Sunnis, Shiites stand united in the face of the occupation

By Imam El-Liethy, IOL Iraq Correspondent

BAGHDAD, April 27 (IslamOnline.net) – Determined to make "outsiders" miss out on the opportunity of implementing the old evil "divide and rule" policy, Baghdad's Sunni and Shiite mosques joined forces to undertake the daunting task of clearing up the anarchy left by the U.S. occupation.

"Every side used to work separately at the very beginning. There was no a semblance of coordination between both of us. We barely succeeded in deterring the looters in some of Baghdad's districts and getting back our stolen properties. But now we (Sunnis and Shiites) stand united," the Imam and preacher of Ahmad ibn Hanbal mosque, Sheikh Thaer Gamal Ghazi, told IslamOnline.net.

Another Imam of a Baghdad mosque, Sheikh Hossam, said the youth of the mosque were shouldered with the responsibility of burying the corpses of Iraqi soldiers and civilians.

"They fared well," he said. "They were able to stave off a catastrophic spread of deadly epidemics.

"They also evacuated the wounded and the patients from deserted hospitals and took full control of a storehouse of medicines to ward off looters," he added.

Mosques Protect Properties

Shiite and Sunni youth, in addition, secured a number of Baghdad's areas and stored the looted properties in different mosques, waiting for their owners to step forward.

"One mosque was home to more than 1,00 tones of rice and we distributed evenly among up to 8,000 families, not to mention other mosques, which did much more," said Hossam.

"We set up ad hoc committees to take stock of the looted properties and draw up lists, so that we can give them back to their owners," said Ghazi.

Add to that, Iraqi clans and Iraqi scholars in districts like Samraa and al-Farouga appointed a judge, who sentenced two of the looters to death.

Municipalities were also established by Sunnis and Shiites in An-Najaf and Karbala to maintain security.

On Thursday, April 24, a number of Shiite and Sunni scholars met in al-Karkh area, Baghdad, and agreed on establishing a joint municipality comprising ten Sunnis and Shiites to maintain security.

The scholars also agreed on setting up committees of volunteers to restore order and looted public properties.

The municipality will also set up follow-up committees to supervise the latest developments in a number of districts, such as al-Khadra, al-Washash, al-Tora, al-Saidia and al-A'zamia.