Hawza of Najaf’s Ayaat’s lives are out of danger

By: Hamoud Kufi

KUWAIT CITY: A Kuwaiti cleric Sayyid Muhammad Baqer al-Mehri said the three top Maraje and Ayaat – Aaqa-e-Sayyid Muhammad Saeed Al-Hakim, Aaqa-e-Sayyid Ali As-Seestani and Aaqa-e-Muhammad Ishaq Fayyad (Afghani) - threatened by a mob in Iraq's holy city of Najaf were safe Monday after supporters intervened.

Al-Mehri, a leader of the Congregation of Muslim Shia Ulama in Kuwait said while talking to a foreign news agency: “Yesterday afternoon, members of the central Euphrates tribes who support the religious leaders of Najaf entered the city and liberated it from armed men… Now, we don't feel the danger (to their lives) we felt yesterday.”

On Sunday, Al-Mehri had said his party feared for the lives of above-mentioned Ayaat and he had urged the United States and Britain to protect the Maraje.

Ayatullah Sayyid Ali As-Seestani and Ayatullah Muhammad Ishaq Fayyad (Afghani) are from among the students of Grand Ayatullah Sayyid Abul Qassem Al-Khoei (late). And Ayatullah Muhammad Saeed Al-Hakim belongs to the family of Grand Marje Ayatullah Sayyid Mohsin Al-Hakim – the same Mohsin Al-Hakim whose son is Ayatullah Muhammad Baqer Al-Hakim who has established an exiled-government in Iran and last week he announced to return home without mentioning a date.

Its worth noting that Ayatullah seestani’s contradictory decrees (Fatawa) which were attributed to him (one said that he has favored the invading forces while the second fatwa said that he called upon the Muslims to stand against the coalition forces) and the news about Ayatullah Muhammad Ishaq Fayyad (Afghani) and Ayatullah Muhammad Saeed Al-Hakim that they had adopted silence at the time of coalition forces invasion on Iraq are taking air; thereupon people considered that they are siding the invading forces.

People and scholars of the holy city of Najaf have always kept high the flag against oppression, therefore these kinds of incidents leave a great effect on them. It could be understood by this that the first who operated the martyrdom-seeking bomb attack on coalition forces in Iraq and the man who shot down US Apache helicopter belonged to the holy land of Najaf. This indicates that how much hatred the momineen of Iraq and the holy city of Najaf keep in their hearts for coalition forces. While Grand Ayatullah Mohsin Al-Hakim and Grand Ayatullah Abul Qassem Al-Khoei bear an honorable status not only in the sight of Iraq and Najaf Shiite but also in the entire Shiite and scholarly world.

Situation in the holy city of Najaf is very tense.

Holy shrines by the grace of Allah are safe, and the holy city of Karbala Moalla is in control of religious leaders. Multitudes of people are achieving honour of visiting the shrine of Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS) and Hazrat Abbas Alamdar (AS) likewise other holy sites.

But coalition forces and Iraqi fighters on Monday exchanged a fire near the tomb of Hazrat Imam Abu Hanifah in Baghdad causing severe damage to the tomb. Guardian of the tomb has been arrested. Thereupon tension has increased in the city. In Baghdad, there is exemplary unity among Sunni and Shiite and they are unitedly fighting the enemy.

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