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Tag: Saudi Arabia

  • Saudi Arabia Keluar Fatwa Untuk Jelaskan Mengapa Islam Harus Tolak IS

    Saudi Arabia Keluar Fatwa Untuk Jelaskan Mengapa Islam Harus Tolak IS

    RIYADH: Kepimpinan kanan ulama Arab Saudi telah mengeluarkan fatwa baru yang mengisytiharkan pengganasan sebagai “jenayah kejam” di bawah undang-undang syariah – yang merupakan satu lagi komitmen kerajaan Saudi untuk menolak IS dan kekejaman militan itu kononnya sebagai perjuangan atas nama Islam.

    “Pengganasan adalah bertentangan dengan tujuan agama Islam, iaitu membawa rahmat di seluruh dunia.

    “Pengganasan tidak ada kaitannya dengan Islam dan merupakan ideologi yang menyimpang.

    “Pengganasan tidak lebih daripada hanya kerosakan dan jenayah yang ditolak oleh undang-undang syariah dan akal budi,” kata para ulama dalam kenyataan yang dilaporkan Saudi Press Agency, seperti yang ditukil akhbar The Guardian.

    Sebarang Muslim yang berfikir bahawa jihad bermakna menyertai kumpulan pengganas “merupakan golongan yang bodoh dan tersesat,” tambah kumpulan ulama itu.

    Kewaspadaan Arab Saudi tentang militan IS kini semakin kuat sejak beberapa bulan kebelakangan ini.

    Raja Abdullah telah menggesa majlis ulama – badan agama negara itu – supaya bergerak lebih cepat mengutuk pengganasan dan mengurangkan tarikan kepada IS selepas Arab Saudi dan sembilan negara Arab lain menyertai perikatan antarabangsa yang dipimpin Amerika Syarikat untuk memerangi IS di Iraq dan Syria.

    Putera Mohammed bin Nayef, Menteri Dalam Negeri Arab Saudi, digambarkan di Riyadh sebagai penggerak utama di sebalik strategi dengan keselamatan dalam negeri dan dasar serantau diselaraskan dengan lebih berkesan bagi menangani IS.

    Februari lalu, Arab Saudi telah memerintahkan hukuman penjara bagi orang yang menyokong pertubuhan pengganas atau membuat perjalanan ke Syria atau Iraq bagi menyertai IS.

    Awal September lalu, 88 orang telah diberkas kerana menyokong Al-Qaeda dan pemimpin IS, Abu Bakar al-Bagdadi.

    Rakyat Arab Saudi kini membentuk kontinjen kedua terbesar pejuang Arab yang berjuang bersama IS.

    Arab Saudi sebelum ini dikejutkan dengan kritikan bahawa negara itu menyokong IS walaupun para pengamat berkata sokongan kewangan yang diberikan Arab Saudi adalah bagi kumpulan Islam yang menentang Presiden Syria, Encik Bashar al-Assad.

    Namun beberapa pihak berkata bantuan itu akhirnya mengalir kepada kumpulan yang dikaitkan dengan Al-Qaeda dan IS.

    Selepas menewaskan Al-Qaeda dalam kempen anti keganasan pada 2004, kerajaan Arab Saudi bimbang dengan kesan rakyat Arab Saudi yang pulang selepas berjuang di Syria dan Iraq.

    Sementara itu, Mufti Besar Arab Saudi, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Asheikh, memberi amaran bahawa musuh Islam kini menggunakan laman web sosial seperti Twitter untuk menyebarkan perkara palsu tentang Islam selain menyerang penganutnya.

    Portal berita Arab News melaporkan Sheikh Abdul Aziz meminta penduduk Arab Saudi yang menggunakan Twitter supaya berfikir terlebih dahulu sebelum menyiarkan apa-apa di akaun mereka.

    Beliau menggesa penduduk Arab Saudi agar memastikan apa yang disiarkan di akaun mereka akan menjaga kepentingan negara dan tidak memburukkan pemerintah negara ini.

    “Mereka yang memburukkan Islam tanpa malu tidak mempunyai sebarang pegangan dan tidak takut kepada Tuhan,” katanya dalam satu rancangan televisyen.

