Iraqi cleric defends Tomb of Ezekiel

THE TOMB OF EZEKIEL (traditional) in Al-Kifl, Iraq, has a new defender:

Iraq cleric slams plan to turn Jewish tomb into mosque

By Jessica Elgot, April 12, 2010 (Jewish Chronicle)

One of Iraq’s leading clerics, Ayatollah Shaykh Ayad al-Rikabi, has denounced the proposed conversion of the ancient tomb of the Prophet Ezekiel into an Islamic site.

Iraq’s Department of Antiquities and the Iraqi Shi’i “waqf”, which controls religious heritage sites in the country, has stated that the historic tomb does not belong to Iraq’s dwindling Jewish community.

It asserted that since Ezekiel is described in the Koran as a Muslim, the tomb should be declared an Islamic site. Plans are now under way to turn the site into a mosque.

Ayatollah al-Rikabi, whose own tribe came from the area close to the tomb, has written to the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s foremost religious Shi’a leader, to request that the plans be overturned and that the tomb be kept as a Jewish holy site.

[...]

Good for him. I hope that the Grand Ayatollah listens.

Background here.