Muslim world outraged by blast near Masjid-e-Nabawi

PM condemns blast, army chief calls up Saudi FM to offer support

ISLAMABAD: A deadly suicide bombing near Islam’s second holiest site in the Saudi city of Madina sparked condemnation across the Muslim world on Tuesday, with even the Taliban and Hezbollah denouncing the attack.

Four people were killed in the bombing near Masjad-e-Nabwai (pbuh) that came as Muslims prepared for Eidul Fitr. The attack near the mosque was one of three in the kingdom on Monday, the two other being in Jeddah and Qatif.

The targeting of Madina caused shock and outrage across Islam’s religious divide.

Pakistan’s prime minister denounced the synchronised bombings and urging the international community, the Muslim Ummah, in particular, to unite against terrorism, while offering the kingdom support.



“The government and people of Pakistan are deeply shocked and saddened over the terrorist attacks in the holy land and share the pain and grief of their Saudi brethren,” Nawaz Sharif said in a statement from London.

“Our hearts and prayers are with the victims of the attacks and their families,” he added.

Referring to the increasing acts of terrorism and extremism across the continents, the premier urged the international community in general and the Muslim Ummah in particular to forge unity at this critical moment to foil the nefarious designs of terrorists. “We need to renew collective efforts to fight the menace of terrorism,” he said, adding that Pakistan stands firm against every act of terrorism.

Meanwhile, army chief General Raheel Sharif called Saudi Defence Minister Prince Muhammad bin Salman and condemned the terrorist attacks in the kingdom, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

He sympathised with families of attack victims. “We stand shoulder to shoulder with our Saudi brothers in fighting the menace of terrorism,” the statement added. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the “enemy has struck at [Muslim] Ummah’s heart.”   He added an attack near Masjid-e-Nabawi was a sad day for the Ummah. “Defending Harmain [two holy mosques] is our solemn pledge… time for Muslims to defend The Faith [Islam]…faith of love...tolerance...compassion...and forget petty differences,” he tweeted.



Separately, Iran called for Muslim unity in the aftermath of the Madina bombing. “There are no more red lines left for terrorists to cross. Sunnis, Shias will both remain victims unless we stand united as one,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

Lebanon-based Shia militant group Hezbollah – which Riyadh accuses of supporting terrorist acts in the region – also denounced it as “a new sign of the terrorists’ contempt for all that Muslims consider sacred.”

The United Nations said it was an attack on all Muslims.

“The significance of this attack cannot simply be measured in terms of the four policemen who were reported to have been killed, and the physical damage. It is an attack on the religion itself,” said UN rights office spokesman Rupert Colville.

The head of the Saudi Shura Council, Saudi Arabia’s main government advisory body, called it ‘unprecedented’. “This crime, which causes goosebumps, could not have been perpetrated by someone who had an atom of belief in his heart,” said Abdullah alSheikh.

Cairo-based Al Azhar, the highest authority in Sunni Islam, stressed “the sanctity of the houses of God, especially the Prophet’s Mosque.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2016.