Recently a lot has happened in terms of the Shia community which has been either swept aside by ourselves or we have pretended that such happenings never existed. Turning a blind eye to such injustices will take us away from the truth and into the bliss of ignorance.
Sheikh Safdar Razi, a prominent member of the Shia Community in the US was accused of 'charges' relating to immigration. After having more than 3 appearances in the court without any charges being related to him and being denied any form of bail the Scholar remained under arrest for more than 3 months after which he decided to leave US voluntarily upon which the authorities decided to drop their proceedings. It is quite saddening to see that it came to this that a preacher who has served the community for more than a decade had to leave voluntarily from a country when there were no clear charges against him. While the team who represented him and kept a close eye on the proceedings of his case did a commendable job however a lot remains regarding the communities whom he had served in his time in US. Certain communities where he was a regular speaker have very good relations to the Government and in the past have used favours from the Government for their own purposes yet when a person whose work in the same community remains unmatched in terms of hardwork, passion and sincerity was left with no hope from these people. We should constantly remind ourselves that when we see an injustice take place and do not speak up against it then our fate is no different than those oppressors.
Seyed Mahmood Mousavi, a scholar and the head of Al Hejerat organisation was arrested in August 2007 and convicted in April 2008 the jury found him guilty on all counts of 'charges' against him. His story is quite sad and it will shake you completely. After living in US for so long and working for more than two decades in establishing a core network of Islamic programs and arranging a foundation to tackle the social problems of the youths in the west it is a great injustice that this man who did so much for the community has been sidelined and possibly facing a life sentence in prison after being convicted of a crime which he himself is not aware of. There are so many discrepancies in his case that I cannot delve into them to show how unjustly he has been treated. However I would post small extracts regarding his case taken from the website:
In the years of 2003 and 2004 the company didn’t actually make any earnings; it lost money. Even though the company lost money, the prosecution said it still had to be reported. Our accountant was not allowed to testify in court, nor were we allowed to show the expenses of the Hajj company, which would have proven that there was no profit made.
The government accuses our father of breaking the embargo with
The other charges are in regards to our father’s citizenship application. The prosecution claims that our father was an “active and ranking member of the Iranian military.” This charge is utterly false. Our father never served in the Iranian military. In fact, due to medical reasons, he was officially excused from the military service mandatory on all Iranian male citizens. We secured letters from the Iranian government proving that our father had not served in the military, but the court refused to accept them.
The trial only lasted three days. At every turn, we were denied the way to prove our father’s innocence. Witnesses that we wished to call were turned away by the court. The court also denied up permission to present documents that we wished to present, and which would have shown his innocence. In short, we had no way to present any kind of defense. On April 24, the verdict was returned: guilty on all counts.
To put it simply his charges were making a loss in his organization by putting his own money to help the youths and other Shias alike to go on Hajj Pilgrimage. His charges were carrying an Iranian identity card explaining that he is disabled and lastly to reject or rather explain to the Kuwaitis that they can never enter in a business with the Iranians due to red-tapes, not to mention the fiasco of a trial that the Government had put up in order to convict him. It seems that the Government would do anything to remove a personnel regardless of how much positive attitude he/she has created in their community with relations of other faith and communities or how much they have tried to bridge the gap of removing ignorance and enlightening others about the true nature of Islam.
Lastly, the case of Sheikh Mansur Leghaei. A man of great status in my eyes for his activities in and all over Australia. A man who has been subjected to harassment from the Government for more than 12 years has never decided to back down on his path of preaching the truth to the masses. He has not been given the right to appeal against the decision set against him and his case has been dismissed by the High Court. He is considered a threat to the national security as well as seen as a spy for Iran, both claims are absurd and dubious. He is a person who has changed the outlook of the Australian Shia Community in his 14 years of being there. His work in terms of youth activities, inter-faith dialogue and social aspects is a glowing feat of achievement.
In the end, above are three cases of three outstanding individuals who have done immensely for the Shia communities in their respective places of residence. Unfortunately they have been met with obstacles and restrictions on every turn yet they have never lost hope and continued to spread the teachings of the Ahlul Bayt [a] even when subjected to imprisonment. Our duty should be to learn from these individuals in terms of their patience, their wisdom, their character. They were subjected to injustice for being on the path of truth just like the Shias have been for a long time now. May Allah give them the ability to be successful in their tests and may He give them the strength to counter any obstacles and may He bless them for their hardwork.
“And what reason have we that we should not rely on Allah? And He has indeed guided us in our ways; and certainly we would bear with patience your persecution of us; and on Allah should the reliant rely.” (Holy Quran, 14:12)
It's really sad seeing all this happen to such prominent people. the community should play a better role in standing up for them.