Islamic seminaries of Iran keen to deepen bilateral ties with Holy See

RNA – In a meeting with the visiting delegation from the Vatican, the director of Islamic Seminaries across Iran referred to the common issues of Islam and Christianity and announced the readiness of the Islamic center to expand ties with Holy See.

News ID: 3908

Date: 06 February 2016 - 18:58

RNA – In a meeting with Cardinal Peter Turkson, the president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Hashem Hoseyni-Bushehri, the director of Islamic Seminaries across Iran, stressed upon the relations between Muslim and Christian leaders, saying they are a necessity for the current world and counted oppression, corruption, irreligiousness and anti-spirituality approaches as some of the joint challenges of both religions.

He criticized the misrepresentation of Islam in the West and said the mutual ties between two religious centers can provide the grounds for a true introduction of Islam and Shi’a Muslims so that the holy religion is introduced to the West in the language and view of the Vatican.

The head of the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom warned against extremism as the common challenges of Islam and Christianity and said, “Extremist religious activists do not maintain religious redlines and provide a tarnished image of both Islam and Christianity.”

The Shi’a cleric noted that, “We condemn the actions by some extremist Muslims who kill innocent people.”

He added, “In the Christianity world, actions such as the burning the holy book of Islam were made which are not the signs of peace or justice, rather an inspiration for distrust and the spread of hostility among the two religions.”

Ayatollah Hoseyni-Bushehri stressed that campaigns against terrorism and poverty and efforts for the expansion of peace are two key joint issues between the Islamic Seminary of Qom and the Holy See and expressed concerns over the inappropriate behaviours by some European countries towards refugees.”

The cleric also noted Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) as another concerns for the Islamic Seminary of Qom and noted that the negotiations with the P5+1 group of countries as a proof that Iran is not in pursuit of nuclear weapons saying, “The statement by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution [Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei] is another evidence for the stance of the Islamic Republic against nuclear weapons; hence, Iran has practically proved that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons.”

The cleric called on the Vatican explain the necessity of disarmament of weapons of mass destruction to the world.

Also in this meeting, Ayatollah Hoseyni-Bushehri announced the preparedness of the Islamic Seminary of Qom to expand ties with the Vatican and said, “In our view justice is prioritized over peace since prevalence of justices prevents all wars which necessitate peace.”

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