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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/opinion/05iht-edabdo.html?_r=1
The Widening Rift Among Iran's Clerics
(International Herald Tribune) Geneive Abdo and Arash Aramesh - There is now a full-blown rift between supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and many of the conservative and traditional clerics who once supported him. Many prominent clerics are at odds with Iran's leadership - a development that casts a question mark over the legitimacy of the Islamic state. This conflict has been exacerbated by clerical opposition to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is Khamenei's protege, and illustrates the depth of Iran's domestic crisis. A large segment of the clerical population does not believe in the theory of velayat-e-faqih - the "Guardianship of the Jurist," which places a leader interpreting God's word atop republican institutions - and thinks the clergy should stay away from politics. One such cleric is the most notable figure in the Shiite world, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Iraq, who has many Iranian followers as well. Geneive Abdo is the director of the Iran program at The Century Foundation. Arash Aramesh is a research associate for the Iran program.