Feb 11, 2019

The northern Iraqi city of Mosul is on guard about the possibility of an outbreak of sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shiites following allegations that the Shiite Waqf (religious endowment) is seeking to seize Sunni-held land in the area. The head of the Iraqi Al-Qarar Coalition, Osama Najafi, said Jan. 30, “The Shiite endowment in Ninevah [province] is trying to register hundreds of property bonds belonging to the Sunni Waqf in its name, using its influence through official books issued by the General Real Estate Registration Directorate.” Najafi said the Shiite endowment was also “pressuring and threatening staff in the real estate registration office in Mosul.”

The Sunni Waqf has demanded that the federal government “put an end to the attempts by the Shiite Waqf to seize more of its real estate and property,” as seen in a Jan. 26 statement by Shirwan al-Dubardani, a member of the Iraqi parliament from Ninevah. He told Al-Monitor, “Rogue armed groups are trying to seize land in Ninevah in operations outside the law,” adding, “The fact-finding commission will identify the official entities involved.” Dubardani said, “Authorities in Ninevah filed a complaint to Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, requesting a swift intervention to stop violations against the Sunni Waqf and land belonging to them. Deputies from Ninevah will adopt a unified position in issuing a decision to halt these violations.”

Both the Sunni and Shiite endowments were established in 2003, shortly after the US invasion of Iraq, with the division of the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs into Sunni, Shiite and non-Muslim bodies. Following the Islamic State’s occupation of Mosul in 2014, the Shiite Waqf ceased its functions in the province, returning after the liberation of the city to open its headquarters in eastern Mosul on Dec. 19, 2017.

In reality, the conflict is not a product of today’s events. Former Ninevah Gov. Atheel Nujaifi said in January 2018, “The Shiite Waqf office in 2010 requested the transfer of ownership of 20 historical mosques to its possession, all 20 of which are in the Old City and were destroyed by fighting.”

On Jan. 27, 2018, the director of the Sunni Waqf in Ninevah, Abu Bakr Kanaan, accused the Shiite Waqf of appropriating land even though documents show it is owned by the Sunni Waqf. Kanaan said the Shiite Waqf was trying to take over custodianship of property surrounding the shrines of the Prophet Seth and the Prophet Yunus (Jonah) that is often rented out; the shrines were destroyed by the Islamic State. In September, hundreds of vendors in the area of the Yunus shrine appealed to the local and central governments to intervene to stop the encroachment of investors contracted by the Shiite Waqf.