AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Following the issuance of a statement by the Fatwa Council of Egypt's Al-Azhar University, Ayatollah Fazeli Behsudi released a statement of his own, emphasizing the fundamental Islamic principles of opposing oppression and supporting the oppressed.
In this statement, Fazeli stated, “At a time when the Islamic Republic of Iran has been subjected to blatant and unjust aggression by the United States and the usurping Israeli regime, where the highest religious and political authority of that country, along with a number of innocent children, commanders, and ordinary people, have been martyred in an oppressive manner, and their homes, livelihoods, economic infrastructure, and even cultural heritage, which under international law enjoys protection under any circumstances, have been destroyed, the bare minimum duty of a Muslim is to condemn these heinous and anti-human crimes.”
He continued, “It is with great astonishment and regret that a statement has been issued by the Fatwa Council of Al-Azhar condemning the legitimate defense of the Islamic Republic of Iran against the bases of the United States and the Zionist regime in the region.”
Fazeli emphasized, “In this critical situation, I remind His Eminence Al-Tayyib and his colleagues at Al-Azhar Al-Sharif of several points. Opposing oppression and supporting the oppressed is a fundamental principle in Islam and the duty of every Muslim. Today, a Muslim nation is being subjected to all-out missile attacks and brutal assaults; their innocent children are being killed in schools, infants in their mothers’ arms, their military commanders, and their people, without any fault, are being targeted by the harshest military strikes and martyred unjustly.”
This Afghan Shia scholar added,”Should Muslims not condemn these crimes? Should religious scholars not question the United States? Which humanitarian and human rights standards allow that our supreme religious and political leader, in his office, alongside his family and children during the holy month of Ramadan, be targeted by American-Zionist missiles and bombs? The respected scholars of Al-Azhar, particularly His Excellency Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayyib, and all scholars of the Islamic world, are expected to act with realism and an understanding of the global situation, fulfilling their religious and human duty, and not allow the usurping Israeli regime and the United States to gain further audacity and arrogance in assaulting Islamic lands and the lives and property of Muslims.”
Fazeli stated, “Israel's long-term goals and ambitions indicate that in the not-too-distant future, many Islamic lands, including Egypt and Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, will not be safe. I find it necessary to recall the tragic fate and the silence and indifference of some influential religious scholars of the Islamic world regarding the catastrophe of Palestine and Gaza, drenched in blood. The issue of Palestine will remain a stain of shame on the forehead of the Islamic world and a cause of eternal disgrace. God will hold the religious scholars and figures of the Islamic world accountable for their negligence and shortcomings concerning Palestine.”
He added, “It is precisely this indifference that has emboldened the usurping Zionist regime and the United States, leading them to today ruthlessly kill children and an oppressed people in another land of the Islamic world, and the same may happen in yet another land.”
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