Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Damascus (Agenzia Fides) - Life for Syrian religious minorities gets more and more difficult and in the conflict they are the most vulnerable sectors of society. As Fides learns, 36 ulemas (Muslim religious leaders) of Douma, one of the largest suburbs of Damascus, issued a "fatwa" (a legal decree) that legitimizes the right of the faithful Sunni Muslims to seize and take possession of goods, homes, property belonging to Christians, Druze and Alawite and members of other religious minorities" who do not profess the Sunni religion of the Prophet". The fatwa openly invites to "boycott and break any relationship with the people of Damascus who betrayed the revolutionaries or abandoned them". Confiscated property, states the fatwa - of which Fides received a copy - will be used in part "to purchase weapons", in part to help orphans, the poor, the families of martyrs and widows.
"We call on our people to cling to our Islamic traditions and regularly attend the house of God (mosques) in order to safeguard our soul and society", says the text of the ulema .
As reported to Fides, the leaders of the various Christian churches are seriously concerned, noting that such measures do nothing but "exacerbate violence on sectarian basis, which scars Syrian society". (PA) (Agenzia Fides 26/09/2013)
