RNA – Speaking Monday at a protest rally, Ayatollah Ali-Reza Arafi, the head of al-Mustafa International University, renewed his condemnation on the recent massacre in the Nigerian city of Zaria and the arrest of Shaykh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement.
He added that today, the Islamic world is the battle scene of three interpretations of Islam – secularism, Takfirism and pure Muhammadan Islam. The first two are against the standards of shari’ah [Islamic law] and Islam.
His Eminence added that the secular, liberal and open-minded interpretation of Islam is completely false and misleading. This theory claims that Islam is a minority religion and separates religion from politics and also separates the fight against tyrants and oppressors from the body of Islam. “This is while Islam itself is jihad, justice and solidarity with the oppressed,” the Iranian scholar stressed.
Ayatollah Arafi added that Takfirism separates Islam from rationality and logic and uses absurd excuses to pit Muslims against each other. The Al Saud dynasty has been founded on the basis of this interpretation. “An important point in regard to both of these interpretations is the support of its adherents to the imperial powers, including the United States and the Zionist ideology,” he said
He said that we believe in the correct discourse of pure Muhammadan Islam, which is based on rationality, logic and ethics and in which all religions can exist side-by-side.
The Friday prayer of Qom said that Africa has suffered from colonialism and the looting of its resources by the imperialist powers and now faces a second threat: International Zionism.
“The Zionists have long-term plans in more than 50 African countries. For many years they have been spending a lot of money trying to destroy pure Islam in Nigeria and we call on the government and people of Nigeria to take the plots of the enemies seriously,” he said.
111/112