A cleric in Chiniot has declared that anyone who offered the funeral prayers of a recently deceased Shia woman, was no longer a Muslim and had to recite the Kalma to enter back into the fold of Islam.
According to a BBC Urdu report, the incident took place in Chak 136 of the Chiniot district some ten days ago, where the people were advised to also get their Nikah performed again.
“A local cleric, Mian Khalid Bashir, refused to lead the funeral prayers of my niece because we belong to the Shia community,” the report quoted Qasim Ali, a resident of the village, as saying. Another cleric from a nearby village was then invited, he added.
“After the incident, he [Bashir] announced that the participants of the funeral prayer were no longer Muslims and would have to recite the Kalma,” Qasim claimed, adding that the cleric also announced the participants’ marriages had been annulled and they would have to get Nikah performed once again.
According to Qasim, the cleric also delivered a fatwa, after which all locals believed him.
“When asked how were they [participants of the funeral] supposed to get their marriages registered again, the cleric said the Nikah was already registered and only performing it was needed.”
However, Qasim said, the locals were now waiting to complete their iddat [waiting period] in order to get Nikah with their “former” spouses performed.