ISLAMABAD: Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, the prime minister’s special representative for religious harmony and the Pakistani diaspora in the Middle East and Muslim nations, voiced concerns on Thursday on the baseless social media smear campaign against the Saudi leadership.
In a statement, he emphasized the necessity of successfully opposing the strategies meant to sow discord and emotional chasms among Saudi Arabia’s supporters.
He made particular reference to a dispute that arose after an Indian delegation visited Madina Munawarah during Union Minister Smriti Irani’s two-day official visit to the Kingdom. He further stated that the visit’s goal was to ink a bilateral agreement dividing up a quota of 175,025 pilgrims for the annual Hajj journey this year.
The head of the Pakistan Ulema Council, Ashrafi, cited a phrase in the Holy Quran that forbade non-Muslims from entering certain places and said that, in accordance with the opinions of a number of Ulema and Mashaykh, this only applied to Masjid-e-Haram.
He referenced Islamic directives from Saudi Mufti Azam Ibn Baz and other important academics, indicating that non-Muslims could actually visit Madina Munawarah.
Ashrafi emphasized the historical background by highlighting incidents of non-Muslims traveling to Madina for trading purposes during the reign of the second Caliph, Hazrat Umar (RA).
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He further mentioned that even Christians from Najran visited Madina even during the lifetime the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
Ashrafi talked about the two facets of the visit, taking into account the political and Shariah issues. He claimed that religious leaders and intellectuals in Saudi Arabia had a firm opinion regarding the brief stay of non-Muslims in Madina for particular objectives.
Speaking to the political motivations for the visit, he asked opponents to desist from disparaging the Saudi authorities, stressing that the country, the clerics, and the Saudi government were following Shariah laws for the benefit of the Kingdom.
