Union warns Iraqi government the consequences of assaulting protesters, calls Muslims for solidarity next Friday
IUMS warns the consequences of assaulting protesters, calls organizations to act, Muslims to support and Iraqis to unite
All praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon Muhammad, God’s messenger, and on his family, companions, and followers;
Ten years after the American invasion of Iraq, we can say that this invasion left behind an Iraqi state suffering a security breakdown as well as social and political fragmentation, to linger in a vicious circle of power conflict and sectarianism and miles away from building a country. The situation has also allowed neighboring countries to consolidate their power in Iraq through supporting like-minded factions so that Iraq now suffers a vague future due to rampant sectarianism.
The invasion has resulted in humanitarian tragedies that can be difficult to disregard. Today, Iraq has becomw home to several million orphans and widows. The use of internationally banned weapons in Iraq has lead - in addition to the intentional destruction of environment - to increased cancerous cases and the appearance of unprecedented cases of deformed birth. It is also impossible to overlook the tragic conditions of displaced Iraqis and Iraqi refugees who were forced to leave their homes due to the harsh conditions and varied forms of torture, deprivation and fragmentation.
The incidents befalling Iraq and its people during the last decade represent a unique case of silence by UN bodies regarding the committed crimes. It is undoubtedly time to take the necessary steps to question all those who contributed to the tragedy of Iraq and its people. No one should escape their punishment for crimes committed against their people since these crimes left a negative imprint on the souls of Iraqis who hoped for a better tomorrow but instead found themselves between the hammer and the anvil, left in the wind due to a state of severe division between the different Iraqi sects. The efforts of reconstruction launched amid high hopes in 2003 came down now to a swamp of corruption and mismanagement. Iraq became a fragile state, with limping institutions unable to provide the most basic services to its people, not to mention the deep-rooted corruption in its departments that went so far as to cause specialized international organizations to place it among the most corrupt countries in the world.
Today, and for three months now Sunnis in Iraq have continued their sit-ins in the open under the cold of winter and the blazing sun that becomes increasingly stinging as we move closer into summer. They stand calling for their legitimate rights as security forces form a curfew around their protest camping areas where they participate in the sit-in and protesting by fast. The explosion in Al-Hawija, that left dozens of deaths and injuries, lead to real fears based on trusted news sources from within and outside Iraq about Maliki government’s plans for a military attack on this protest in the rest of Sunni governorates which would lead to a sedition of immeasurable extent and drive Iraq into an even more dangerous whirlwind than the current situation.
In view of these harsh and critical conditions undergoing in Iraq, the International Union of Muslim Scholars states and affirms the following:
First: the union considers the cause of Iraq as its very own cause, and regards Iraq as home to the leadership of the Muslim nation for several centuries of the Abbasid era during which Iraq lead the Islamic and Arab civilization and culture.
Second: the union warns the Iraqi government the consequences of assaulting protesters camp, calls the government to break the siege around these protesters, and respond immediately to their demands since procrastination would only harm the interests of Iraq and its unity. The union also warns against resorting to sectarianism or adopting the security and military solution that would inevitably bring about a dangerous civil war of unpredictable hazards and ends in Iraq.
Third: the union urges all the constituents of the Iraqi people to come together, to remain aloof of anything that would stir sectarian seditions and struggle among them, to resolve all their disagreements through dialogue and to consider Iraq a home for everyone, to be managed by everyone, that no solitary sect or side can take all to itself and exclude the others. The union also stresses that all constituents must keep their agendas national and far from the influence of any regional or international side.
Fourth: the union warns all neighboring countries the consequences of interference in Iraqi affairs and utilizing sectarian or racial factors to pass their interference in a way that would contribute causing more friction among the constituents of this people who suffered for long years and who have the right to enjoy stability and development similar to all the nations of the region.
Fifth: the union warns the government in Iraq against massacres and crimes against humanity committed in the form of executions against innocent people in the absence of fair trials and by depriving them of their legitimate right to freedom. Hence, the union calls all civil society organizations and human rights organizations that have spared no effort to support Iraq and the Iraqi people to practice their noble role in defending the rights of thousands of innocent people confined in Iraqi prisons and rescue them before the time is out.
Sixth: the union stresses the prohibition of assaulting souls, possessions and places of worship including mosques and Hussainiat (Shiite shrines considered as places of worship), as definitive texts prove the impermissibility of such assault, in addition to the fact that such assault, particularly on mosques and Hussainiat, would inflame the friction and stir seditions.
Seventh: the union calls on the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to protect the Iraqi people and urges them to devote additional attention and support for Iraq in this troublesome period by responding to the peaceful popular protests and interacting with them through negotiations with the Iraqi government toward the aim of responding to the legitimate demands of protesters to bring Iraq back to its security, stability, unity and to playing its aspired role.
Eighth: the union calls Muslims in their entirety to support the Iraqi people and declare the coming Friday (16th Jumada Al-Akher, coinciding 26th April) as a day in solidarity with Iraq through devoting qunut supplication and prayer to them.
In the conclusion, we ask Allah, the Sublimely Exalted and All Powerful, to safeguard Iraq, its people, its unity, and to grant its people the wisdom and good measure, to spare them overt and covert seditions, for He is All Hearing and Responsive.
And from Allah is all assistance!
Doha: 14 Jumada Al-Akher 1434 H
Dated: 24 April 2013
Dr. Ali Al-Qaradaghi Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi
IUMS Secretary General IUMS President