Fatwa closes the doors in front of any sedition between the Sunnis and the Shiites

Khamenei’s fatwa is important despite the fact that dozens of the religious prominent Shiite symbols in Iran have earlier condemned the campaigns of abusing Sayeda Aisha, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) because he is a very prominent Marja. In fact, Khamenei is also the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which includes the largest number of Shiites in the world.
In addition, the said fatwa came in response to a letter addressed by a gathering of scientists and intellectuals of Al-Ihsaa in Saudi Arabia, after the Shia cleric Yasser Al-Habib “cursed” recently the Prophet’s wife Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her). Given that Saudi Arabia has a special place in the hearts of the Muslims, Khamenei’s immediate response to the letter sent by the scientists of Al-Ihsaa sends a strong warning to everyone stating that no one, whether a Sunni or a Shiite person, would allow the troublemakers to move ahead. Moreover, the fact that the Sunni scholars have chosen Khamenei, who is considered by some as the highest Shia Marja in the world, was a very smart step to discover Khamenei’s stance whether negative or positive. This puts definitive end to those Shiites cursing Sayeda Aisha on behalf of the Shiite sect, which disowns them.
A gathering of scientists and intellectuals of Al-Ihsaa had sent a letter to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in Iran. In their letter, they called on him to give his opinion about what was said by the Shiite activist Yasser Habib when he insulted the wife of Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), the mother of the believers Sayeda Aisha with explicit and offensive language.
In his response to a previous letter, Khamenei stressed that he prohibits undermining the Islamic symbols of the Sunnis, especially the mother of the believers Sayeda Aisha, saying: “Cursing the wives of the prophets and the wives of the Great Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is one of the taboos and prohibitions”.
The text of the survey:
Question:
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful
Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Al-Husseini (May Allah prolong his age)
Peace, mercy and blessings of God be upon you
The Islamic nation is facing a crisis of an approach, which leads to raising sedition between the sons of the Islamic sects, and not supporting the priorities in favor of uniting the Muslims. Thus, this would be a base for internal sedition and for wasting the Islamic effort regarding the sensitive and crucial issues. This might also leads to disregarding the achievements made by the sons of the Islamic nation in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Iran and in the Islamic countries. In fact, one of the outcomes of this extremist approach is to put forward what requires insulting the sanctities and symbols of the decent Sunni sect deliberately and repeatedly.
Therefore, what is your opinion on what is being said in media, the satellite and/or the Internet, by some knowledgeable people? We mean here the explicit and overt acts insulting and cursing the wife of the Prophet (PBUH), the mother of the believers Sayeda Aisha, and accusing the wives of the Prophet, the mothers of the believers, God bless them, of what affects their honor and dignity.
We thus hope that you kindly explain clearly the Sharia position on this, for the abuses caused disorder among the Islamic community and created a state of psychological tension between the Muslims who follow the school of Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) and the Muslims of other Islamic sects. It is noteworthy that those abuses were exploited systematically by some malevolent agitator troublemakers in some satellite channels and in the Internet in order to disturb and confuse the Islamic arena and to create sedition among the Muslims.
Finally, May Allah prolong your life to continue to be an assist to Islam and Muslims.
Signature
A gathering of scientists and intellectuals of Al-Ihsaa
4/October/1431
Imam Khamenei’s Answer:
In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Most Merciful
Peace, mercy and blessings of God be upon you
We prohibit insulting the symbols of our Sunni brothers, as well as accusing the wife of the Prophet (peace be upon him) of what affects her dignity and honor. Moreover, it is forbidden to insult any of the wives of the Prophets and especially their master the Great Prophet (peace be upon him).
Good luck
Al-Azhar’s Welcoming
The said fatwa made the Sunnis feel satisfied at once, not only in Saudi Arabia, but also all over the Muslim world, especially in Egypt. Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, Sheikh of Al-Azhar, stressed, in a statement on Saturday October 2, that he appreciats and welcomes the Fatwa issued by Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, which prohibits cursing the prophet’s companions, God bless them, or insulting the mothers of the believers, the wives of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Sheikh of Al-Azhar described in a statement Khamenei’s fatwa as “It was issued based on proper information and deep understanding of the seriousness of what the people of sedition are doing. It expresses his concern over the unity of Muslims”. He said: “What makes this fatwa more important is that it was issued by the world’s senior Muslim scholars and the most prominent Shiite Marja; the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
Al-Tayeb addressed in this regard a sincere tribute to Khamenei for his “precious fatwa”, which according to him came in a timely manner to resolve the rift and to close the doors in front of sedition. He asked God Almighty to make this fatwa a good omen and a beginning of serious work aiming at making the Muslims gather, away from the claims of extremism and away from the advocates of division and disagreement.
