Ayatollah Makarem issues warning to Al Khalifah over revocation of citizenship

Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi issued a statement condemning the Al Khalifah regime’s revocation of the citizenship of Bahraini scholar, Ayatollah Isa Qasim, and warned that Shi’a authorities would not tolerate such actions.

Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi has issued a statement on the crisis in Bahrain and the revocation of the citizenship of Bahraini opposition leader and cleric, Ayatollah Shaykh Isa Qasim, and stressed that Bahrain’s rulers do not have enough reason and wisdom and have thrown themselves into a dangerous vortex which day by day, will increase their plight.

On Monday, Al Khalifah regime said the citizenship of Shaykh Qasim has been revoked, accusing him of sowing sectarian divisions.

The move has drawn widespread international condemnation and sparked protests in the tiny Persian Gulf country.

The revered source of emulation’s statement is as follows:

    In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

    The rulers of Bahrain, with the assistance of Saudi Arabia have sailed toward failure in a sinking ship in regard to Syria, Iraq and Yemen. While sinking, they have engaged in strange and dangerous tasks, including the destruction of dozens of mosques and husayniyahs, the imprisonment of a large group of Shi’a scholars and ordinary people, banning congregational prayers and other acts of abuse, including the deprivation of the citizenship of the revered Bahraini scholar, Shaykh Isa Qasim. It is possible that Bahrain’s rulers may have reached the end of their reign.

    The revocation of one’s citizenship is an inhuman and demonic act and one who himself and her ancestors have lived in a country, have rights in that country and no one can take this from them.

    If someone should be deprived of their citizenship, it should be the Al Khalifah because their ancestors came from Saudi Arabia and its Najd region, while His Eminence, Shaykh Isa Qasim and his ancestors are all Bahrainis.

    So far in their peaceful protests, Bahraini Shi’as have said that if they are given their inalienable rights along with their Sunni brothers, with whom they have no enmity or hatred toward, they will coexist in peace, but Bahrain’s rulers do not have enough reason and wisdom and have thrown themselves into a dangerous vortex which day by day, will increase their plight.

    They should have understood that the Shi’a authorities do not tolerate such things.

    “Most surely your Lord is watching” [The Holy Quran 89:14]

    Naser Makarem-Shirazi
    June 22, 2016