Hawzah News Agency- In a blistering statement that has sent shockwaves across the region, Al-Wefaq asserted that the public prosecutor has devolved into a "security and political institution" that churns out "false and contradictory accusations" with the singular objective of diverting public opinion from the regime's systematic targeting of Bahrain's indigenous Shia majority. The organization minced no words, declaring that the prosecutor's statement "reveals the true nature of this institution and those standing behind it—primarily the government itself."
Targeting a People for Their Faith
Al-Wefaq's statement laid bare what it describes as a calculated campaign of "sectarian targeting of an authentic and deep-rooted community within this country," characterizing the actions as "the greatest crime" being carried out with "a spirit overflowing with vengeance and spite, absent the slightest national, moral, or religious restraint."
The organization pointed to glaring contradictions riddling the regime's narrative. It highlighted how the interior minister rushed to level accusations against the detained Shia scholars mere hours after their arrests—without any investigation having taken place—directly contradicting the prosecutor's own prior statements. This tangled web of contradictory claims, Al-Wefaq argues, betrays the preordained nature of a verdict reached long before any semblance of due process.
In a particularly damning observation, Al-Wefaq noted that the personnel of the prosecutor's office and the officials crafting these charges "belong to a different religious sect and possess no familiarity whatsoever with the Jafari school of jurisprudence, nor any expertise in the religious obligations of Shia Muslims." It posed a searing question: How can those who do not understand a faith sit in judgment over its most sacred practices?
"A Trial of a Religion, Not a Crime"
The core of Al-Wefaq's outrage centers on the regime's attempt to criminalize Khums—the Islamic obligation requiring believers to pay one-fifth of their surplus income to recognized religious authorities. "Putting a religious obligation on trial with a security and accusatory approach, transforming religious rights into a criminal offense and a money laundering case," the statement thundered, "is an act devoid of the most elementary standards of justice and is incompatible with religion, reason, and wisdom."
Al-Wefaq systematically dismantled the prosecution's attempt to frame the transfer of religious dues as illicit funds moving to Iraq, Iran, or Lebanon, branding it "blatant deception." The detained clerics, the organization emphasized, are not couriers for governments or political parties—they are legally appointed religious representatives who channel Khums to recognized Grand Ayatollahs including Ayatollah Sistani, the late Ayatollah Saeed al-Hakim, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei, and other paramount Marja' of the Shia world. To twist this sacred financial lifeline of the seminary into a security accusation, Al-Wefaq declared, is "misleading and immoral to the core."
Over Forty Clerics Seized: An Act of War Vendetta
The scale of the crackdown is staggering. More than forty clerics have been swept up in the regime's dragnet, drawn from multiple seminaries and religious schools—a fact Al-Wefaq says proves the charges are nothing but "vengeful retaliation and a venting of the ruling establishment's fury against Shias following the recent war." These are not shadowy figures operating in the dark, the statement insisted. They are "religious elites of significant religious, social, and spiritual standing," publicly known and universally respected for their intellectual, cultural, jurisprudential, and theological contributions—scholars whose valuable works and publications have enriched libraries across the Muslim world.
Yet they are being treated, in Al-Wefaq's devastating phrase, "as prisoners of war in a conflict with which they have no connection whatsoever."
"What Is on Trial Today Is the Faith Itself"
The organization delivered its most powerful salvo by exposing the inescapable conclusion: "What is being prosecuted today are in fact the fundamental religious rites and duties—preaching, guidance, presenting concepts, viewpoints, and theories, and collecting religious dues." These practices, Al-Wefaq reminded, have been performed by the followers of the Prophet's Household (Peace Be Upon Them) for over 1,400 years. They are not a threat to society; they are "a bulwark against deviation and waves of extremism—a guarantee for the health of society."
Every single Shia Muslim without exception fulfills these obligations. No Marja', no jurist, no seminary in the Shia world rejects the existence of various Islamic theories, including the concept of Wilayat al-Faqih—a scholarly theory, Al-Wefaq stressed, that has "multiple interpretations and levels that differ from one Marja' to another." The attempt to demonize this and brand it as some "new security discovery" is, the statement said, entirely devoid of credibility.
The organization further asserted that no theory or school within Jafari Shia jurisprudence contradicts the concept of citizenship or national belonging. Those seeking to conflate and confuse these concepts, it warned, are "exploiting the situation at the expense of national unity and societal freedoms."
An Undeclared War on a Religion
Al-Wefaq placed the detention of the clerics within a broader, unmistakable pattern of sectarian aggression: the stripping of powers from the Jafari Endowments, the shuttering of the Islamic Awareness Society, and other punitive measures that collectively paint a picture of a regime targeting Shias "solely for being Shia, without any real justification—contrary to the government's claims."
The statement delivered its coup de grâce with a warning of grave historical consequence: "The obligation of Khums and religious dues is an inseparable part of the Shia faith. To criminalize it is to criminalize the faith itself." It declared that the Shia of Bahrain "cannot, at this juncture in time, change their religion due to pressure from a ruling establishment that has proven incapable of accepting the existence of different religions and schools of thought."
Al-Wefaq demanded the immediate involvement of Shia scholarly institutions and religious authorities in examining the cases and charges—insisting that matters of faith must be assessed by specialists and people of expertise, not by security officials ignorant of the tradition they seek to judge. The organization's final warning was unequivocal: the continuation of this path by the government "amounts to a declaration of war against the principles, branches, rites, and jurisprudential theories of Shia Muslims."
A Community Living in Fear for Its Very Existence
The statement concluded on a note of profound alarm: "The followers of the Jafari school in Bahrain feel a serious and existential threat to their lives, their religion, their beliefs, their rites, and their very existence." This fear, Al-Wefaq said, is the direct result of "dangerous and repeated targeting." It further alleged that everything unfolding is being "managed through networks of extremist individuals who insult Shias, disparage the Imams (Peace Be Upon Them) and their history—openly, before the eyes and with the full knowledge of the regime, under official state cover."
As the trial of the detained scholars looms, the message from Al-Wefaq and the Shia masses of Bahrain rings with chilling clarity: the Manama regime has crossed a red line. It is no longer prosecuting individuals. It is putting an entire branch of Islam in the dock. And the consequences of such a historic transgression, history warns, are not easily contained.
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