|
The Wahhabi Extremist Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia has said that all churches in the Arabian Peninsula must be destroyed. The statement prompted anger and dismay from Christians throughout the World.The president of the Council of Senior Scholars and president of the Standing Committee for Scholarly and Fatwa Research, the general Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Abd al-Aziz bin Abdallah Al al-Sheikh, issued a fatwa that it is obligatory to destroy all churches in the Arabian Peninsula.
The Wahhabi sheikh, who represents the highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia, ruled that the Arabian Peninsula submits only to the religion of Islam and that the existence of churches in some countries of the region is an admission of the truth of these religions.
The sheikh's latest fatwas came in the context of a response to a Kuwaiti civil society organization that proposed for the new Kuwaiti constitution that was approved by parliament last week, a new article that would forbid the building of new churches, a matter that provoked a wave of discontent among Christian minorities who live in the Arabian Peninsula, especially Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and Kuwait.
The Kuwaiti "Revival of Islamic Heritage Society" is close to Wahhabi ideology. It addressed a question to sheikh Abd al-Aziz bin Abdallah Al al-Sheikh about "the soundness according to the shari'a of calls made by members of the Kuwaiti parliament for the banning or destruction of churches."
The Saudi Mufti's response was that, "Kuwait is a part of the Peninsula. The Arabian Peninsula must destroy all the churches that are in it, because permitting these churches is permitting a religion other than Islam. He claimed that the Prophet, peace be upon him, commanded us and said, 'there cannot be two religions in the Arabian Peninsula'. Building them is not permitted in principle because this peninsula must be empty of all such things."
On his own part, the liberal Saudi writer Turki al-Hamad commented on the fatwa saying, "what if they treated us like this and destroyed our mosques in America and Europe? Would we condemn them?" Al-Hamad added, "How much need we have of a new religious and political discourse in this country, a religious discourse that respects the beliefs of others and a political discourse that accepts differences in society." He warned, "after the events at King Khalid University, this is a dangerous indication that large fires begin with a spark and the wise man is the one who tries to put out the spark before the fire breaks out by searching for its causes."
Muslim top religious scholars strongly slammed grand mufti’s unwise fatwa
The professor of Al-Azhar University, Dr. Ahmed Karimah, condemned the Saudi Sheikh and said: It is better for the Saudi Mufti to issue Fatwa against the U.S. occupier in the Muslims Lands instead of issuing Fatwa to destroy Christians churches.
He added: Some of the population of the Arab countries are Christians, so how they can not have a place of worship.
"According to holy Quran "Mosques are the place where the name of Allah is used, Churches are also the places where the name of Allah is used, so they should be respected" he added.
An human rights activist, Dr. Najib Jibraeel, called Abdul Aziz's Fatwa as a raciest verdict and said: The Fatwa (religious verdict) of Sheikh is against Interfaith Dialogue, the Islamic lands always were secure for all the faiths and the Fatwa is raciest and against faiths. He urged the Islamic organization including al-Azhar to prohibit such a raciest Fatwas.
Alul Bayt World Assembly also critically condemned the Sheikh Abdul Aziz's Fatwa and said: This kind of Fatwas issued by a high Saudi scholars reveal the reality of Saudi Arabia and the identity of Wahhabism and clearly shows that they are not representatives of real Islam.
European bishops slam Saudi grand mufti’s fatwa against Gulf churches
Christian bishops in Germany, Austria and Russia have sharply criticized Saudi Arabia’s top religious official after reports that he issued a fatwa saying all churches on the Arabian Peninsula should be destroyed.
In separate statements on Friday, the Roman Catholic bishops in Germany and Austria slammed the ruling by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Shaikh as an unacceptable denial of human rights to millions of foreign workers in the Gulf region.
Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, head of the Russian Orthodox department for churches abroad, called the fatwa “alarming” in a statement on Tuesday. Such blunt criticism from mainstream Christian leaders of their Muslim counterparts is very rare.
Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, chairman of the German Bishops Conference, said the mufti “shows no respect for the religious freedom and free co-existence of religions”, especially all the foreign laborers who made its economy work.
“It would be a slap in the face to these people if the few churches available to them were to be taken away,” he said.
On Friday, the Austrian Council of Bishops strongly condemned the call made by the general mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the president of the Council of Senior Scholars, Abd al-Aziz bin Abdallah Al al-Sheikh.
In the press release that was issued at the end of the meeting in Tainach, southern Austria, they said, "For us as bishops, declarations of this type are absolutely unacceptable and incomprehensible, when at the same time there are a number of initiatives for dialogue between religions in the Arabian Peninsula."
The Austrian bishops said that declarations of this type not only threaten Christians in the Arabian Peninsula, but also throughout the world. The press release added that, "In a situation like the one we are passing through today, when the Arab revolutions are leading to disturbances throughout the region, declarations of this type do not help people."
The Austrian news agency announced that on Friday the German bishops, represented by Bishop Robert Zollitsch, also condemned the call for destroying churches in the Arabian Peninsula.
Last October, Austria and Saudi Arabia opened a center for dialogue between religions in Vienna. There had been criticism of this plan in Austria because it came at the initiative and with funding from Saudi Arabia, which is governed by the extremist Wahhabi ideology. For his part, the Apostolic Nuncio in Kuwait expressed "great shock" at the declarations by the general mufti of Saudi Arabia Abd al-Aziz bin Abdallah Al al-Sheikh of the obligation to destroy all churches in the Arabian Peninsula.
Thirty Churches Serve Three Million Christians in the Gulf
The approximate number of residents in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council has reached almost 46,800,000 people, of them are 13 million immigrants, of whom 20% are Christian. This means that there are around three million Christians. They are spread across six countries , the greatest number being found in Saudi Arabia, in which there are no churches or any other non-Islamic places of worship.
The Christians of the Gulf are a mixture of Arabs, Asians, and Europeans and this total does not include Hindus, Buddhists, or Sikhs. It only includes Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestans, with Copts in the majority.
Who are Wahhabis; Click the following Links:
1- Wahhabism by Grand Ayatullah Jafar Subhani
2- A New Analysis of Wahhabi Doctrines
No comments:
Post a Comment