Hadrat Fatima Zahra (A.S.) the Leader of the Women in Paradise, The only Daughter of the Holy Prophet of Islam (S.A.W.), The Holy Prophet of Islam’s Beloved and the Infallible Lady of Islam, The Mother of the Leaders of Youth of Paradise: Imam Hasan(A.S.) and Imam Husain(A.S.) was born on 20th Jamadi al-Thani five years after the revelation to the Holy Prophet of Islam(S.A.W.).

Hadrat Fatima Zahra (A.S.) completely resembled the Holy Prophet of Islam (S.A.W.). Holy Prophet of Islam (S.A.W.) considered her the part and parcel of his life, and used to say repeatedly, “Fatima (A.S.) is a piece of me, whosoever troubles her he has troubled me, and whoever make her happy has pleased me.” On this Joyous and Auspicious Occasion which is also commemorated as “Mother’s Day” by the 1800 Million Muslims in the world, we extend our Happy Greetings and Felicitations to the Muslim Ummah and the followers and lovers of the Holy Ahlul Bayt(A.S.) in the world.

The grand structure of the thousand-year old al-Azhar University and Mosque stands majestically across the Nile River in the Egyptian capital Cairo. Like the Nile, it is the symbol of Egypt. Al-Azhar was built in 359 AH by the Shi’ite Muslim Fatemid dynasty that claimed descent from Hazrat Fatema az-Zahra (peace upon her) the immaculate daughter of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). Hence, Azhar is a derivative of Zahra which means the Radiant in Arabic. Over two hundred years later after its foundation al-Azhar along with Cairo and the whole of Egypt fell to the Kurdish invader Salaheddin Ayyoubi, who despite his expelling of the Crusaders from Bayt al-Moqaddas, persecuted Shi’ite Muslims and weakened the status of al-Azhar as the leading centre of Islamic teachings. Like the Mongols, who ravaged the eastern Islamic lands and destroyed the written heritage of Muslims, the Ayyoubids also burned hundreds of thousands of books in Cairo and other cities because of their prejudice towards the followers of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household. Thereafter, al-Azhar turned into a centre of Sunni teachings, especially following the fall of Muslim Spain to the Christians that made the scholars of Andalusia flock to Egypt. Gradually, over the centuries, al-Azhar emerged as a centre of different sciences but it was soon to lose its independent status. In 1954, Egyptian ruler, Jamal Abdun-Nasser, seized the control of al-Azhar and ended its independence by placing it under direct control of the state with the power to appoint and dismiss its Dean. Ever since al-Azhar has became a tool of ruling Egyptian regimes.

However, despite state control al-Azhar’s international fame has remained as students and scholars from various countries come to Egypt to learn. It started branching into other fields of science in the early 1950s before the state takeover, especially when the then Dean Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltout founded the colleges of medicine, technology and science. His other measure was setting up of a special centre of learning for female students at al-Azhar. Another important measure of Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltout was to strengthen Islamic unity by recognizing the Ja’fari or Shi’ite Muslim jurisprudence as one of the five mainstream schools of Islam. It is also interesting to note that in the 1920s and 1930s the then Dean of al-Azhar, Sheikh Hasan al-Bishri, had a long correspondence with Lebanon’s famous Shi’ite Muslim scholar, Allamah Seyyed Abdul-Husain Sharafeddin al-Muwavi, which resulted in the publishing of the famous book, al-Muraja’at that has been translated into English as the “Right Path”. It is a very fascinating Sunni-Shi’ite dialogue with convincing proofs for strengthening Islamic unity, and has been translated into major world languages.

Last March, following the death of Dean Mohammad Tantawi, the Egyptian government has appointed Ahmad at-Tayyeb as the new Dean. The change comes at a crucial time when President Hosni Mubarak who has ruled Egypt for almost the past three decades with American support and by crushing all opposition, is grooming his son Jamal to take over the presidency. It is also unfortunate that al-Azhar, despite its Islamic prestige, never objected to the policies of President Mubarak including his over dependence on the Americans, his relations with the illegal Zionist entity, his building of the steel wall on the borders of the Gaza Strip to deny access to the outside world to the besieged Palestinians, and his banning of the popular Islamic Brotherhood party and other Islamic groups from actively participating in the country’s political process. As a result, al-Azhar has seen the eroding of its credibility, both among the Egyptian people and in the Muslim. It would be interesting to see what policies the new Dean will follow, especially when Mubarak is facing tough challenges to his rule from all quarters with calls for change and not dynastic rule by the Egyptian Muslims.

