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A senior Iranian cleric issued a decree calling on all Muslims to seek retribution against President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi on Sunday issued a fatwa against Trump for speaking negatively about Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
President Trump has instructed people close to him on how they should respond if the fatwa is successful.
Be informed, not misled.
On Friday, Trump said he immediately stopped pursuing sanctions relief for Iran following Khamenei's statement of "anger, hatred, and disgust." Before that, the president vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Sunday.
The Israelis reported that they had an opportunity to kill the top Iranian leader, but Trump waved them off the plan.
When asked about the Reuters report, Netanyahu, in an interview on Sunday with Fox News Channel's "Special Report With Bret Baier," said: "There are so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I'm not going to get into that."
"But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we'll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States," Netanyahu said.
Trump told Reuters on Friday that "we knew everything" about the Israeli strikes.
How serious is the fatwa against Trump?
The Tehran Times published an article on Sunday that laid out how seriously the Muslims take a fatwa.
This religious standing of Ayatollah Khamenei is something U.S. President Donald Trump seems to have failed to take into account in the past few weeks, during which he has made several threats of assassination against the Iranian Leader.
Trump said during Iran’s 12-day war with Israel that he knew where Ayatollah Khamenei was located, but he had decided to refrain from assassinating him “for now”. Israeli media said the U.S. and Israel tried to harm the Leader but could not figure out his location. Trump threatened Ayatollah Khamenei again after the war ended, outraged by his declaration that Iran will never surrender to American politicians and warmongers.
The U.S. President, meanwhile, appears to believe that any assassination attempt against Ayatollah Khamenei would only trigger a military response from Iran, a price the U.S. military and American forces stationed in West Asia would have to bear. However, there is also a separate price Trump himself would pay, because he has dared to threaten a figure with a massive religious following and profound influence among not only the 200 million Shia Muslims, but also countless more Sunnis who have grown extremely fond of Ayatollah Khamenei for his staunch support of the Palestinian cause in the past 20 months.
The potential repercussions for Trump if he were to act on his outrageous threats were underscored in a statement released by a prominent Shia cleric on Sunday. Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, himself a Marja, responded to an inquiry regarding the U.S. president's escalating rhetoric, stating unequivocally that anyone who harms Ayatollah Khamenei should be punished with death.
In a written note, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi declared: “Any regime or individual threatening the leaders of the Islamic Ummah and acting on those threats qualifies as a Muharib.”
Under Shia Islamic jurisprudence, a “Muharib” is defined as someone who wages armed rebellion, terrorism, violent crimes, or other unlawful acts that spread fear and disorder in society. The prescribed punishment for such offenses is death.
Fatwas are taken very seriously.
The Tehran Times reminded its readers of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie:
A Fatwa is an interpretation of Islamic law issued by a Marja. It is binding for all Muslims, meaning that even if Islamic governments are not able to act on it, individual Muslims should ensure its enforcement.
A well-known example of states failing to act on a Fatwa, prompting individual Muslims to take matters into their own hands, is the case of Salman Rushdie.
On February 14, 1989, Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, issued a historic Fatwa calling for the execution of Salman Rushdie, the British-Indian author of The Satanic Verses, a novel filled with blasphemy against Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). The fatwa stated: "I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the author of The Satanic Verses book, which is against Islam, the Prophet, and the Quran, and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death. I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, wherever they find them."
Rushdie was forced into hiding immediately after the fatwa was issued. He was placed under 24/7 British police protection and lived in safe houses for nearly a decade. In 1989, a bomb exploded at a London hotel where Rushdie was scheduled to speak.
Over three decades after the Fatwa was issued, when Rushdie emerged from hiding and began living more openly, the threat had not faded, contrary to his and the police's expectations. In 2022, Rushdie was stabbed on stage in New York by an attacker allegedly acting on the Fatwa. He has since retreated back into seclusion.
Takeaway
Shirazi called Trump and Netanyahu "enemies of God" and urged Muslims to take action against the two leaders.
The cleric stressed the need for Muslims to make Trump and Netanyahu "regret their words and mistakes," and added followers would be rewarded as "mujahid fi sabilillah" (warriors in the path of God) if the two men suffered hardships, Afghan Voice Agency reported.
"May God protect the Islamic community from the evil of the enemies and hasten the reappearance of the Master of the Age and Time," the fatwa stated.
In February, Trump said he had given his advisers instructions to obliterate Iran if it assassinates him.
"I’ve left instructions if they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left.”
Pray for the president. Pray for America. Pray for peace.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Mindful. Be Prayerful.
