Sunni Elites Decry Demolition of Pounak Prayer-room in Tehran

Sunni Elites Decry Demolition of Pounak Prayer-room in Tehran

After demolition of Pounak prayer-room of Sunnis in Tehran by the municipality and with the support of security forces, Sunni elites, figures and institutions strongly announced their reaction.
“SunniOnline” reports, the Sunni elites condemned the incident and asked for re-establishment of the prayer-room and permission of building Sunni Masjids in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Mawlana Abdol-Hamid: Religious fanaticism caused the demolition of the prayer-room
The outstanding Iranian Sunni leader, Mawlana Abdol-Hamid has sent separate letters to the Supreme Leader and the President, expressing his regret over the destruction of the Sunni prayer – room, located in Pounak town in Tehran. He called for ‘urgent consideration’ to the problem.
The outstanding Iranian Sunni leader, in a letter written to Dr. Rouhani, has stated, “Intolerance of a small prayer-room and its destruction does not hurt just the feelings of the Iranian Sunnis, but it also harrows the feeling of all Muslims around the world. This measure caused just the satisfaction of narrow-minded, dogmatic elements and extremists. Neither the satisfaction of the Lord has been considered nor the interests of the Islamic Republic and the unity of Muslim Ummah were in the notice”.
Besides, Mawlana Abdul-Hamid clearly has stated his position on this issue in an interview with Radio Zamaneh. He made a complaint that the senior officials have not answered their letters at all. Just due to religious fanaticism, they could not stand the prayer-room of Sunnis on account of some elements.
Talking to tens of thousands worshipers in Zahedan, Iran, on Friday, July 31, where he said, “Offenders in the case of the demolition of Sunni Prayer-room must be rebuked. He also demanded permission for reestablishment of the Prayer-room.

Mawlana Gorgij: Prayer with congregation in homes is not a crime
Mawlana Mohammad Hussein Gorgij, Friday Imam of Sunnis in Azadshahr, Golestan province, during his Friday sermon stated, “Prayer (Salah) is a part of our religious rituals; religious calamity or disaster is unbearable for us. It is our religious and legal right that we should be allowed to have our own mosques or worship places wherever we need. Some official elements are defaming the Republic Islamic of Iran.”
“The question is that in which law it has been written that prayer with the congregation in residential units is a crime? This measure just defamed the officials; it could not resolve any problem of the state,” the prominent scholar in the northern region added more.

Mawlana Mohammad Osman: Gov. must resolve the issue of Pounak Prayer-room
Issuing a statement, the rector of Madinat-ul-Uloom Khash expressed his deep grief over the incident. Khateeb of Khash, a city in Baluchistan of Iran more said, “It is not fit for authorities to destroy a worship place, at all.”
“Which major crime is committed in Prayer-rooms that make their demolition obliged?! The government soon must find a real and proper remedy for it,” he underlined.

Mawlana Shahbakhsh: Restrictions against Sunnis must be removed
Criticizing strongly the demolition of Pounak Prayer-room in Tehran, Mawlana Abdurrasheed Shahbakhsh, Friday Imam of Sunnis in Zabol city considered the establishment of mosques in the capital for Sunnis a necessity.
The rector of Miftah-ul-Uloom seminary of Zabol issued a statement and said, “Offering prayer is the certain right of every individual and governments should pave the path for construction of worship places. On the contrary, they have destroyed our Prayer-room; it is really regretful and surprising. The Sunnis of ‘Sistan’ like the other Sunnis call for ending the current religious restrictions against the Sunni community in Iran.”

Mawlana Naqshbandi: Destruction of Prayer-room is contrary to the law and Shari’ah
Mawlana Fathi Mohammad Naqshbandi, Friday Imam of Sunnis in Raask, Baluchistan, during his sermon expressed his regret over the demolition of Pounak Prayer-room and called it against the law and Shari’ah.
Mawlana Naqshbandi, who has just been released out of the prison recently, said, “As the parliament approved, every individual has the right to adopt a Prayer-room in his house or offer prayer with the congregation there. Therefore, the demolition of the Prayer-room is totally against the parliament’s legal act.”

Dr. Jalal Jalalizadeh: We feel embarrassed instead of the officials
Dr. Jalal Jalalizadeh, a Sunni Kurdish professor at Tehran University, in an interview knew the demolition of central prayer-room of Sunnis in Tehran “very painful” and said, “If Sunnis possess a mosque in Tehran, it [Existence of mosques for Sunnis in Tehran] will be neither against the constitution nor contrary to national interests. Tehran is the only capital in the world where Sunnis do not have any mosque. We are all astonished in this regard.”
He said, “Shias do find anyone for mourning in their Husseiniyas, so they rent panegyrists (Maddah/Zakir) on hire to mourn there. On the other hand, the Sunnis want to establish prayers, but there is no any mosque or prayer room easily available for them. In fact, we feel shy instead of the government.”

Kaak Hassan Amini: Demolition of Pounak prayer-room by sectarian slogans was outlawed
A prominent Kurd scholar, Kaak Hassan Amini, visited the place on Sunday, August 2, 2015 and expressed his sympathy with the imam of the room.
He, then issued a statement, and said, “The municipality claims that the Act 100 has been executed in Pounak; the question arises where they executed this act by chanting sectarian slogans like ‘Ya Zahra’, ‘Ya Ali’ and other yells? They entered the houses of people and horrified women and children without showing any judicial permission.”
The mufti in Kurdistan further said, “Who were those destroyers and who supported them; they did not answer the questions of Zahedan’s represented in the parliament when he reached to the spot. They called neighbors to sign on a letter that this prayer-room was disturbing them and blamed the prayer-room belongs to the ‘Wahhabis’ and ‘Daesh’ (ISIS); only one person signed on their letter.”
It is noteworthy, apart from these elites; other different classes of the community also denounced the incident strongly in their statements. Dr. Abdussalam Bozorgzadeh, Baloch female activist, Saeedeh Khashi, Mawlana Sayyid Ibrahim Fadhel Hussieni, Mawlana Abdur-Rahman Chabahari and some seminaries expressed their regret over the incident, too.

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