Issuing a communiqué, Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi referred to the recent sad events in Nardaran Village in the north of that country's capital city Baku, stressing that the reason for issuing the communiqué is feeling Islamic responsibility.
In the communiqué, a copy of which was delivered to the IRNA office in Qom, during the recent days worrying news are heard about clashes between a group of people and police forces in our neighboring country, the Azerbaijan Republic, during which a number of Shi'a Muslims have got killed, a number of them have got critically wounded and a large number of them have been detained.
'Observing restrictions for acting in accordance with religious beliefs (such as the Islam dressing code, Hijab, the daily prayers, Salat, the mourning rituals during the lunar month of Muharram and the like) can cause popular tensions and at times engagements and instability,' added the ayatollah.
Makarem-Shirazi stated in his messages to the Azerbaijani religious and state officials he has always stressed that the wellbeing, peace and security for all Islamic countries, particularly for Iran's neighbors is our utmost desire and we spare no effort aimed at ensuring those objectives.
'I also on the other hand request the pious and patriotic people of Azerbaijan to pursue their logical religious demands through legal and civil channels as far as possible and not to provide pretexts for their enemies,' added the communiqué.
The ayatollah, meanwhile, refered to the presence of Takfiri terrorists and the blood thirsty Zionists in our region, arguing that therefore the Muslims' entire forces should be mobilized for their common enemies and not against other Muslims.
He also refered to the US presidential candidate Donald Trump who has said that the entire Muslims comprise a big threat against the US interests.
'That reminds one of the Medieval Ages' dialogues of the Church,' he said.
The ayatollah at the end asks: Is it not time to wake up and realize the real threats against the Muslims and to unite before acting and wasting out energies?
Aggressive crack down of Azarbaijan Republic's police forces against the 10,000 strong Nardan Village citizens led to getting killed and wounded of a large number of them a few days ago.
Nardan Village is located at a 28 kilometer distance to the north of Baku and the existence of the holy shrine of Bibi Rahimeh, the sister the 8th Shi'a Imam Reza (P) in it has made the village a very popular pilgrimage site for pious Azerbaijani Shi'te Muslims.
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