Shrine of Imam Ali (AS) belongs to all humanity: Iran

[seemslikeadream]

TEHRAN (MNA) -- Iran on Sunday announced that the sanctity of the shrine of Imam Ali (AS) in Najaf should be protected at all costs and that the issue is not just a matter of concern for the Islamic world but for all humanity.

The shrine of Imam Ali (AS) belongs to the Islamic community and all human beings and if its sanctity is not respected it will set a bad precedent for the desecration of the holy places of all religions, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told reporters at his weekly news briefing.

Defending the sanctity of the shrine is an Islamic and humanitarian duty and that is why President Mohammad Khatami asked the Malaysian prime minister to call an urgent meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi has also called for a meeting of the neighboring states to assess the situation and stop the bloodshed in Iraq, Asefi added.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman said the attack on the holy shrine is totally unacceptable and unjustified.

more
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=8/23/2004&Cat=2&Num=011

Thanks Windy

[Windy]

1. You're welcome

This is an important article.

[Cocoa]

2. the Bushies don't care about any of that

unless the sacred item is small enough to smuggle out of the country and sell later.

[Inland]

3. will Bush get the religious war his followers want?

[Windy]

4. Unfortunately, I think its inevitable.

sadly....

[liberalmuse]

5. Yeah, well...

I hope Allah smites the smug-ass little fucker if he indeed destroys this magnificent building. Oh, and I hope the 'Christians' are prepared to see Israel reduced to rubble in the very near future because 'an eye for an eye' seems to still stand in all of the Abramic religions.

[Cheswick2.0]

17. How are they going to reduce Israel to rubble?

Does Iran have nuclear weapons ready to go? Will they use them knowing both Israel and the US will retaliate?

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. The mosque in Najaf is one of the most beautiful in the whole world

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2251118

Why is Bu$h and his Xtians so determined to destroy it?

[Karenina]

7. The same reason

they protected the Oil Ministry and allowed the museun to be looted, the archeological digs to be destroyed (BY AMERICANS) and are currently rolling tanks over a graveyard. :eyes: NO RESPECT.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Actually, it's called genocide

destroying a people's culture is one of the hallmarks of genocide.

[H2O Man]

8. He knows not what he is doing......

Bush is representative of the unconscious evil potential of humanity. Yes, he is a liar .... he knows he is lying, but he justifies it in his own mind. He's vain and cruel and has all the other negative attributes that make him such an unappealing character. Yet deep down, he believes he is right. He thinks he's doing the correct thing .... "God's will".... He is an organic robot, with no more free will than an alligator in a swamp that poses a threat to the safety of anything that goes near it. Sometimes I think that his "religion" is a virus, or a moral rabies.

I've worked for decades in the northeast, trying to save the sacred sites of Native peoples' that date back hundreds and even thousands of years. And, although there are some successes, there are more times when a mound becomes the gravel used in blacktop for a highway, or used to "cap" a SuperFund Site. It's part of the unconscious collective's assault on the sacred, just as this attack on the shrine.

I had an e-mail from a good friend today, who said she hates Bush more today than she did yesterday. Yet hatred only fuels the unconscious destructive force. I keep thinking about King's words from "Beyond Vietnam" : "Somehow this madness must stop."

Maybe it is getting to be time for a small grooup of dedicated people to go to Washington DC and pray and meditate and fast. Something to make people slow down and think. The anger and hatred needs to stop.

[PATRICK]

9. A story about a priest near Berchtesgarten

who would come out each day from abode, face Hitler's vacation retreat, and perform the rites of exorcism. I don't know about the efficacy, but the secret lonely gesture still means more than empty-headed defeated overlords who brought ruin on the world.

[H2O Man]

12. I like that ....

We have a nice sweat lodge on our property, back in the woods. Sometimes I prefer to sit there and think than to sit at the computer and write letters to congressional "leaders" .....

[Karenina]

16. Beyond Viet Nam

Somehow this madness must stop.

[demoman123]

10. Notice that Iran is calling for a meeting, not threatening retaliation.

This is not saber rattling.

[H2O Man]

13. interesting point.....

yet the bush administration will view it as a "threatening" move on their part. I'm reminded of a quote from St. Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theological: "They are provoked to anger and aggression, which are virile passions. These make a man think he is in danger of suffering some future evil. When men are so disposed, they do not have mercy on others. Likewise the proud do not have mercy because they dispise others and look upon them as evil, taking it for granted that these people deserve to suffer whatever they have to suffer."

[nolabels]

14. It takes someone without Humanity to try destroy others'

Sounds like one of those type of issues again. Don't suffer such people, it makes it easier if you keep yours about you

[Dancing_Dave]

15. presence of foreign forces and the occupation are root of all Iraq problem

Perhaps the most significant words in the piece were:

"Of course, the presence of foreign forces and the continued occupation are the roots of all the problems in Iraq, he added."

So that's what they'll work to end.

That's what we should work to end too.