A Moderate Muslim Voice

Al-Sistani in Iraq

"Al-Sistani, who wields enormous influence over Iraq's majority Shiites, made no call for protests and suggested that militant Muslims were partly to blame for distorting Islam's image.

He referred to "misguided and oppressive" segments of the Muslim community and said their actions "projected a distorted and dark image of the faith of justice, love and brotherhood."

"Enemies have exploited this … to spread their poison and revive their old hatreds with new methods and mechanisms," he said of the cartoons.

Though al-Sistani did not call for demonstrations, other Shiite Islamic and Sunni leaders across Iraq did."

Read the entire article here.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1575774&page=1