Al-Kout, a Kuwaiti satellite TV Channel, hosted on April 13 Sheikh Fawazi Al-Saif, a Saudi Shiite religious leader and the director of Qatif religious school to talk about Shiism through history and its emergence in political arena.
Sheikh Fawazi Al-Saif said that “there are a lot of commonalities between Shiite and other Muslims including believing in God, Quran, prophets and doomsday except believing in the leadership of Imams which is the characteristic that distinguishes Shiite from other doctrine”.
He explained that there is no controversy in loyalty to Imams among entire Muslims but following their leadership which is limited to Shiite only, is the cause of dispute.
About the association between Shiism and Persia in origin, Al-Saif said that “there is no difference among people and the classification according to their affiliation is totally rejected”. He explained that Shiism emerged and spread from the Arab region and that Persian scholars have a clear influence in the four Sunni schools and Shiite doctrine.
Al-Saif criticized referring to Shiite as a minority which lead to marginalizing and deprive them from their rights. He called for equality, respect and coexistence between Islamic sects.
Al-Saif refuted the idea that “Shiism was a result of political confrontation, pointing out that Shiite Islam is a religious doctrine that had developed in Imams era but it was exist before.
About questioning Shiite loyalty toward their nations, Al-Saif said that “following external religious leadership is not limited on Shiite where many groups including Sunnis have their religious leaders outside their countries but are not accused of disloyalty”.
He called for establishing licensed religious schools to Shiite in Saudi Arabia so they can follow local religious leadership instead of questioning their loyalty.
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Source: Saudi Shia