But the statements and actions of a number of Muslim clerics based in Israel, Palestinian politicians and even foreign governments have only inflamed and exacerbated an already explosive situation.
In a painstaking investigation into the country's radical Islamist movement, Alic shows a financial paper trail that links Saudi-connected Bosnian and Serbian clerics based in Vienna, Austria, to a 2007 bid to destabilize Bosnia through a wave of mosque seizures.
There were already signs that Mr. Sadr -- who has been under pressure from a group of powerful Najaf-based clerics who have close ties with Iran -- was moving away from confrontation.
The clerics, mainly based in the Shi'a holy city of Qom, sensed that Iran was losing its Islamic core to Western culture and U.S. interests; the working class, faced with rising inflation and poverty, was restless; everyone was pushing for free elections.
While Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code is essentially based on a group of clerics who stray into a darker form of religiosity.
The targets are usually government buildings, ministerial convoys, the AU's base, businessmen, clerics and Somalis known to oppose the Shabab.Mr Aweys describes the AU peacekeepers as "bacteria" that must be eradicated; whether such xenophobic rhetoric will inspire more Somalis to join the jihadists is unclear.
The Islamic Society of North America, based in Plainfield, Ind., refers Muslim clerics to the Bureau of Prisons.
Another journalist, Ghows Zalmai, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for blasphemy after publishing a Dari translation of the Koran that hard-line clerics disputed, said Human Rights Watch, based in New York.
Peter C. Brinckerhoff, author of "Faith-Based Management: Running Organizations That Are Based on More Than Just Mission," says a mistake that some clerics make in budgeting is to rely more heavily on prayer than on a sharpened pencil.
Saudi Arabia's justice system is based on Sharia Islamic law and its judges are clerics from the kingdom's ultra conservative Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam.
Many of the jokes were based on Scottish humour and featured a number of clerics played by Rikki Fulton, with the despondent and ironically named Rev IM Jolly one of the standout sketch characters.
