TEHRAN--World Forum for Proximity Among Islamic Schools of Thought has strongly condemned a fatwa (religious decree) by Wahhabi muftis allowing the destruction of Shiite holy shrines in Iraq and Syria.According to Fars, in a statement here on Sunday, the Tehran-based forum said the fatwa is against the unity and national interests of Muslim states, especially those of war-shattered Iraq. It noted that the move gives a pretext to foreign forces to prolong their presence in the region.
Earlier, the mufti of Saudi Arabia and other leading Wahhabi clerics endorsed the decree and asked for destruction of the holy shrines of Imam Hossein (AS) and his brother Hazrat Abbas (AS) in Karbala, Iraq, and of their sister Hazrat Zeinab (SA) in Damascus, Syria.
The fatwa has inflamed Muslim anger around the world. In the decree first released before the second attack on Samarra shrines, Wahhabis are asked to destroy all signs of Â’polytheismÂ’ in Iraqi cities, an implicit reference to the Shiite shrines.
“The shrine of (Imam) Hossein in Karbala, as one of the main symbols of Shiites, should be destroyed,“ the decree said.
Following the decree, a number of university students at Mohammad bin Saud University formed voluntary committees with the aim of attracting members from the Persian Gulf neighboring states for destroying these shrines in the near future.
The fatwa has given rise to expressions of protest and disgust from all over the world, especially Muslim authorities.