Thread by @HamdiAMalik

1. In one of his muharram speeches, Hamid al-Yaseri, the leader of Sistani-affiliated Hashd brigade, Ansar al-Marjaiya delivered a stinging rebuke to Iran-backed militias (muqawama) in Iraq. He starts his speech by saying that “Imam Hussein is pure white truth, ​​devoid of…

2. ... falsity, deception, fraud and betrayal”. Yaseri is setting the scene for his attack on the muqawama. He goes on to emphasize on loyalty to one's homeland: Imam Hussien “taught us how to belong to [our] homelands, taught us the concept of love for your country…

3. ... taught us how to be loyal to your country, taught us that whoever breathes the air of his country, and benefits from his country’s bounties, their eye, heart and breath will never yearn for whatever is beyond the borders of this homeland”.

4. He goes on to say: “We learnt from Imam Hussein that to be a member of a country, but loyal to [another country] is a big treason, it's a massive fraud and a huge deception”. It quickly becomes clear that he is criticizing the muqawama’s loyalty to Iran.

5. “To receive instructions and guidance from beyond the borders isn’t Imam Hussein’s ideology… we refuse these affiliations and these loyalties and announce with our loudest voice without fear or hesitation… that whoever is loyal to another country, is a traitor”.

6. Yaseri’s rebuke continues: “I understand that these remarks are hurtful. I understand that these words are cries and bullets which will hit the chest of the spineless and the traitors... and those who sold their loyalties to those [rulers] beyond the borders…

7. ...and that these bullets will come back one day to hit my heart and your heart”. Then to make sure his audience understands that he’s talking about Iran, Yaseri mentions a fatwa to kill for talking against the Wali al-Faqih.

8. “I know that there are those who write down and record these remarks to send them to their masters and their masters will send them to their own masters on the other side of the borders and the mufti [cleric] who is beyond the borders will issue a fatwa to kill me and you…

9. ... accusing us of shaking the wala [in a reference to the muqawama who are called walayee, due to their loyalty to Khamenei, the Wali al-Faqih], accusing us of threatening these fake, false, evanescent loyalties”.

10. Using such disparaging language by a prominent Sistani-affiliated character against the muqawama is unprecedented, but there is more. Yaseri accuses the muqawama of killing the peaceful protesters.

11. “[They will kill us] the same way they shot [the protesters] & labeled the poor person who took to the streets demanding his rights as a [foreign] agent, & labeled the simple and poor owner of a market stall who carried the Iraqi flag & demanded his food as an agent…

12. ... and the poor business owners who said no to corruption and the corrupt were labeled as [foreign] agents [people who] must die and indeed they killed them”. Yaseri then goes on to demand people not to keep quiet against these atrocities.

13. “The situation is dangerous… [people] need to speak up… and be brave, otherwise we have no value to stand and [just] talk in front of you & we won’t have value if our hearts are devoid of bravery... We should have the bravery that Imam Hussein taught us and stand against…

14. ... whoever tries to manipulate the fate and the decisions of the religion and country”. Yaseri then reminds his audience of the treatment he received in the past at the hands of the muqawama for his comments.

15. “One day when I said the sentence that they [the muqawama] considered kofr [blasphemy] & considered me an apostate [for saying it], I said whoever is loyal to another country rather than his homeland, has no religion”. At this point the crowd started shouting “yes to Iraq”.

16. Yaseri makes sure to diverge his path as clearly as possible from the muqawama. “Our religion is not like their religion, and our Islam is not like their Islam, and the Hussein that we walk to [his tomb]... is different than the Hussein they believe in…

17. ... Hussein we belong to is Hussein son of Ali [first Shia imam] & Fatema [prophet Muhammad’s daughter, Ali’s wife & Hussein’s mother], & the Hussein they belong to is the Hussein son of Shimr [the commander whom the Shia believe beheaded Hussein] & son of the liver eater”.

18. This is huge. Yaseri could not have expressed his disgust in a more bitter way. The liver eater is Hind daughter of Utba, the grandmother of Yazid, the ruler whom the Shia believe ordered the killing of Imam Hussein. She is known as the ‘liver eater’...

19. ...because during the early years of Islam & after the battle of Uhud, she reportedly took out the liver of prophet Muhammd’s slain uncle & bit into it. But Yaseri doesn't stop there. He indirectly calls Khomeini [the founder of the Islamic Republic] and Khamenei, idols.

20. “We belong to the religion of the sky, and they belong to the religion of idols which came to us from everywhere…we need to believe in the real Hussein… not the hollow Hussein they steal under his cloak, they steal by belonging to him…”.

21. In the next twitter thread, I’ll explore the extent to which comments made by people like Hamid al-Yaseri. who are close to Sistani can be read as the ayatollah's stance. END.