Hawzah News Agency (Kermanshah, Iran) – In a meeting with the representative of Iranian supreme leader in the province of Kermanshah Ayatollah Olama and the members of Seminary’s Disaster Management Committee which was held in the Friday Prayer leader’s office in the city of Kermanshah on Monday, head of Iran’s seminaries Ayatollah Alireza Arafi offered his condolences over the recent earthquake and asserted, "It’s our duty to voice our sympathy with the beloved people of Kermanshah; that’s why we’re here in this meeting now to sympathize with them."

The Iranian cleric added, "Following the earthquake in Kermanshah, seminary institutes in Qom formed a disaster management committee and they made some decision regarding the incident and all the parties involved try to play their part in order to provide services to the earthquake survivors."

Head of Iranian Islamic Seminaries went on, "In the aftermath of the earthquake, the solidarity of religious scholars and seminary figures in both Qom and Kermanshah was established which I hope will continue in future as well."

"We, as Shia clerics believe that such human tragedies must not be regarded as a time to express religious bias or sectarian attitudes; recently, a short video clip of a Shia cleric went viral on the web in which he told journalists that he would even sacrifice his life for his Sunni brothers in Kermanshah if necessary. We appreciate his wise remarks."