Tehran, Dec 26, IRNA – Iran supports freedoms of religious minorities and insulting true messengers of God, Including Jesus Christ (P) is strictly forbidden for every true Muslim, president’s special adviser in tribes, religious and ethnic minorities’ affairs said here Friday.
  “The Islamic Republic of Iran considers it a duty to support the religions and religious freedoms of minorities, and any Muslim who will insult Messiah (P), or speak lowly of that holy prophet is considered a disbeliever,” Hojjatoleslam Ali Yunesi, in a ceremony held by the Assyrian and Caledonian Christians of Iran at Prophet Joseph (P) Church on the Christmas Eve.
He further reiterated that the birth anniversary of Jesus Christ (P) does not belong to the Christians alone, as the whole Muslims and Iranians, too, share the blessed occasion, because the Assyrians and Caledonians comprise a major part of the ancient Iranian history.

“The Iranian Christians have this pride that they accepted the Christian faith a lot sooner than the Romans and the European nations and this proves the high intelligence of the Iranians,” he added.

Yunesi referred to the Holy Chapter Saint Mary (P) is Glorious Qur’an, reiterating that in the Holy Book of Islam the sanctity of Saint Mary which was insulted by the high religious authorities of the Jews at the time of birth of Jesus (P) is strongly defended.

“In the same Holy Chapter, Almighty Allah stresses the unity among the followers of all true religions, because they all have the same roots, the same prophecy, and the same final objective,” added Yunesi.

The president’s special adviser in tribes and religious and ethnic minorities’ affairs said that Jesus Christ, the Messiah’s entire existence was miraculous; it is a duty for all Muslims to believe in Messiah, who is a true messenger of God, and any Muslim who would insult His Holiness the Messiah (P) is considered a disbeliever.

Yunesi finally congratulated the Christian New Year and the Christmas Eve to the Iranian and world Christians on behalf of President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet members.

“We need to pray for the freedom of the mankind, the innocent Christians and Muslims behind bars, and especially the religious minorities in Iraq who have got caught amid the brutal aggression exposed by Daesh,” he said.

Before Yunesi’s address, Archbishop Ramsey Gremmo of the Iranian Assyrian and Caledonian Church in an address referred to a recent dialogue held between Iranian Muslims and the Vatican in whose final communiqué the need for cooperation between the two major religions of the mankind, namely Islam and Christianity, in confrontation against terrorism, and especially the ISIS in Iraq was stressed.

Also after Yunesi’s address, the representative of the Assyrian and Caledonian Christians in the Iranian Parliament, Jonathan Bet Chelae, said that God in the Glorious Qur’an considers respect for the pious believers higher than the respect for His Holy Kaaba.

“The services offered by the Christians to Iran throughout the history cannot be ignored and if we have the freedom to perform our religious rituals, this freedom is the absolute right of the Christian people in the Iranian land,” he said.

The Iranian Christian parliamentarian also referred to a treaty signed between Imam Ali (P) and the Christians of his time, stressing, “That treaty can be called the international charter of human rights and it is even thanks to that treaty that the Christians and the Iranian Muslims have comprised a unified Ummah (nation of believers) and enjoy such a peaceful coexistence.”

By IRNA

 

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