Ayat Seestani’s home besieged; Ordered to quit Iraq

By: Sultan Ahmed

KUWAIT CITY: Aides to one of great Maraje Grand Ayatullah Sayyid Ali As-Seestani told on Sunday that the Grand Ayatullah’s house in the holy city of Najaf has been surrounded by armed groups who gave him 48 hours either to leave the country or they would attack him.

Talking to a foreign news agency, Kuwait-based Ayatullah Abul Qassem Dibaji said armed men have had the house of Grand Ayatullah Seestani under siege since yesterday.

According to an aide to assassinated Shiite leader Abdul Majid Al-Khoei, Abid Al-Bodairi, Ayatullah Seestani had left his Najaf home before it was surrounded, but his son was in the building. He said he believed the Ayatullah had been targeted because he was non-Arab.

Bodairi said other ayaat had also been told to leave the holy city of Najaf, and that terror reigns the city.

It is worth noting that whereas the holy city of Najaf has honor of being the ground of the holy grave of son-in-law of Prophet (SAW), Khalifatul Muslimeen Hazrat Imam Ali ibn-e-Abi Talib (AS), it is also the burial place of Prophet Hazrat Adam (AS) and Prophet Hazrat Noah Adam-e-Sani (AS).

The holy city of Najaf is the center of learning and spirituality and Hawzah Ilmiyah Najaf-e-Ashraf (Islamic Seminary of Najaf) is one of the oldest Universities of the world.

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