Observers, however, consider Sheikh Ahmad at-Tayyeb as an apolitical person more interested in scholarly pursuits and solidarity among Islamic schools of jurisprudence. According to Secretary-General of the Tehran-based World Assembly for Proximity among Islamic Schools of Jurisprudence, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri, the new Dean of al-Azhrar opposes extremist or Takfiri/Salafi ideas that brand other Muslims as infidels. But Ahmad at-Tayyeb has taken illogical and irrational stances, perhaps on government orders or under pressure from extremist groups inside and outside al-Azhar. In an interview with the Saudi/Wahhabi funded al-Arabiyya TV channel, he said al-Azhar counters any effort for spread of Shi’ite Muslim teachings in any Muslim state. This is not surprising in view of the fact that last year Saudis provided 86 million dollars to al-Azhar. It should be recalled that the late Sheikh Tantawi had explicitly aired his views against Wahhabism, saying there is no such denomination in Islam. Thus it would be interesting to see how the new Dean confronts Wahabbi/Salafi ideas, especially in view of the tendency towards the teachings of the school of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt among Egyptians who centuries ago used to be Shi’ite Muslims. This revival has alarmed both the Egyptian government and the Saudis who are pressuring Sheikh Ahmad at-Tayyeb Wahabbi to bow to their dictates at the expense of Islamic solidarity.

The office of Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi announced a special time for answering to English users for online answering to religious questions. According to (JNN) News Agency –  The office of Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi announced a special time for answering to English users for online answering to religious questions.

In order to facilitate for the users to access their answers easily and rapidly, department of the Estefta’at of His holiness’s office has prepared for honorable imitators thispage to gain their answers directly (by chat).

The scholars are available for English users’ everyday at 10 – 12 PM GMT +3:30.

Radical Islamic decrees out of hand in Saudi Arabia, religious authorities say.

Saudi authorities are planning to regulate the issuance of Islamic rulings by limiting the number of Wahhabi religious personalities allowed to formulate religious decrees.

The plan is currently being discussed by the Higher Council of Religious Scholars and could be implemented as early as next month.

“If the Saudi authorities regulate the fatwa industry, it will reduce the amount of extreme fatwas and it will send a positive message to those who are irresponsible and unaccountable with their fatwas,” Dr. Khalil Al-Khalil, a former Saudi member of parliament and an expert on Islamic trends, told The Media Line. “It will send them a message that they are not doing the right thing.”

Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Bin Abd Al-Aziz Bin Baz told Al-Arabiyya that the issuance of fatwas, or religious scholarly opinions, in the Saudi kingdom had gotten out of hand to the extent there was a need to regulate and unify them.

The Saudi authorities are mainly concerned about extreme fatwas that are being disseminated via mass-media forms such as the Internet and satellite television.

Radical messages in extreme fatwas often receive much attention in western media as legitimizing terror attacks against non-Muslims.

Media experts warn that these broadcasts can have a huge impact, especially since the target audience is young and impressionable.

“[Those issuing fatwas] know very well that the people here are connected with the government and the state regulations, and no one wants to be seen in conflict with the Saudi authorities,” Al-Khalil added. “It will make those who are extreme think twice before issuing a fatwa.”

Opposition groups within are saying that allowing only a select few to issue Islamic religious opinions stifles pluralism of opinion and goes against the spirit of Islam.

Critics of the planned regulation further point out that hundreds of Arabic-language satellite stations are beyond the reach of the Saudi government, rendering the moves ineffective, as Saudis will continue to be exposed to extreme messages through the Internet and other media forms.

Al-Khalil himself believes that regulating fatwas, despite the advantages, is not only impossible to implement but is also contrary to the spirit of Islam.

“It will not be successful in any place in the world,” he said. “They want to formulate a group at the national level and the local level who will be authorized to issue fatwas. They will employ specific individuals, who will have the right to issue fatwas and this is an impossible mission.”

Al-Khalil explained that this contradicted the very nature of Islam, which allows people to choose for themselves who is qualified to issue a fatwa.

“Who will choose those people, and based on what qualifications and what orientations?” Al-Khalil asked. “You can choose for yourself but you can’t choose for everyone in your state. We know that usually selection of authorized individuals in any field in life is based on politics and the mood and not on expert qualification.”

Contrary to much popular belief, fatwas are diverse in content and are a guideline for endless mundane matters, such as how a Muslim should shake hands, if a Muslims can consume caffeine, whether it is appropriate for a man to grow his hair, whether Muslims should play football, and many more.

But Western media in recent years has often depicted fatwas as associated with edicts on warfare and death sentences.

A fatwa can be issued by anyone who is seen to have sufficient Islamic scholarly training for the task, usually a Muslim with high standing in his community.

Those in favor of regulating these edicts say there is ‘fatwa chaos’ where anyone can issue opinions, which often serve narrow interests, be they related to politics, security, commerce or a social interest.

“The function of a fatwa in Islam is not a court verdict,” Al-Khalil stressed. “A verdict is binding when the process is complete and it has to be implemented, but fatwas from religious authorities are different.”

“It’s just an effort to give advice,” he said. “It’s not supposed to be a binding verdict that must be implemented. The state or the leader can choose to implement that fatwa and then it becomes obligatory by law, but if it’s issued by an individual, formal or informal, it’s just advice or a religious opinion and it’s not obligatory.”

