Hakim further issued an announcement of his own, calling on Iraqi people to consider the immediate dangers threatening the nation and heed the call by the top religious authority in the country.

Earlier this week, Ayatollah Sistani called on all Iraqi people and political factions to unite and support the government and army in their battle against the terrorists.

Najaf-based Shia scholar Seyyed Morteda Qazvivi also puts on battle outfit

Also during Friday Prayer sermons in the holy city of Karbala, another senior Iraqi cleric Sheikh Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalai, who represents Grand Ayatollah Sistani, also urged people across Iraq to take up arms and defend their country against the ISIL terrorists.

Thousands of Iraqi volunteers on their way to register for army service for battle against Takfiri terrorists

Moreover, other major Shia clerics, namely Sheikh Bashir al-Najafi and Seyyed Morteda Qazvivi, as well as Iraqi Sunni scholar Sheikh Ahmed al-Kabisi of Basra and a number of other influential Shia and Sunni clerics across the nation have also called on their communities to heed the call to take up arms against the terrorist threat.

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