    Beliau berkata, Twitter menjadi laman web yang mempromosikan pelbagai jenis “kejahatan dan kerosakan”.

    “Penggunaan yang baik adalah apabila orang ramai yang menggunakan laman web itu mendapat faedah, namun sebaliknya mereka menggunakannya bagi perkara bukan-bukan,” jelasnya. – Agensi berita.

    “Pengganasan adalah bertentangan dengan tujuan agama Islam, iaitu membawa rahmat di seluruh dunia. Pengganasan tidak ada kaitannya dengan Islam dan merupakan ideologi yang menyimpang.”

    – Fatwa kepimpinan kanan ulama Arab Saudi.

     

    Source: www.beritaharian.sg

  • Saudi Arabia: Plans to Move Tomb of Prophet Muhammad May Spark Unrest

    Saudi Arabia: Plans to Move Tomb of Prophet Muhammad May Spark Unrest

    One of Islam’s most revered holy sites – the tomb of the Prophet Mohamed – could be destroyed and his body removed to an anonymous grave under plans which threaten to spark discord across the Muslim world.

    The controversial proposals are part of a consultation document by a leading Saudi academic which has been circulated among the supervisors of al-Masjid al-Nabawi mosque in Medina, where the remains of the Prophet are housed under the Green Dome, visited by millions of pilgrims and venerated as Islam’s second-holiest site. The formal custodian of the mosque is Saudi Arabia’s ageing monarch King Abdullah.

    The plans, brought to light by another Saudi academic who has exposed and criticised the destruction of holy places and artefacts in Mecca – the holiest site in the Muslim world – call for the destruction of chambers around the Prophet’s grave which are particularly venerated by Shia Muslims.

    The 61-page document also calls for the removal of Mohamed’s remains to the nearby al-Baqi cemetery, where they would be interred anonymously.

    There is no suggestion that any decision has been taken to act upon the plans. The Saudi government has in the past insisted that it treats any changes to Islam’s holiest sites with “the utmost seriousness”.

    But such is the importance of the mosque to both Sunni and Shia Muslims that Dr Irfan al-Alawi warned that any attempt to carry out the work could spark unrest. It also runs the risk of inflaming sectarian tensions between the two branches of Islam, already running perilously high due to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

    Hardline Saudi clerics have long preached that the country’s strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam – an offshoot of the Sunni tradition – prohibits the worship of any object or “saint”, a practice considered “shirq” or idolatrous.

    Dr Alawi, director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, told The Independent: “People visit the chambers, which are the rooms where the Prophet’s family lived, and turn towards the burial chamber to pray.

    “Now they want to prevent pilgrims from attending and venerating the tomb because they believe this is shirq, or idolatry. But the only way they can stop people visiting the Prophet is to get him out and into the cemetery.”

    For centuries Muslim pilgrims have made their way to Mecca in order to visit the Kaaba – a black granite cubed building said to be built by Abraham, around which al-Masjid al-Haram, or the Grand Mosque, is built, and towards which every Muslim faces when they pray.

    This pilgrimage, or hajj, is a religious duty that has to be carried out at least once in a lifetime.

    Many go on to make their way to the nearby city of Medina to pay their respects at the Prophet’s tomb.

    Al-Nabawi mosque around the tomb has been expanded by generations of Arabian rulers, particularly the Ottomans. It includes hand-painted calligraphy documenting details of the Prophet’s life and his family. Dr Alawi said the plans also call for these to be destroyed as well as the Green Dome which covers the Prophet’s tomb.

    The Prophet is venerated by both branches of Islam, Sunni and Shia. The strict Wahhabi sect is a branch of the Sunni faith, however, and removing the Prophet could further inflame tensions between the two groups .

    The current  crisis in Iraq has been blamed on the Shia former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s sectarianism, which alienated the Sunni, leading to the uprising. Isis, also known as Islamic State, which holds swathes of Iraq and Syria, and which murdered the American journalist James Foley, is a Sunni organisation.

    Mainstream Sunni Muslims would be just as aghast at any desecration of the tomb as the Shia, Dr Alawi said.

