The Sunni Mufti: dissociating the Sunni-Shiite endowments is an introduction to dividing Iraq

Shafaq News/ The Mufti of the Sunnis, Mahdi Al-Sumaida'i, warned on Friday that the Council of Ministers intends to proceed with the disassociation and isolation of the Sunni and Shiite endowments to resolve the issue of the properties of the canceled Ministry of Endowments deeming this decision as a justification for dividing the country.

Al-Sumaida’i said, “what happened and what was reported on social media is an assault on the funds of the Sunni endowment and a forfeiture of the properties and rights of the Sunnis in Iraq".

The Mufti addressed the Federal government headed by PM Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, "the blood of thousands was spilled to preserve Iraq and its unity, as well as the properties of Iraqis. Today, with the scratch of a pen we surrender it. This is disastrous."

Al-Sumaida'i added, "perhaps this is the reason for the division of Iraq," addressing the federal government by saying, "If your intention is dividing Iraq, then division it will be."

The Mufti of the Sunnis added, "By doing this, you are providing other components a pretext, by confining them to a path that leads to division. You will force them to do so and they will agree; In fact, they will demand the division," stressing that such decision will not pass.

The report of the agreement between the Shiite and Sunni endowments to resolve the properties of the canceled Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs proposed two solutions to the dispute rooting back to 2003.

The first option includes transferring the archive of the canceled Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs to the Ministry of Culture (Department of Books and Documents). Besides, all other government agencies must hand over the archives, documents, judicial rulings and all the belongings of the canceled ministry before April 9, 2003, to the Ministry of Culture before the end of the current year.  The archive will be distributed later to the relevant departments the results per the directives of the Supreme Committee formed by the endowment agreement.

As for the second option - according to what was leaked - it stipulates the approval of the agreement between the Shiite and Sunni endowments regarding the properties of the canceled Ministry of Endowments, which came according to the memorandum of the Prime Minister’s Adviser’s Office for Strategic Affairs dated October 20, 2020.

As agreed upon, a higher committee will be formed headed by the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, and the heads of the Shiite and Sunni Endowments, to oversee the implementation of the distribution of the Islamic endowments and the funds of the canceled ministry. Another sub-committee to register endowments and funds that have valid legal arguments in the name of the concerned endowment (Sunni Or the Shi'a), or dependence on the approved population percentage in each governorate in the absence of an approved (endowment argument), except for Kirkuk governorate, to which the half-endowment principle is applied, while the agreement excludes mosques constructed of individuals that will be according to the doctrine of the endowment.