Bengali scholars act on blasphemy unrest
SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – In an effort to defuse tension caused by Islamophobic blogs, a group of Muslim scholars have submitted a list of bloggers accused of insulting Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) to the Bangladeshi government.
“We met a group of Islamic scholars (today),” Mainuddin Khandakar, head of a committee formed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to take action against anti-Islam bloggers, told Xinhua news agency.
“One (scholar) gave us a list of 30-32 bloggers.”
Tension has gripped Bangladesh in recent weeks over postings by bloggers seen as insulting Islam.
Troubles agitated after the death of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider who was hacked to death near his home in the capital Dhaka.
Dozens of people including Islamists died and hundreds were injured as violence that rocked the country after police forces clashed with thousands of protesters from Islamist parties.
Following the unrest, the government formed a nine-member panel to identify and take action against bloggers making derogatory remarks against Islam.
Khandakar said the government has already closed a website for “hurting religious sentiments”.
The move by the Muslim scholars comes less than a week before a march by an Islamist group in Bangladesh in protest at government inaction on anti-Islam bloggers.
Hefazat-e-Islam group said it would stage a Dhaka-bound long march on April 6 unless the “atheist bloggers” were arrested.
It also threatened to wage a tougher movement if the government used the state machinery in an attempt to impede its long march.
Trials
Seeking to calm tension in Bangladesh, Premier Sheikh Hasina pledged to take action against people found guilty of defaming Islam.
“You (Islamic parties) do not need to go for any movement,” Hasina said at a party meeting of her ruling Awami League cited by The Indian Express.
“As a Muslim, I have the responsibility to take action.
“We have already decided what action to be taken against those responsible for (internet posts and blogs) hurting people's religious sentiments.”
Bangladeshi authorities had earlier banned the YouTube website to prevent the viewing of a video insulting Prophet Muhammad, which sparked worldwide protests late last year.
The government had also shut down 12 blogs and Facebook pages in February for carrying out “malicious publicity” by Islamists as several leaders faced trial for crimes in 1971 independence war.
Death sentences against Islamist leaders on alleged war crimes during the 1971 war have caused deadly clashes in Bangladesh last month.
So far, three Islamist leaders were sentenced to death on charges of war crimes during the independence war.
The court rulings, however, triggered deadly protests in Bangladesh, which left more than 150 people dead.
Bangladesh is the world's third-largest Muslim majority nation with a population of some 148 million.-www.shafaqna.com/English
Source: On Islam
Shia Scholars are Under Pressure in Azerbaijan
SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – The Islamic Scholar, Hojjatol Islam Faeq Vali Oqlou urged Muslim leaders to make a move and back up ruffled Shia and Sunni scholars in Azerbaijan.
“Azerbaijan is the second Shia country in the world but unfortunately anti- Islamic acts hurt Muslims especially Islamic scholars and cleric," Hojjatol Islam Vali Oqlou underlined.
He went on, "The despotic policy of Azerbaijan government and anti Islamic movement such as Holding the homosexual parade in a country which most of its population consisted of Muslims is literally disappointing."
"The current condition in Azerbaijan is, obviously enough, abysmal especially for Shia people," Hojjatol Islam Vali Oqlou mentioned.
The Islamic scholar underscored that recent showdowns between government and nation lag Muslims behind.
Hojjatol Islam Vali Oqlou urged Muslim leaders not to be reticent in such condition and make a move against this pathetic milieu in Azerbaijan.
He also demanded Armenia government to void unfair laws against Shia and Sunni scholars eschewing from peeving innocent people-www.shfaqna.com/English
Source: Abna
Muslim scholars censure Israel building project near al-Aqsa
SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Islamic scholars have expressed concern about Israel’s plan to construct a building near the al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), Press TV reports.
“This is the awful danger that is storming the al-Aqsa,” Islamic heritage researcher Abdel Razek Matani said in East al-Quds on Monday.
A 600-year-old Islamic building near the mosque was recently demolished by the Israelis, who are planning to construct a building at the site.
Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, the Imam of the al-Aqsa Mosque, stated that the site should remain Islamic.
“The aggression on the Islamic endowments amounts to an aggression on al-Aqsa, and towards Muslims. This aggression will not [cancel out] Islamic rights there, and the site will remain Islamic,” Sabri said.
Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Palestine, also stated that these actions could lead to another Palestinian Intifada.
“The Israeli occupation, with its aggression, will [lead to] a third Palestinian Intifada,” he said.
The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Convention, which forbids construction on occupied lands.-www.shfaqna.com/English
Source: Press TV
SHAFAQNA exclusive | Ayatollah Al-Sistani: No real differences between Shia and Sunnis
SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) - Top Shia cleric Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Al-Hussaini Al-Sistani, emphasised that there are no real differences between Shia and Sunnis and that he is a servant to all the people in Iraq.
His eminence also added, in a speech that was read on his behalf on the opening ceremony of the first Shia and Sunni Scholars Forum in the holy city of Najaf, “I love everybody and religion is love. I am shocked how enemies can divide the Islamic sects.”
He also mentioned that “these gatherings and meetings are important and fruitful, from which people can know that there are no disputes between them (referring to Islamic sects). Differences between Shia and Sunnis are in jurisprudence (Fiqh) issues, which also exist between the people of the same sect.”
In addition, he said that “Shia have to defend the social and political rights of the Sunnis before the Sunnis themselves. Our call is for unity; and I said that before, but still say it, do not say our Sunni brothers, but say ourselves. I listen to the Sunni Friday prayer leaders more than I listen to Shia Friday prayer leaders. We do not distinguish Arabs and Kurds. Islam is what unites us.”
He clarified that he mentions the Sunni fatwas, in his jurisprudence researches. “We are united towards one Ka’ba, one Prayer and one Fasting. Whenever a Sunni comes and tells me that they be became Shia, in the time of the previous regime, I ask him why? He responds to me that it is for the obedience of Ahlulbayt (A.S.) (Wilaya). So I tell him that the Sunni scholars always defended and supported the obedience of the Holy Household (A.S.).”
Ayatollah Al-Sistani concluded by saying that “the mass burials (graves where many people used to be buried together at the time of Saddam Hussein’s regime) affected the Sunnis as equally as the Shia. I support everyone who demands their rights.”
