Mowlana Abdolhamid, the Friday Imam of the Sunni community in in Zahedan, has spoken out against what he calls unconscionable delays by provincial officials in building Sunni prayer grounds.
Sunni-on-line reports that Zahedan’s Sunni leader said the government previously had agreed to provide the Sunni community with a larger lot in order to build its prayer grounds; however, this plan has been delayed by provincial officials on the basis of sectarian biases.
He added that the lot promised to the community is currently in the hands of the Revolutionary Guards.
Mowlana Abdolhamid went on to criticize the conservative government for failing to engage with the Sunni community in any meaningful way, adding: “ while we face obstacles in the handover of the 27 acres promised to the Sunni community, the prayer grounds of our Shia brothers was recently increased to 60 acres.”
He added that the armed forces and private companies have been given numerous parcels of land, but the prayers of the Sunni community have not been seen as a priority for the government.
Mowlana Abdolhamid went on to denounce the government’s tendency to give all the issues concerning the Sunni community a “security hue” and he stressed that the need for a Sunni mosque in Tehran and expanded prayer grounds in Zahedan was in no way a security issue but a moral imperative.
