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Passion Islam I December 2008 WORLD NEWS I 15
Grand Mosque Imam
Urges Muslim Unity
Delivering his sermon to a gathering
of more than one and a half million
Haj pilgrims at the Grand Mosque,
the imam, Shaikh Abdul Rahman
Al Sudais, said, “This is the sacred
place and time to settle disputes
that have caused the Ummah untold
miseries. We should not disunite. One
of our major problems is the issue of
Palestine. Our Palestinian brothers are
The imam welcomed the pilgrims
to the Holy City of Makkah and
called their pilgrimage a journey of
repentance and piety. He urged them
to keep away from sinful deeds. “The
safety and security of the pilgrims is
in the hands of Allah. The sanctity
and inviolability of the Two Holy
Mosques cannot be marred by crises
or extremist activities,” he said.
forgives all sins of pilgrims who repent
genuinely because they come from far
off places with the sole aim of winning
the mercy of the Allah Almighty. “They
are cleaned of all past sins,” he
added. “The Prophet (peace be upon
him) said: ‘A virtuous Haj pilgrim has
no reward but Paradise,’” Al Budair
said. He urged the pilgrims to behave
kindly, help and cooperate during the
suffering due to injustice and Israeli The khatib at the Prophet’s pilgrimage. He asked them not to
siege and also because of infighting
and division among themselves.”
Mosque in Madinah, Shaikh Salah Al
Budair, in his sermon said that Allah
push or jostle at crowded places and
not to quarrel with anyone.
Obama urged to act against
all ‘war on terror’ practices
Amnesty International has welcomed
President- elect Barack Obama
confirming that he intends to close
Guantanamo concentration camp
as an “important a step in the right
direction” but urged him to go further
in ending ‘war on terror’ practices.
The new president should “seize
the initiative after taking office in
January and to prioritize ending all
internationally unlawful detention
and interrogation practices by the
USA,” said Rob Freer, Amnesty
International’s researcher on the
USA.
“We urge President-elect Obama
to turn his words into action within
the first 100 days of his presidency
and demonstrate his commitment
to meeting the US’s international
obligations,” Freer said.
These included “signing an
executive order prohibiting torture and
other ill-treatment, as defined under
international law,” he said.
The London-based human rights
group said it was also calling on
the President-elect to set up an
independent commission of inquiry
into all aspects of the US’s detention
and interrogation practices in the
“war on terror”, and to ensure full
accountability for human rights
violations committed in that context.
The call comes after Obama said
in an interview on Sunday that he
will take “early action” on closing the
detention centre at Guantanamo Bay
and ensuring that the USA does not
resort to torture.