Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi writes letter to al-Azhar’s Grand Imam

Rasa – Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi has welcomed a call by the Grand Imam of the al-Azhar Mosque, Egypt’s top Muslim authority, for a unity meeting of leading Sunni and Shi’a scholars.

News ID: 422636

Date: 02 August 2016 - 17:02

RNA – Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi expressed his gratitude to Shaykh Ahmad al-Tayyib, Grand Imam of al-Azhar for his invitation to a unity meeting of leading Sunni and Shi’a scholars.

The statement is as follows:

In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

I recently heard the news that the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Shaykh Ahmad al-Tayyib invited all leading Islamic scholars, including Shi’a and Sunni clerics to unanimously condemn the horrible inhumane crimes being carried out by extremist groups.

His Eminence, Ahmad al-Tayyib stressed on the importance of proximity between Shi’a and Sunni doctrine and said, “al-Azhar has always emphasized on Shi’a-Sunni proximity and enjoys the fruit of its efforts.”

He further invited all leading Sunni and Shi’a scholars to participate in a unity meeting at al-Azhar University to issue a joint fatwa against the killing of Muslims. The result of this fatwa will be to put an end to the brutal killings of some extremist groups.

We acknowledge His Eminence’s consciousness and understanding of the current events in the Islamic world.

We also emphasize that such joint efforts intended to end the killing of innocent Muslims will also serve to confront Islamophobic actions presently propagated in the western media.

Unified actions on the part of Islamic Nations will eventually cause the international community to realize that terrorists’ cruel actions should not be associated with pure Islam at all.

I also express that killing of non-Muslims which is being carried out by these terrorist groups in any part of the world is absolutely non-Islamic and we vigorously condemn such actions.

I really hope the above-mentioned meeting be held soon in order to take a serious step for saving the Muslim world from these barbaric terrorists.

Naser Makarem-Shirazi,
Qom, July 31, 2016

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