According to experts on Shi'ite Islam, word from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani was also likely to ease tensions around Iraq's holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala, scenes of tough fighting earlier in the week, and to limit the risk of clashes between ordinary believers and US-led soldiers.

"Neither the occupying army nor the local officials, in the presence of such an ayatollah, have authority more legitimate than his," said Hamid Dabashi, a professor at Columbia University and an expert on the Shi'ites and their world.

Such "guidance" to followers should soothe fears of religiously motivated attacks on US-led troops, Dabashi said. However, he said the call may be short-lived.

Murtadha al-Kashmiri, a London representative of Sistani, said the cleric had asked followers not to take sides in the fighting. He denied earlier reports he had issued a fatwa, or formal religious edict.

"According to the information we received, there is no fatwa referring to Americans or Iraq, but he has asked people to remain neutral and not get involved," Kashmiri said.

Under Shi'ite religious law, the Ayatollah's authority outranks that of Iraq's secular authorities, including President Saddam Hussein, as well as that of any invading general or army commander.

US officers, who have given orders to avoid damage to holy sites for fear of inflaming anti-Western sentiment among Iraq's persecuted Shi'ite majority, welcomed the ayatollah's position.

'Significant Turning Point'

"We believe this is a very significant turning point and another indicator that the Iraqi regime is approaching its end," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks told reporters in Qatar.

But Dabashi said the call could be a tactic, or even a ruse, to protect the sacred sites and the true believers from harm at the hands of the invading armies. Religious law allows Sistani to resort to "taqiyah," or dissembling for the good of the faith, to achieve those goals.

A fatwa from Sistani, issued earlier while he was under the control of Iraqi government agents, directed the people to resist efforts to topple Saddam.

Iraq's Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said that decree still stood. "As Muslims, their fatwa is to resist the American mercenary forces -- they are evil -- and to consider them invaders who should be resisted," he told al-Jazeera television.

Earlier on Thursday, the Shi'ite Al Khoei foundation in London said Sistani had issued a formal fatwa, directing believers to cooperate with the American-led forces. It was not possible to contact Sistani himself, who has until recently lived under house arrest on Saddam's orders.

Ayatollah Sistani, whose followers pay him religious taxes and look to him for spiritual and practical guidance, is the supreme religious authority at the al-Hawza al-Ilmiyya theological school in Najaf.

He is also responsible for the shrine of Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet and the first leader of the Shi'ite community -- a site sacred to Shi'ites around the world, including more than 60 million believers in neighboring Iran.

Iraq is ruled by the pan-Arab Baath Party, which has traditionally espoused secular nationalist ideology, but at times of crisis Saddam -- himself a Sunni Muslim -- has invoked religious faith to bolster his policies.

It's said that US troops moved into the center of the city, alarming some residents near the Ali shrine.

CNN footage showed soldiers trying to calm the crowd, who apparently feared they were planning to seize the shrine. The scene ended peacefully, as the US troops gently pulled back, and a cleric in a white turban tried to reassure the people.

US military sources said members of the 101st Airborne had been in talks with Sistani about how to govern Najaf in the absence of pro-Saddam forces. "I think he realized we really are here to help Iraqi people," said one source.

(China Daily April 4, 2003)