Paris, November 17: Dozens of Saudi clerics called for beating Shiite “aggressors” with an iron fist, condemning “what Iran is doing to destabilize Muslim countries” against the backdrop of the ongoing war with Yemen’s Shiite rebels south of the oil-rich Kingdom.
Between the Wahabbis’ hammer
The statement, signed by 46 senior clerics and preachers, accused Iran of sending its agents to Muslim countries and supporting them financially and militarily in a bid to destabilize them and disseminate Shiism.
“Iran’s project is a tool to destabilize security and stability, which is a dangerous precedent and one of the greatest forms of corruption on earth,” warned the statement.
“Therefore, Muslims must be cautious and alert, fight the Shiite current and spread the Sunni doctrine.”
The clerics called for stopping these Shiite aggressors, especially if the aggressor is led by a Shiite hand that seeks to win a new pagan in the Holy Land.
They accused Iran of seeking to export the Rafidite doctrine (Rafidah is a name that was used by some Muslim communities to call some Shiites for refusing Zaid bin Ali’s Imamate).
Among the signatories of the statement, Sheikh Nasser bin Suleiman Omr, general supervisor of The Muslim website and Sheikh Suleiman bin Hamad Awda, a faculty member at the University of Qassim and an imam and preacher.
The statement’s release coincided with warnings issued by some Friday sermon preachers in Saudi Arabia, denouncing what they called a “dangerous role” played by the Yemen’s Shiite rebels (also called Huthis) in their war against the kingdom.
The preachers considered Saudi soldiers’ war against Huthis as “jihad for the sake of God” against the “infiltrating gang” and “the deviant group”, according to Saudi newspapers.
Liberals’ support
The liberal Saudi website “montdiatna”,” published an article of some liberal writers calling for the seizure of Huthi women who fall in captivity in connection with the armed conflict between Saudi forces and Huthi “infiltrators”.
However, the website deleted the article after the website of a pro-Shiite Saudi news agency published a report about the call for the capture.
Many journalists and writers have been accusing – since the start of the sixth round of open armed conflict between Yemeni forces and Huthi fighters last August – Iran of providing direct logistical support, training and weapons to Yemeni rebels in a bid to achieve strategic goals, including the extension of its influence in the Horn of Africa region in particular and the Red Sea in general.
Some prominent Saudi Shiite figures, including the moderate leader Sheikh Hassan bin Mussa al-Saffar, denounced the “aggression” on the kingdom and stressed their full support of the leadership against any aggression.”
Nevertheless, many readers questioned the loyalty of Shiites to the homeland.
“Do not believe in these things. Take your precautions, you sons of the Arabian Peninsula, from Iran’s tails,” said one reader.
“They show the opposite of what they mean. Take your precautions from the hypocrites,” he added.
No to discrimination
Many readers rejected Saudi Arabia’s war on Huthis as one of them asked: “Why do we differentiate in dealing with the sectarianism when it is imposed on us as Shiites living in Qatif and Al Ihsa, and when this sectarianism is against Huthis or Iraqi Shiites or Egyptian Shiites or Iranian Shiites?”
Another wrote: “Saudi authorities closed down our mosques and prevented us from praying. Standing with the regime’s sectarianism against Huthis in the name of patriotism, which is denied to us by those who claim the country’s ownership, will make us the first victims of this sectarian war and genocide.”
Coinciding with the war on Huthi “infiltrators”, web-based Shiite Rasid news network is reporting almost daily Saudi security arrests of young men from the Shiite community in the predominantly-Shiite Eastern Region under the pretext of participating in the revival of the birth of Imam Al-Hassan last September.
Rasid also reported the closure of Shiite mosques and prevention of Shiite citizens from performing prayers in congregation.
As military operations continue against “infiltrators”, most Saudi newspapers continue to condemn Huthis, considering them Iran’s affiliates or allies.
No to marginalisation
Under the title “The Untold Story of the Huthi Question and Other Matters”, liberal writer Turki Hamad asked: “Why such movements cooperate with a country like Iran at the expense of national interest?”
“The solution lies in a key point. I think it is the incubator of all the solutions that come after it: A modern state that keeps us away from the concept of the traditional Arab state (…) the modern state is based on justice, equality and the rule of law in a framework of equal citizenship, and deals with the individual on the basis of citizenship only,” said Hamad
“Otherwise, violence or falling into the stranger’s arms is only a matter of time,” he added.