Columnist ready to face action for comments
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/02/08/10102682.html
02/08/2007 08:32 PM | By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: A Bahraini columnist yesterday vowed not to apologise for harsh comments he published against the head of the Congregation of Shiite Scholars in Kuwait, saying that he was ready to face the threat of legal action.
The standoff now risks stoking sectarian tensions that have recently marred Bahrain’s social and political life.
Writing in Akhbar Al Khaleej, controversial Sunni Islamist Hafedh Al Shaikh last week said the comments of Kuwaiti Shiite leader Mohammad Baqer Al Mahri about a prominent scholar Shaikh Yousuf Al Qaradawi were like “the buzzing of flies feeding on the carcasses of dead animals”. He also accused the Shiite leader of possessing “a heart filled with deep hatred for Sunnis”.
Columnist ready to face action for comments
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/02/08/10102682.html
02/08/2007 08:32 PM | By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: A Bahraini columnist yesterday vowed not to apologise for harsh comments he published against the head of the Congregation of Shiite Scholars in Kuwait, saying that he was ready to face the threat of legal action.
The standoff now risks stoking sectarian tensions that have recently marred Bahrain’s social and political life.
Writing in Akhbar Al Khaleej, controversial Sunni Islamist Hafedh Al Shaikh last week said the comments of Kuwaiti Shiite leader Mohammad Baqer Al Mahri about a prominent scholar Shaikh Yousuf Al Qaradawi were like “the buzzing of flies feeding on the carcasses of dead animals”. He also accused the Shiite leader of possessing “a heart filled with deep hatred for Sunnis”.
Al Shaikh wrote the comment after Al Mahri on January 25 called for the removal of Al Qaradawi as head of the Federation of Muslim Scholars, accusing him of spreading dissent among Muslims.
“Al Qaradawi is tense and imbalanced and is easily influenced by groups that have brainwashed him. He has now started to doubt texts that are approved by both Sunnis and Shiites. Whoever holds this position must represent everyone, and not incite one sect against the other,” Al Mahri said in a statement to the press.
“We affirm that the interest of Islam and bridging the gap between its sects require dismissing this man who only embraces radical views that do not serve the interests of Muslims,” the Shiite leader said.
“Al Qaradawi described Saddam Hussain as a martyr and has been attacking the presence of US troops in Kuwait, but has said nothing about the US army in Qatar,” he said in a statement carried by Asharq Al Awsat newspaper.
Al Qaradawi had earlier, at a conference in Doha, accused Shiites of harbouring militias that killed and displaced Sunnis in Iraq and condemned what he described as “attempts to covert Sunnis into Shiites” in countries that were predominantly Sunni.
But now the ramifications of the sectarian split have reached Bahrain and Al Mahri wants Al Shaikh to apologise publicly for his disparaging remarks or face legal action.
“Reaching the stars in the sky is closer to reality than me offering an apology,” said the columnist known for his close links with the Muslim Brotherhood.
“I based my comments on the news stories and press reports about the statements by Al Mahri and I am ready to face the public prosecution in case they summon me,” said Al Shaikh in a statement to the local press.
Al Mahri in January came under fire in Kuwait from the Alliance of Islamic Principles, a hardline Sunni group, and Salafi Islamist MP Ali Al Omair for allegedly saying in a television interview that the bombings that came at the height of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war in the state were “patriotic” in nature.
“What happened in the past was patriotic because Shiites in Kuwait were aware that Saddam Hussain was a criminal and that he was going to invade Kuwait,” Al Mahri was quoted as saying.