Today in various countries of the world, the issue of religious, ethnic, and linguist groups are one of the main and sensitive issues. Unfortunately, ruling regimes in some countries do not observe the rights of other sections of the society. They subject them to various types of discrimination and deprive them of their rights. Until recently, Saddam’s Iraq was ruled by the tyrannical Ba’th minority that suppressed the rights of the country’s overwhelming majority for decades. As a matter of fact, Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim majority had been suppressed for centuries. First by the Ottoman Turks, second by the monarchist regime the British had installed in 1921, and then by the various self-styled republican governments culminating in Ba’thist tyranny, until the first ever elections held five years ago in 2005 that saw Iraq’s Shi’ite majority establish representative rule. Today, the situation in Saudi Arabia is more or less similar to Ba’thist Iraq. Ever since the British officially installed the Wahhabi minority in power in the Arabian Peninsula in 1932 by carving out a country called Saudi Arabia in the name of the chief of the new regime, Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, the Shi’ite Muslims and even Sunni Muslims of that land have been brutally suppressed and deprived of their birthrights. It is worth noting that when the Aal-e Saud clan of Nejd seized the Hejaz on the Red Sea, followed by Najran, Aseer, and Jeezan that belonged to Yemen, and then forcibly took control of eastern independent emirates of Ahsa and Qateef on the Persian Gulf coast of Arabia, the almost two-thirds of the people were followers of the school of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt. That is they were Shi’ite Muslims made up of the Ja’fari, Ismaili and Zaidi denominations. The Saudis massacred thousands of people, mostly Shi’ite Muslims in the holy cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, and Tayef, as well as on the eastern Persian Gulf coast. Today, a minority of hardly 15 percent Wahhabis is ruling the country and has deprived the Shi’ite Muslims, who still make up over 30 of the population of the whole land, of their rights.

However, despite this blatant suppression of human rights by the Saudi regime, since it is a loyal client of Britain and the US and tamely follows the policies of the West, there is no reaction towards its gross violation of human rights by the so-called international bodies. The Wahabbi clerics issued fatwas supporting the shedding of blood of Shi’ite Muslims, whether Ja’fari, Ismaili, or Zaydi. They do not give them white collar or even decent jobs. For instance, the oil which has made the Saudi regime the richest in the wealth is actually the property of the Shi’ite Muslims since it is drilled from their lands, but the Shi’ite Muslims in Saudi Arabia, do not benefit from it and remain very poor. The Wahhabi regime forbids them from observing the Muharram and other rituals and even does not allow them to hold congregational prayers. Hassan Ali al-Maleki is among the Shi’ite Muslims who was recently arrested on the charge of holding congregational prayer. It is worth noting that The executive director of Arabic Network for Human rights Information in Cairo, Jamal Eid, who is a Sunni, termed the Saudi government’s forcing of Shi’ite citizens to sign a commitment letter on not holding congregational prayer in their homes, as oppressive and anti-Islamic.

The founder and president of the Human Rights Society in Saudi Arabia, Ibrahim al-Muqaiteb, said Shi’ite Muslims are not allowed to enter Sunni mosques. The Prayer Leader of the Khobar region, Hojatoleslam Mohammad Baqer an-Nasr, who is a Shi’ite Muslim, criticized such a policy, calling it against Islamic unity. He said when the Shi’ite Muslims joined their other Muslim brethren in Sunni mosques the Wahhabis objected and forbade them to do so. Every year in the mourning month of Moharram, especially in the days leading to the anniversary of the tragic martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson, Imam Husain (PBUH), the Saudi security forces adopt oppressive policies. This year on the day of Ashura they arrested 30 Shi’ite Muslims for commemorating the heartrending tragedy of Karbala. Since the Saudi seized control of the land many Husseiniyahs have been closed down or destroyed. Recently, Saudi Interior Minister Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz issued orders for closing of 9 mosques belonging to Shi’ite Muslims. This un-Islamic measure made the Shi’ites Muslims of al-Khobar city in Riyadh Province to send a lengthy scroll with thousands of signatures to King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz to re-open the said mosques, but nothing has been done so far. The holy city of Medina used to have a Shi’ite Muslim population of almost 50 percent when the Saudis seized control of that city some 80 years ago, and today the Wahhabis have brought outsiders from other parts and settled in that holy city by seizing the lands of Shi’ite Muslims in order to change demography just as the Zionists are doing in occupied Islamic city of Bait al-Moqaddas.

In Saudi Arabia, a Shi’ite Muslim is humiliated from his birth till his death. At schools, Shi’ite Muslim students are insulted and are accused of being polytheist and atheist. The textbooks are full of false and hostile topics against Shi’ite Muslims. Shi’ite Muslim theologians are not permitted to openly teach the community. The regime accuses Shi’ite Muslims to be agents of Iran. After the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and more recently following the historical victories of Lebanon’s Hezbollah over the Zionists, and the reclamation of their birthrights by the Shi’ite Muslim majority of Iraq, the Wahhabis have become more alarmed and also more brutal against the Shi’ite Muslims in Saudi Arabia. The recent Saudi offensive against the Zaydi Shi’ites of Yemen was part of these same oppressive policies. With the coming to power of Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz it was hoped that policies would change, but so far no such development has taken place. This is detrimental to Islamic unity and may badly boomerang on the Saudi regime.