Suspicious calls to disrupt mosque prayers condemned

Manama, June 17 (BNA): The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (SCIA) today condemned the anonymous and suspicious calls to disrupt the Friday and congregation prayers, stressing “they could not possible emanate from religious scholars genuinely committed to the tenets of Islam.” “Such calls are a blatant abuse of religious rituals that serves political agendas,” the SCIA said in a statement. The Council said that the odd and bizarre decision not to hold a major religious ritual was contrary to Islam and its clearly fixed provisions. This is a distortion of the religion that has never been witnessed by Muslims and a very curious initiative that not only politicizes the mosques and places of worship, but also desecrates their sanctity as well, the Council added. The statement said that disrupting prayers was a desperate and miserable attempt to disable mosques, stall their leading religious and social roles, degrade their significance and seek their ruin, all of which are among the greatest crimes and major sins unanimously condemned by all Muslims. The Council said it was shocked by the tendentious attempts that strive to involve citizens in the distorted and failed partisan projects. The statement stressed that the calls by some partisan movements to disrupt the Friday and congregation prayers in mosques, as a manifestation of political opposition to the government, indicated non-affiliation to Islam. The Council said that Bahrain has always provided great protection, constant care and endless support to the places of worship of all religions and sects, based on the directives of the country’s leaders, particularly HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. In its statement, the Council paid tribute to the religious scholars who refused to drag prayers and mosques in the midst of political blunders and refused to disrupt their mosques on Friday, a day that God considers as the best in the week, and during Ramadan, the month that God says is the greatest in the year. The Council also thanked the Muslims who refused to respond to the suspicious calls and headed to the mosques in a clear challenge to terrorism and incitement, seeking to please God the Almighty. The SCIA expressed its appreciation and gratitude to the security servicemen for their efforts to provide safe and secure environments for all worshippers in all mosques throughout Bahrain.