Ayatollah Lankarani meets with al-Azhar scholar

Rasa - Ayatollah Lankarani has explained to a visiting Sunni scholar from al-Azhar University that the Wahhabis and Takfiris are working against the fundamentals of Islam and their threat to Sunni and Shi’ite Islam is greater than the American threat to Islam.

News ID: 691

Date: 11 March 2014 - 16:22

Rasa News Agency reports - Today, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel-Lankarani met with Shaykh Tajuddin al-Hilali, a scholar from al-AzharUniversity in Egypt at the Centre for the Jurisprudence of the Infallible Imams (A) in Holy Qom.

“The first duty of scholars is that they must explain the truth of the religion [of Islam] for future generations,” said Ayatollah Lankarani.

He then spoke about the threat of the Wahhabi and Takfiri attempts to distort Islamic teachings by sparking divisions between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims. Ayatollah Lankarani mentioned that Wahhabis falsely claim that Shi’as have a different Quran, when there is much evidence to the contrary. He said he expected the Sunni clerics at al-Azhar to do their duty to Islam by not allowing these claims to be made in their publications or be mentioned in their university.

Ayatollah Lankarani mentioned the only way to maintain Islamic unity is for the truthful clerics from both sides to unite and work together to promote the Islamic ummah (community) and oppose the Takfiri agenda. He said that the Centre for the Jurisprudence of the Infallible Imams (A) is ready for academic interaction with the great scholars in the fields of fiqh (jurisprudence), hadith sciences, theology, ethics, and politics. “The Takfiris are working against both the Sunni and the Shi’ites and working against the very foundations of Islam,” he explained.

It is necessary that both Sunnis and Shi’ites publically announce that Takfiris are not Muslims and have left the fold of Islam. “If this message is announced, it will solve many future problems,” Ayatollah Lankarani suggested.

Ayatollah Lankarani explained to the Sunni scholar that Muslims must hold firm to the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad (S), our qiblah, pilgrimage to Makkah and the other common issues and act according to the words of the Holy Prophet (S) and his Infallible Family (A) in order to defeat the Takfiri threat to Islamic unity.

“Today, Wahhabism and Takfiris are a common threat to both the Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims and their danger to Islam is a far greater danger to Islam than

America is,” he stated.

“Fortunately, the concept of ‘Mahdawiyah’ is a common belief between Sunni and Shi’ites and scholars from both sects should use it to propagate their message [of unity],” he added.

“Today, the world has concluded that Islam is a universal religion and that the creation of Salafism, Wahhabism, Takfirism, Baha’ism, sectarianism, and false mysticism are an obstacle to the formation of a universal Islamic government. Thus, it is imperative that Sunni scholars inform the average Sunni laypeople of the theory of Mahdaviyah,” Ayatollah Lankarani concluded.

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