Supreme Leader Urges Muslim Ulema to Show Vigilance about Western Plots in Bahrain

(FNA)- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei warned about the plots hatched by enemies of Islam to sow discord and create sectarian strife in Muslim states, and called on Muslim scholars not to be deceived by the western states' propaganda campaign which seeks to portray the revolution in Bahrain as a Shiite-Sunni conflict.

"In Bahrain, an oppressed majority, which has been deprived of the right of voting and other basic rights of a nation for long years, has risen to ask for its rights," Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing the 'Muslim Ulema (religious scholars) and Islamic Awakening' conference in Tehran on Monday.

He called on Muslim scholars to think deeply about the situation in Bahrain, and asked, "Should this strife be seen as Shiite-Sunni clash only because the oppressed majority is Shiite and the secular and tyrannical government pretends to be Sunni?"

The Bahraini uprising began in mid-February 2011, when the people started holding massive demonstrations against the Al Khalifa regime, which promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring states to help quash the revolt.

Dozens of people have been killed in the crackdown, and the security forces have arrested hundreds of people from all walks of life.

Ayatollah Khamenei cautioned that the enemies' plots to sow discord, stir sectarian strife and turn the revolutions in the Islamic states into bloody sectarian, religious, tribal and national conflicts are "one of the most dangerous things threatening the Islamic Awakening" movements in Muslim lands.

He said the correct or incorrectness of the revolutions which use the name of Islamic Awakening as their motto should be determined by their stances on the Palestinian issue, and added, "Any stream in Muslim states which forgets this religious and national responsibility due to the US imperious demand or under the pretext of illogical justifications shouldn't expect to be considered as loyal to Islam or sincere in its nationalistic claims."

The 'Muslim Ulema (religious scholars) and Islamic Awakening' conference started work in Iran on Monday Ayatollah Khamenei.

The two-day conference is attended by over 500 Iranian and 200 foreign scholars.

The Islamic awakening in Muslim countries and the role of Muslim Ulema is among the topics to be discussed by participants in the conference.