    The Independent has previously revealed how the multibillion-pound expansion of the Grand Mosque has, according to the Washington-based Gulf Institute, led to the destruction of up to 95 per cent of Mecca’s millennium-old buildings. They have been replaced with luxury  hotels, apartments and  shopping malls.

    King Abdullah has appointed the prominent Wahhabi cleric and imam of the Grand Mosque, Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, to oversee the expansion project – necessary to cope with the huge number of pilgrims who now visit each year.

    Dr Alawi says the consultation document for the al-Nabawi mosque in Medina, by the leading Saudi academic Dr Ali bin Abdulaziz al-Shabal of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, has been circulated to the Committee of the Presidency of the Two Mosques.

    Several pages of the consultation document have just been published in the presidency’s journal. They call for the destruction of the rooms surrounding the tomb – used by the Prophet’s wives and daughters, and venerated by the Shia because of their association with his youngest daughter, Fatima.

    The document also calls for the Green Dome, which covers the tomb and these living quarters, to be removed, and the ultimate removal of the Prophet’s body to a nearby cemetery.

    The al-Baqi cemetery already contains the bodies of many of the Prophet’s family, including his father who was removed there in the 1970s, Dr Alawi said. In 1924 all the grave markers were removed, so pilgrims would not know who was buried there, and so be unable to pray to them.

    “The Prophet would be anonymous,” Dr  Alawi added. “Everything around the Prophet’s mosque has already been destroyed. It is surrounded by bulldozers. Once they’ve removed everything they can move towards the mosque. The imam is likely to say there is a need to expand the mosque and do it that way, while the world’s eyes are on Iraq and Syria. The Prophet Mohamed’s grave is venerated by the mainstream Sunni, who would never do it. It is just as important for the Shia too, who venerate the Prophet’s daughter, Fatima.

    “I’m sure there will be shock across the Muslim world at these revelations. It will cause outrage.”

    The Independent was unable to contact the Saudi Arabian embassy, but it said in a statement last year: “The development of the Holy Mosque of Makkah al-Mukarramah [Mecca] is an extremely important subject and one which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in its capacity as custodian of the two holy mosques, takes with the utmost seriousness. This role is at the heart of the principles upon which Saudi Arabia is founded.”

    Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudis-risk-new-muslim-division-with-proposal-to-move-mohameds-tomb-9705120.html

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  • Yaacob Ibrahim Warns SG Muslim Pilgrims of MERS Virus

    umrah-2014
    Credit: http://www.euroafricatravel.co.uk/

    SINGAPORE: Stick to guidelines put forward by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) about the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), said Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim.

    Dr Yaacob was advising those headed to Saudi Arabia for the mini pilgrimage or umrah.

    The guidelines include vaccination against common infections like the flu, and minimising interaction with live animals like camels.

    “Ultimately, if you don’t feel well, and you feel this is not the right time for you to go, you may want to consider whether or not it’s the right time for you to go.

    “We must not forget that this is not just about our health and our family, but the entire community. Because if you come back and you bring back the virus, you can affect other people here in Singapore. So there is a certain degree of responsibility,” said Dr Yaacob, who is also Communications and Information Minister.

    He added that his other concern will be for the fasting period of Ramadan, when many pilgrims may want to spend the whole month in Saudi Arabia.

    Credit: Channel NewsAsia Singapore
    Credit: Channel NewsAsia Singapore

    A few hundred Singaporeans will leave for Mecca on Sunday, after having secured visas from the Saudi authorities.

    The vice president of the Muslim Travel Agents Association is currently in Saudi Arabia to appeal for 2,500 visas for Singapore pilgrims who have booked tour packages for next month.

    Earlier this month, the visa application process for Singapore was momentarily slowed due to concerns about the large number of pilgrims in Mecca, while redevelopment work was in full swing.

    Mr Agil Alkaff, one of the members of the Muslim Travel Agents Association and director of Hagel Travel, is now relieved, as most pilgrims under his care have received their visas to visit Mecca in the past few days.

    Last week, he told them to be prepared to cancel their trip, if their visa application was rejected.

    He is still waiting for 60 more applications to be approved.

