At the beginning of his advanced Fiqh course in the A’zam mosque in Qom, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi condemned the brutal crimes and genocide against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. He stated in this regard: “Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is located in the South East of Asia. More than a million Muslims used to live in this country until recently when the Buddhists decided to kill them all. Now these innocent people are subject to persecution and genocide on a daily basis. I even heard that the Taliban have condemned the genocide against the Rohingya”.
Severely criticizing the indifference of the international community and the Muslim World toward these brutal crimes against Muslims in Myanmar his eminence continued: “Is it not the duty of Muslim countries to voice their outrage at these crimes? Is it not time for the so-called Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which consists of nearly 60 Muslim countries, to hold an emergency special session in order to help these innocent people?”
He further noted: “UN Security Council will immediately hold a session should anyone take the slightest action that could threaten Israel; why is it silent now that countless innocent Muslims are being brutally killed? Indeed, we have lost hope in the UN and its Security Council, but the indifference of Muslim countries toward the sufferings of their fellow Muslims in Myanmar is unforgiveable! Today, all Muslims must exercise their responsibility in this regard”.
Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi proposed that the foreign ministers of Muslim countries hold a meeting in order to solve the problem of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. He stated in this regard: “What keeps Iran from calling for such a meeting to be held? When the foreign ministers of around 60 powerful Muslim countries hold a meeting in this regard, the government of Myanmar will be persuaded to stop persecuting the Muslims in Myanmar.”
He also added: “If such a meeting is held, the UN Security Council might also hold a meeting concerning the genocide of the Rohingya in order to save its face. All Muslims must take actions in situations like this and they must stand up to these brutal murderers. Although most of the Muslims in Myanmar are Sunnis, we try to defend them in the same way as we would if they were Shi’as. Shi’a or Sunni, we are all Muslims and we care for each other.”
In another part of his speech, his eminence emphasized the importance of the issue of Ghadir and the fact that it must be given the attention that it deserves, and further noted: “holding celebrations and visiting each other on this auspicious occasion is a good tradition, but what is more important is that the Shi’a youth must be made familiar with the Tradition of Ghadir, i.e. that the Tradition of Ghadir is an authentic and successively transmitted Prophetic Tradition and that its contents are clear and unambiguous in expression.”
He also added: “we must support our school of thought without insulting what other Muslim schools consider sacred. We must uphold the message of Ghadir. I hear that a large procession is going to be held on the day of Ghadir in Qom from the holy shrine of the Lady Maʿsūmah to the holy mosque of Jamkaran. I have also promised to take part in this procession as far as I am able to”.
