Cleric warns Muslims against discord

A senior Iranian cleric has warned against discord in the Muslim community, saying differences in viewpoints should not lead to sedition.

“The enemies have always tried to confront the Islamic civilization through spreading corruption and eliminating [Muslim] scholars,” IRNA quoted Tehran’s interim Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani as saying.

“That is the reason they assassinate the country’s scientists, on the one hand, and on the other hand try to create discord. They cause incidents such as what happened in Chabahar on Tasu’a,” said the cleric in reference to a number of terrorist attacks in Iran over the past few months.

On December 15, a bombing attack ripped through a mourning procession marking the anniversary of the martyrdom of the third Shia Imam, Hussein (PBUH). The massive bomb blast killed 39 people and wounded more than 100 others in the southeastern port city of Chabahar.

Prior to the incident, Iranian academic Dr. Majid Shahriari was killed in the early hours of November 29 when his car came under a bomb attack by terrorists in Tehran.

Another university professor, Dr. Fereydoun Abbasi, and his wife narrowly survived a similar attack elsewhere in the capital on the same day.

Ayatollah Kashani described the attacks as part of the enemy’s scheme to strip Iran of its Islamic identity and warned against discord among Muslims as what the enemy yearns for.

“The enemies have turned Muslims against one other by fueling religious divisions and creating classifications such as Arab and non-Arab,” noted the cleric, warning that differences in viewpoints should not lead to sedition.

Ayatollah Kashani further called for nationwide support for Iran’s recently launched economic reform plan which sees the gradual phasing-out of subsidies.

He insisted that this “major surgery” is necessary to help the country’s ailing economy back on its feet again.