Iran: Khamenei's ban of nuclear weapons binding

[happyslug]

17. Shiites are NOT fundamentalists

Shiites, are "followers of Ali" that is they supported Ali and his descendent's in Ali's claim that as Mohammad's son in law (and married to the ONLY child of Mohammad to live to adulthood), Ali should have been the successor to Mohammad instead of the first three Caliphs. Ali was the Fourth Caliph, but he was overthrown by the Umayyad Dynasty. From that point forward, the Shiites and the Sunni broke into two different branches if Islam. The main difference was the Sunni religious leadership and political leadership were one and the same (occasionally different, but it that case the Religious leader is picked by the Political leader).

Shiites, being a minority, developed an independent religious hierarchy, they are almost as use to the concept of separation of Church and State as most "Christian" nations (I use the term "Christian" to mean those states whose religious tradition is Christian, and as such have always had a separate religious hierarchy from their political hierarchy). Most Sunni Moslem Nations tend to have one religious and political hierarchy, thus the concept that Church and State being two different things is foreign to those nations (and mostly imposed by Colonial powers in the 1800s, and rejected by many Sunni Nations ever since).

Now, unlike most "Western" Nations, the Shiites in Iran have tried to interconnect their religious and political hierarchies but at the same time keep them separate. It is NOT the combined hierarchy typical among the Sunnis, but it is also NOT the separation of Church and State typical of the West.

One side affect of this is that detail knowledge of the Koran is a mark of a Scholar of Islam, the Koran is subject to modification but only by religious leaders and then only after review by other scholars. You do NOT have one man saying, "This is what God told me". That is foreign to Shiite Islam (and Sunni Islam), they have to cite the Koran, but other factors can be cited.

Thus the tradition of Shiite islam is a check on what the Iranian Supreme Leader can do. Much like the Pope, it is hard for a successor to rule that a predecessor erred on a religious ruling, AND for that reason such decisions are NOT made until it has long been debated. Like the Pope, no Supreme Leader is going to make a ruling without it being reviewed by other scholars first (and this is where the Assembly of Exports come into play). They will debate it, refine it and then decide to issue it or NOT to issue it.

Yes, the debate is NOT open to the public except when one of the experts may bring up the concept to see how people view it (i.e. a trial balloon). On the other hand, while the debate is not open to the public, it is rare for the public NOT to know that the debate is going on. The experts will discuss the concept among themselves and seek out other people as to the issue. Much like how the Supreme Court of the US makes its decision, the justices debate it among themselves, listen to people who want to make comments (The parties to the litigation, the various Amicus briefs filed by other experts). While the topic is known the the public and some of the points on the subject is known to the public, the members of the Court debate it among themselves NOT in public.

Thus once a ruling is made, it would be difficult for a successor to reverse it. Not impossible (Even the US Supreme Court has reversed itself) but difficult like the US Supreme Court when it comes to reversing a prior decision.