Bahraini Clerics Warn Against Targeting Shia Muslims
MEP: Topmost Bahraini clerics on Saturday have warned the regime against any attempts to undermine or target Shia Islam following reports that authorities were investigating funds held by Bahrain’s top Shia cleric.
The report came after a court suspended the main opposition Shia al-Wefaq group. That move was criticized by the United States and the United Nations.
The funds are linked to the Shia practice of Khums – a tax dating back to early Islam which followers pay to their highest religious authorities of their own free will for use in charities and other donations.
Four senior clerics including the top Shia Muslim authority, Ayatollah Isa Qassem stated in a statement that Khums represents a pillar of the Shia faith that has been collected as a duty for hundreds of years to spend in the service of Islam.
“The targeting of this duty under any name targets the (Shi’ite) sect, and amounts to a blatant assault on the freedom of sectarian practice which is guaranteed in accordance with the… Constitution and all international charters,” the statement said.
The Bahrain’s regime target comes after reports about an investigation of two Islamic charities linked to al-Wefaq and a bank account in the name of Ayatollah Isa Qassem.
