صراط عشق صراط عشق
“Recognition of Shia religion by Taliban is a natural right of Afghan Shias,” Alami Balkhi said, stressing that “Everyone should act according to their religious rules and beliefs”.
“Recognition of Shia jurisprudence by the Taliban is one of the most important demands of Afghan Shias,” Alami Balkhi stated in an interview with Shafaqna. The Council of Shia Ulema [Scholars] of Afghanistan hopefully expresses that the Taliban will address the demand of Shia community in Afghanistan.
“I think the Taliban have no problem about recognition of Shia religion. It is a natural right of all people living in a country, that their religious beliefs should be respected and that everyone should act in accordance with their own religious decrees and beliefs,” Sayed Hussein Alemi Balkhi, former Minister of Refugees affairs and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Shia Ulema of Afghanistan and spokesman of the Commission for pursuit of the Views and Demands of Shia community, said in an interview with Shafaqna Afghanistan’s reporter.
Mr Balkhi added: “In our talks with the Taliban, they did not deny this demand. Recently, we had a conversation with the Minister of Refugees affairs of the Taliban government, who spoke to us on behalf of this group [of Taliban]. I explicitly raised the issue of recognizing Shia religion. They said that we will hold a meeting in this regard and we will talk about this issue soon. The Taliban representative at the meeting also promised us that the demands of Shia community would be addressed by the government.”
“There is a law in every country, and Afghanistan has laws in this regard too,” said the former Minister of Refugees Affairs, in another part of his speech on the Shia Personal Status Law and the current structure of the judiciary. “In the past, cases for the Hanafis that were not included in the law, were decided according to Hanafi jurisprudence. The same goes for Shia cases.”
Saying that the legal issues of the Shias in Afghanistan could be resolved and implemented in the status quo, the deputy chairman of the Council of Shia Ulema, added: “[Ja’fari jurisprudence], of course, in cases where there are no provisions in the law, according to Shia religion must be decided. These things could carry out and there is no problem in this regard.”
