With the participation of President Bashar al-Assad’s representative, Syrians bid farewell to martyr sheikh al-Afyouni

Damascus (ST): With the participation of the representative of President Bashar al-Assad, the Minister of Religious Endowments Dr. Mohammad Abdel Sattar al-Sayyed, the funeral prayer of martyr sheikh Mohammad Adnan al-Afyouni took place at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.

In his speech, Dr. al-Sayyed said that the Syrian Arab army offers martyrs one after another and intellectuals also offer their blood including the martyr Dr. Moammad Sa’ed Ramadan al-Bouti and more than seventy Muslim and Christian men of religion.

The Minister added : “ I take part in this funeral on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad. The intellectuals have proved a high sense of responsibility and have been subjected to pressure but they have remained steadfast and sacrificed their lives for the sake of their people and homeland.”

Following Friday prayers, the funeral prayers were held on the late al-Afyouni and he was buried in al-Salhiyeh, Damascus.

Sheikh al-Afyouni , Mufti of Damascus and its Countryside, fell martyred yesterday evening in a terrorist explosion that targeted his car in Qudsaya town in Damascus countryside.

He is considered as one of the most prominent scholars of Syria and the Islamic world, and he is a member at the Scientific Council in the Ministry of Religious Endowments, Mufti of Damascus and its Countryside, and the general supervisor of the International Islamic Cham Center for confronting extremism.

The terrorist Takfiri act aimed to silence the great intellectual who was an example to be followed in his principled and honorable stands since the very beginning of the terrorist war against Syria. But such criminal act will never frighten Syrian people who will press ahead in defending their homeland against terrorism and extremism.

K.Q.