Damage incurred on Imam Ali Shrine

By Subhi Mejahid, IOL Correspondent

CAIRO, August 23 (IslamOnline.net) – Ninety three prominent Islamic leaders have called on Muslims around the world to fully support resistance to occupation in Iraq and Palestinian territories, and on Islamic countries to establish a true plural democracy.

"Islamic leaders from across the world condemn in the strongest terms all-time brutal crimes by occupation forces in Iraq and Palestine ," read the statement, a copy of which was sent to IslamOnline.net on Sunday, August 22.

The signatories include prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Mahdi Akef and Egyptian opposition figures.

"We are in full solidarity with Iraqis and Palestinians in their brave resistance, and we call on them to close ranks against occupation away from collaboration, extremism or sectarianism," it added.

Having also signed the statement were leader of Islamic Party in Pakistan Qazi Hussain Ahmed as well as other Islamic leaders from Algeria , Bahrain , Bosnia , Germany , India , Iran , Iraq , Libya , Malaysia , Mauritania , Saudi Arabia , Sri Lanka , Somalia , South Africa , Syria and Tajikistan .   

Palestinian Detainees

The statement carried a message of solidarity with Palestinian detainees, staging an open-ended hunger strike for more than one week now to press in for better conditions in Israeli prisons and detention camps.  

"We go for supporting Palestinian and Iraqi detainees as well as those incarcerated in Afghanistan and Guantanamo ," read the statement.

This came as Israeli authorities attempt to break the strike of Palestinian prisoners, brutally attacking female detainees and seizing their personal belongings in the notorious Israeli desert jail of Nafha.

There are more than 8,000 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, some still held without charges despite repeated appeals for their release by human rights groups.

Democracy

Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a U.S. flag during a protest rally in Karachi

The prominent Muslim scholars also called on Islamic countries to set up democratic regimes elected via integral plural elections.

"Free integral elections should be guaranteed, where values of justice and rule of law also prevail," read the statement.

However, it slammed the Iraqi government as a "puppet one, a shadow of occupation forces in order to control the country and its natural riches."

No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq , which has the world's second largest oil reserves, more than one year and a half of its occupation by US-led forces.

'Volcano Of Anger'

This came two days after a leading Egyptian Islamic leader has warned that a "volcano of anger" could explode in response to US-led military aggressions in Najaf and Fallujah.

Ali Gomaa, the mufti of Egypt and the country's highest authority on Islamic law, condemned the "continuing aggression by US-led forces on the Imam Ali shrine and Islamic holy places" in Iraq.

"After the attack on the shrines of the Prophet's noble companions, after the humiliations and the terrorizing and killing of civilians, the world cannot expect… that a volcano of anger and indignation will not explode," he said in a statement on Saturday, August 21.

Since occupation forces invaded Iraq under the pretext of saving the country from a dictatorship, "the Dar al-Ifta (fatwa house) cannot accept any justification whatsoever that enables these forces to play this same ugly role, rejected by the world's reasonable people and lovers of peace", Gomaa said.

"With these latest attacks on Muslim holy sites, the world should not wonder anymore about the reasons of terrorism, hatred of others and the clash of civilizations," he said.

Gomaa, however, appealed for restraint "so that events do not slip out of control and the situation does not deteriorate into an unjustified sea of blood, since regret would then be futile".

Earlier on Monday, August 23, TV stations splashed out photos of damage inflicted on Imam Ali Shrine, one of the world's most revered Shiite sites, after US warplanes and helicopter gunships launched attacks against the holy city of Najaf.   

The damage incurred the wrath of most world Muslims, already infuriated by continued occupation of Iraq and its still suffering from lack of security and stability.

In Karachi , about 5000 Shiite Muslims have held an anti-US rally to protest at the fighting in Najaf and demand American forces to withdraw from Iraq .
The rally was emotionally charged but peaceful.

On Sunday, August 22, heavy clashes erupted between US troops and Shiite fighters in Najaf after the proposed handover of Imam Ali shrine to the Shiite religious leadership was suspended.