Saudi Shias slam Sunni critics
Reuters - 03 July, 2008
www.gulfinthemedia.com/index.php?id=413891&news_type=Top&lang=en

Shia Muslim clerics in Saudi Arabia have criticised a religious edict from
Sunni Muslim counterparts branding them infidels, saying that its authors
were suffering from psychological problems.

A group of 22 hardline Sunni clerics last month said the Shia branch of
Islam was having "infidel precepts". The statement came after Lebanon's Shia
Hezbollah movement routed supporters of the Sunni-led government in the
Lebanese capital.

It was the latest in a series of statements against Shias since sectarian
tension dragged Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 and Iranian-backed
Hezbollah began mobilising opposition to the Sunni-led government in
Lebanon.

A prominent Sunni Muslim Saudi cleric met with minority Shia Muslim leaders
last month in an attempt to soothe anger over the edict.

Saudi clerics, who adhere to an austere Sunni school often termed Wahhabism,
have traditionally viewed Shiaism as a heresy. But many government-allied
clerics have toned down anti-Shia rhetoric as King Abdullah has promoted
"moderation".

"This sharp tone and discordant voice suffers from psychological complexes
and has adopted confrontation and insults as its policy," 85 Shia clerics
and community leaders said in an unusual riposte.

"It is this voice that is responsible for the bloody scenes and incidents
that have shaken this country," said the statement, referring to a campaign
to destabilise the Saudi government launched by Al Qaeda sympathisers in
2003.

"We ask our brothers who have wronged us with their fatwas (religious
edicts) branding Muslims as infidels to reconsider and re-read the
contemporary Shia reality in a responsible manner," said the statement.