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Riyadh: At a time when relations between Sunnis and Shiites are becoming more complicated in neighbouring Iraq, the relationship between the two sects is improving in Saudi Arabia.
As an indications of this improvement, Shaikh Hassan Al Saffar, a senior Saudi Shiite leader, made a visit to Onaiza in the Qasim region, considered a stronghold of fundamentalist Sunnis in Saudi Arabia.
Shaikh Al Saffar's visit was at the invitation of the governor of Onaiza prov-ince Musaed Bin Yahya Al Saleem, on the occasion of Onaiza's first heritage and cultural festival.
In a press statement yesterday, Shaikh Al Saffar said his visit to Onaiza, the first by a Shiite scholar, is an extension of the goodwill between the people of Saudi Arabia.
He said the visit reflects the awareness of the people to the political situation in the region, adding that the domestic conflicts and lack of harmony among people in countries like Iraq and Lebanon made these countries live in turmoil.
"A visit like this is looked upon by citizens with optimism and they hope that it will be a starting point for other visits. We shall be in contact with each other and that the moderate voice should always be high," Shaikh Al Saffar said.
Shaikh Al Saffar, who also met Prince Faisal Bin Bandar Bin Abdul Aziz, the governor of Qasim region, said if he received an invitation to visit Buraida, another major Sunni stronghold in Qasim region, he would accept the invitation.
"I place no barriers between me and all regions in the kingdom as well as between me and the different sects. We are all having one religion and one homeland," Shaikh Al Saffar said.
He said he extended invitations to a number of personalities in Onaiza to take part in conferences and forums to be held later in Qateef, a Shiite stronghold.
Honour
"I have the honour to receive ulema (Muslims scholars) from Buraida in Qateef as it is an opportunity for them to see the region and its citizens," he said, adding "If they come (there) the view points that they read in books may change as they will see the reality which runs contrary to what they hear."
There are sizeable Shiite communities along the oil-rich east coast of Saudi Arabia.
They constitute the majority of the population particularly in cities like Qateef and Ahsa. There is small number in other regions like Madinah and in Najran to the southern part of the kingdom as well as in Assir, Jazan, Jeddah and Yanbu.
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