http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=213351
News date: Sunday, January 31, 2010
Cleric warns Saudis about insults to Shia pilgrims
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN -- Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi has warned Saudi Arabian
officials that Iran will reconsider its decision to send its nationals to umra
(lesser pilgrimage) if they do not stop the Wahhabis from insulting Shia
pilgrims.
If the Wahhabis are allowed to continue their insults against Shia pilgrims
with impunity, Iran will reconsider the umra trips, Grand Ayatollah Makarem
Shirazi said in Qom on Saturday at a meeting with Iranian Hajj and Pilgrimage
Organization Director Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Ali Ghazi-Asgar, the Mehr News
Agency reported.
The grand ayatollah called on the Saudi Arabian authorities to take a tough
stance toward the insulters.
This behavior is at odds with the basic tenets of Islam and moral principles,
he stated.
He went on to say that religious duties should be performed in tranquility and
with dignity and political differences should not affect these ceremonies.
"We want these religious duties to be performed in the utmost tranquility and
with great dignity," he said.
He added that the hajj and umra have a great potential for unifying the Muslim
world, countering anti-Islamic propaganda, and fighting against the cultural
invasion launched by the enemies of Islam.
He called for the establishment of an Islamic think tank of clerics and
non-clerics with sufficient experience in hajj ceremonies to deal with the
current issues.
Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi also said that the Iranian clergymen in charge
of hajj should become more educated so that they can clarify the ambiguities
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