Hawzah News Agency (Qom, Iran) – In his message, Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, a Shia source of emulation added, " I congratulate the organizers of the event on holding such a conference in which Shia and Sunni scholars have taken part. Such worthwhile actions intended to protect the dignity of the Muslim Ummah will most certainly be rewarded by divine blessings in the hereafter. Today, takfirism is considered as the greatest threat against the Islamic world."

The statement further read,"Even If the flames of war disappear in Syria, it would probably take more than 50 years to fully rebuild the country. Takfiri terrorists have also ignited a chaos in Iraq that is damaging Muslims; According to takfiris' doctrine, there's no difference between Shia and Sunni Muslims, that's why they are regarded as an enemy to all Muslims depsite their sects."

The Grand Ayatollah further reiterated, "We're witnessing some atrocities and crimes being carried out by takfiris in Turkey as well, they aim to undermine the sovereignty of the country. We all need to join our forces in order to defeat these terrorists in the region."

"In order to fight takfiri threats we must confront them in three main fronts including military, political as well as cultrual issues. It goes without saying that mere military and political confrontations would not suffice to uproot takfiri ideaologies. We need to inform the world that takfiri atrocities have nothing to do with genuine Islam."

The Senior Shia cleric concluded his statement by saying, "Following the two international confrences on 'Takfirism and their threats' which were  held in the Iranian city of Qom in previous years and were attended by numerous scholars and delegations from as many as 80 countries , we've recieved reports indicating that the number of people joining ISIS has declined greatly. This has happened due to Muslim scholars' cultural activities to infrom people about extremism and radical beliefs." 

End.