    Another travel agency, Shahidah Travel, is also relieved that 120 of its pilgrims are due to depart on Saturday after getting their visas.

    However, another 300 of the agency’s clients are still without visas.

    As a precautionary measure against the MERS virus, all Singapore pilgrims departing for Saudi Arabia have also taken up additional medical insurance, which includes coverage for all emergencies while in Saudi, as well as after their return to Singapore.

     

    Source: CNA

  • ‘Greater Israel’: Zionist Expansion Plans in the Middle East

    The Infamous Oded Yinon Plan

    Global Research Editor’s Note

    The following document pertaining to the formation of “Greater Israel” constitutes the cornerstone of powerful Zionist factions within the current Netanyahu government, the Likud party, as well as within the Israeli military and intelligence establishment.

    According to the founding father of Zionism Theodore Herzl, “the area of the Jewish State stretches: “From the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates.”  According to Rabbi Fischmann,  “The Promised Land extends from the River of Egypt up to the Euphrates, it includes parts of Syria and Lebanon.”

    When viewed in the current context, the war on Iraq, the 2006 war on Lebanon, the 2011 war on Libya, the ongoing war on Syria, not to mention the process of regime change in Egypt, must be understood in relation to the Zionist Plan for the Middle East. The latter consists in weakening and eventually fracturing neighboring Arab states as part of an Israeli expansionist project.

    “Greater Israel” consists in an area extending from the Nile Valley to the Euphrates.

    The Zionist project supports the Jewish settlement movement. More broadly it involves a policy of excluding Palestinians from Palestine leading to the eventual annexation of both the West Bank and Gaza to the State of Israel.

    Greater Israel would create a number of proxy States. It would include parts of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the Sinai, as well as parts of  Iraq and Saudi Arabia. (See map).

    According to Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya in a 2011 Global Research article,   The Yinon Plan was a continuation of Britain’s colonial design in the Middle East:

    “[The Yinon plan] is an Israeli strategic plan to ensure Israeli regional superiority. It insists and stipulates that Israel must reconfigure its geo-political environment through the balkanization of the surrounding Arab states into smaller and weaker states.

    Israeli strategists viewed Iraq as their biggest strategic challenge from an Arab state. This is why Iraq was outlined as the centerpiece to the balkanization of the Middle East and the Arab World. In Iraq, on the basis of the concepts of the Yinon Plan, Israeli strategists have called for the division of Iraq into a Kurdish state and two Arab states, one for Shiite Muslims and the other for Sunni Muslims. The first step towards establishing this was a war between Iraq and Iran, which the Yinon Plan discusses.

    The Atlantic, in 2008, and the U.S. military’s Armed Forces Journal, in 2006, both published widely circulated maps that closely followed the outline of the Yinon Plan. Aside from a divided Iraq, which the Biden Plan also calls for, the Yinon Plan calls for a divided Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria. The partitioning of Iran, Turkey, Somalia, and Pakistan also all fall into line with these views. The Yinon Plan also calls for dissolution in North Africa and forecasts it as starting from Egypt and then spilling over into Sudan, Libya, and the rest of the region.

    Greater Israel” requires the breaking up of the existing Arab states into small states.

    “The plan operates on two essential premises. To survive, Israel must 1) become an imperial regional power, and 2) must effect the division of the whole area into small states by the dissolution of all existing Arab states. Small here will depend on the ethnic or sectarian composition of each state. Consequently, the Zionist hope is that sectarian-based states become Israel’s satellites and, ironically, its source of moral legitimation…  This is not a new idea, nor does it surface for the first time in Zionist strategic thinking. Indeed, fragmenting all Arab states into smaller units has been a recurrent theme.” (Yinon Plan, see below)

    Viewed in this context, the war on Syria is part of the process of Israeli territorial expansion. Israeli intelligence working hand in glove with the US, Turkey and NATO is directly supportive of the Al Qaeda terrorist mercenaries inside Syria.

    The Zionist Project also requires the destabilization of Egypt, the creation of factional divisions within Egypt as instrumented by the “Arab Spring” leading to the formation of a sectarian based State dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, March 3, 2013

    Source: http://bit.ly/1c4iWob