Al-Tayeb added saying: “Based upon my knowledge and the reality of the responsibility of the Sharia, I see that it is necessity to seek to unite the Muslims. In fact, the difference between the followers of the Islamic sects should remain in the circle of differences of opinion and of ‘ijtihad’ among scientists, and should not affect the unity of the nation. He noted that Allah Almighty said, and he says the truth, (In the Name of Allah, the compassionate, the most merciful) “… do not dispute and thus lose courage and then your strength would depart; and be patient. Indeed, Allah is with the patient”. (God said the truth) - Al-Anfal verse (46).
In addition, he pointed out that everyone who fuels the fire of strife between the Muslims is a sinner and he deserves to be punished by God and rejected by people. He said: “Al-Azhar Al-sharif calls on the Muslims to hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided, and to unite their efforts to work on upgrading Islam, the unity of the Muslims, and the pride of nations. He also called them to bring peace between the people of different religions, doctrines, and races”.
Regarding Egypt’s role in making the doctrines of Muslims be close to the method of moderation and mediation and meet on common grounds, Al-Tayyeb concluded his statement, saying: “Egypt has always been proactive in this area and it took the initiative to set up a house to bring the sects together. This house merges the elite group of scholars of religion, judgment, culture and politics from various Muslim countries. They gathered based on a noble purpose, a deep understanding, and sincerity, and worked so that to please God Almighty”.
Yasser Al-Habib
Yasser Al-Habib was the founder of the “Khoddam Al-Mahdi” (Servants of the Mahdi) association. He celebrated during the month of Ramadan in London the anniversary of the death of Sayeda Aisha. During the said celebration, he issued inflammatory statements addressing the Muslims all over the world. He described the mother of the believers Aisha bint Abi Bakr as “the enemy of God and the enemy of His Prophet (peace be upon him)”. He also accused her of “killing the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)” and said that she is suffering in hell, is eating carrion, is hanged by her legs, and is eating her flesh”.
Immediately after the previous statements were issued, a storm of anger was triggered in Kuwait. Sunni and Shiite MPs asked the government to detain Al-Habib or to withdraw his Kuwaiti nationality. They also threatened to question the Prime Minister or the Minister of Interior if the government did not take any action.
Indeed, the Kuwaiti government responded to the prior demands immediately. It took its decision on September 20 to withdraw Yasser’s Kuwaiti nationality. In addition, it stressed that it will legally pursue him and will ask the Interpol to arrest his.
Yet, what was striking is that the anger did not come only from the Kuwaiti Shiites, but also the “Ahl Al-Bayt World Assembly” in Iran condemned strongly the “false improper accusations of some of the wives of the Prophet”, stressing that those who are issuing such accusations definitely do not represent the Shiites, the followers of Ahl Al-Bayt.
It seems that the curriculum vitae of the Shiite activist Yasser Al-Habib confirms also that he does not represent the Shiites of Kuwait in particular and the Shiites in general. Many Shiites described him as being pervert, causing sedition, ignorance, and stupidity, and being an agent of Islam’s aggressive forces.
Yasser Al-Habib has been living in London since 2004, after he left Kuwait escaping from a ten years prison sentence because of his offensive comments about the first and the second caliphs.
He used to insult the prophet and his household (Ahl Al-Bayt). Therefore, he became a pariah not only in Kuwait but all over the Muslim world as well.
The power of the Muslim people is in their unity
Khamenei’s fatwa was issued to confirm to everyone that Al-Habib does not represent the Shiites in particular and the Muslims in general.
The important fact that remains is that the power of the Muslims relies in their unity. Therefore, there is no alternative but only to keep the Sunnis and Shiites gathered with one goal in mind i.e. to abort the American and Israeli schemes, which aims at inflaming sedition among them.