Hujjat al-Islam Ya’qoubi:

Wahhabis, Takfiri Shi’as two enemy plots against Islamic unity

Rasa – Ayatollah Khamenei’s representative in North Khorasan province stated that Wahhabis and Takfiri Shi’as are two plots created by the enemies against the unity of the Muslim community and that everyone associated with these movements have followed in the direction of the enemies.

News ID: 3712

Date: 24 December 2015 - 20:53

RNA – Speaking to Rasa News, Hujjat al-Islam Abolqasem Ya’qoubi, the representative of the Supreme Leader in North Khorasan province, explained that words and actions can strengthen the unity and integration of different ethnic and religious groups in this northeastern Iranian province, which is home to Persians, Kurds, Turkmen, Arab and Baluchi minorities and about 24% of the province’s population are Sunni Muslims.

Speaking on the eve of Islamic Unity Week, which celebrates the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad according to the differing dates of his birth anniversary among Sunnis and Shi’as, His Eminence said that despite the large Sunni Muslim population of North Khorasan province, complete Sunni-Shi’a unity prevails such that there is not even one report of conflict between people on the basis of sectarian differences.

He added that it is clear that the unity between ethnic and religious groups in North Khorasan province and in the rest of the Islamic Republic of Iran has led to ill-wishers and foreign enemies who seek to use various means and situations to plant the seeds of division and discord in the country in order to achieve their sinister goals and interests.

Ayatollah Ya’qoubi explained that no matter what efforts have been made against Islamic unity by the enemies in Iran, they haven’t achieved anything. “However, this doesn’t negate the necessity for the Iranian people to be vigilant and intelligent against the plans, plots and goals of the enemies,” he warned.

The Iranian scholar explained: “For this reason, on the eve of the coming Islamic Unity Week, we have visited the distinguished Sunni and Shi’a scholars of North Khorasan province to explained the importance and necessity of unity and have also explained the factors and barriers to its realization.”

The Friday prayer leader of Bojnourd said that during his trip to the Iranian province of Kordestan, which is home to a large Sunni minority, the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei) said that those who seek to create division between Sunnis and Shi’as and seek to disrupt national unity under the pretext of religion, whether Sunni or Shi’a, are agents of the enemies, whether they consider themselves such or not.

Hujjat al-Islam Ya’qoubi referred to the fatwa’s issued by several sources of emulation, including Ayatollah Khamenei, which forbid Shi’as from insulting Sunni religious figures and sanctities, saying that accordingly, we should not give those who seek to create discord and division a voice because this is the voice of the enemies, “whether they are Wahhabis, Sunnis and Shi’as, Americans or Mi6 Shi’as.”

His Eminence added that Wahhabis are not Sunnis, “They are people who want to attach themselves to Sunnis but they have left the basis of religion and the actions that Wahhabis do are not accepted by Islam, such as unbridled violence, looting, killing and declaring another Muslims as infidels.”

“This is why we do not seek unity with Wahhabis and none of the great scholars of Islam have said that we must have friendship and amity with them,” he stressed.

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