
making a bomb.
A few speakers, including Yussefwand, suggested that
the use, though not the building and/or stockpiling of
such weapons, might be haram, or forbidden. "Islam
uses the term ifsad [corruption] to ban a number of
weapons of mass destruction," Yussefwand said. "The
term specifically designates poisoning water
resources, the cutting down of forests and the use of
arson as a weapon of war."
The ayatollah then wondered whether the principle
could also apply to nuclear weapons. He did not offer
a definite opinion. In other words, no such ban exists
at the moment.
Another theologian, Ali-Reza Qorban-Nia, explained
that adopting an "Islamic position" on nuclear weapons
would not be easy. On the one hand, he argued, such
weapons could be banned because they "are blind in
targeting," in the sense that they could "wipe out
believers and kuffar [infidels] alike." On the other
hand, "Shi'ite Islamic rules of war" strongly
recommend the use of any weapon that could accelerate
the destruction of the enemies of the Umma. According
to Qorban-Nia, this is indicated in the principle of
ma-yarji bel-fatah, or "that which creates hopes of
victory." Thus, if a nuclear bomb could ensure
ultimate victory for the believers, it should not be
shunned.
To confuse matters further, Ayatollah Bahman Akbari
claimed that Khamenei's statements, though not the
fatwa, which may not even exist, show that the Islamic
Republic sees nuclear weapons as "a deterrent that
assures the reciprocal destruction of the adversary."
In other words, developing a nuclear arsenal for
deterrent purposes could be licit. Akbari also
suggested that the issue of a nuclear arsenal be
examined "in the context of other weapons of mass
destruction, including chemical and biological." This
means that nuclear weapons should not be discussed as
a special category, presumably the ultimate evil.
During the seminar, two theologians, Mahmoud
Hekmati-Nia and Hashem Zaafarani, criticized Akbari
for not actually referring to Khamenei's fatwa. The
reason, of course, was that neither Akbari nor anyone
else had seen the non-existent document.
The closest reference to Khamenei's fatwa came in a
speech by the spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy
Agency, Behruz Kamalvand, when he said: "Our Supreme
Leader has fixed our slogan: ‘Nuclear weapons for no
nation, nuclear energy for all nations!'" In other
words, the Islamic Republic would be prepared to
abandon the military aspects of its nuclear program
only in the context of global nuclear disarmament.
And, if others had nuclear weapons, why should Iran
deny itself such an instrument?
While the conference was under way, Ayatollah Hassan
Mamduhi, a member of the Assembly of (Clerical)
Experts, offered an enigmatic quotation from the late
Ayatollah Aziz-Allah Khoshwaqt to the effect that the
Hidden Imam would conclude his Grand Occultation only
when his "sword" was ready. "The Return of the Mahdi
is conditional on what our nuclear scientists are
doing," Mamduhi said, without elaborating. The Tehran
media, however, claimed that "The Sword of the Imam"
in the modern world could only mean a nuclear arsenal.
A week later, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the
Council of the Guardians of the Constitution, claimed
in a Friday sermon that the return of the Hidden Imam
was " imminent" thanks to "fantastic progress"
achieved by the Islamic Republic in Iran. Ayatollah
Khoshwaqt, who died last year, was regarded as
Khamenei's teacher and "guru" and a strong opponent of
negotiations to limit any aspect of the Islamic
Republic's nuclear program. His views have found
echoes among a number of Khomeinist clerics who argue
that, with the US in retreat under Obama, there is no
reason to make concessions to the P5+1 group.
One prominent cleric, Ayatollah Mahmoud Nabawian, has
published a 40-page essay arguing that Tehran is now
in a position to tell the rest of the world to "get
lost." Another critic is Muhammad-Javad Larijani, son
of an ayatollah and brother of Chief Justice Sadeq
Larijani. He argues that Islamic powers should only
ask non-Islamic nations to "submit" to God's "Final
Word." In 1988, he carried a letter from Ayatollah
Khomeini to Mikhail Gorbachev, inviting him to convert
to Shi'ism.
Obama would do well to consider three points before
beating the drums for the mullahs. The first is that
the famous fatwa either does not exist or is couched
in the style of obfuscation that would open it to
countless interpretations. The least that Obama should
do is demand to see the fatwa that he is defending as
a text that trumps even international law. The second
point is that Khamenei, though a major political
figure in Tehran, is not generally regarded as a
theological heavyweight. In religious terms, any of
the 10 or 12 grand ayatollahs and hundreds of
lower-ranked clerics could overrule Khamenei's fatwas.
Finally, Obama should know that the Iran nuclear
project is a political issue and not a religious issue
to be settled with a fatwa, which is, in any case,
just an opinion and in no way legally binding on any
individual, let alone the Islamic Republic as a
nation-state.
Amir Taheri was born in Ahvaz,
southwest Iran, and educated in Tehran, London and
Paris. He was Executive Editor-in-Chief of the daily
Kayhan in Iran (1972-79). In 1980-84, he was Middle
East Editor for the Sunday Times. In 1984-92, he
served as member of the Executive Board of the
International Press Institute (IPI). Between 1980 and
2004, he was a contributor to the International Herald
Tribune. He has written for the Wall Street Journal,
the New York Post, the New York Times, the London
Times, the French magazine Politique Internationale,
and the German weekly Focus. Between 1989 and 2005, he
was editorial writer for the German daily Die Welt.
Taheri has published 11 books, some of which have been
translated into 20 languages. He has been a columnist
for Asharq Alawsat since 1987. Taheri's latest book
"The Persian Night" is published by Encounter Books in
London and New York.
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