Manama: A Kuwaiti writer who has come under intense fire for "offensive remarks" that angered Shiites will make a public apology at a gathering of leading figures from the Sunni and Shiite sects.
Mohammad Al Milaifi last week published an article in which he reportedly scoffed at the Awaited Mahdi, venerated as the Saviour of Humanity who will appear during the "end times".
Angered by the remarks, protestors staged a public rally to press the government to take action against the controversial writer, including stripping him of his Kuwaiti citizenship.
“We will seek to contain the matter,” Ali Al Matrook, a dignitary involved in the move to address the issue. “The gathering on Tuesday evening will be attended by Kuwaiti elite who will express their rejection of any and everything that may undermine our national unity and will condemn any action that targets the beliefs and dignity of other people,” he said, quoted by Arabic daily Al Nahar.
Al Milaifi had apologised through a local daily for his remarks.
“If some Shiite brothers misunderstood paragraphs in my article as a denigration of the Awaited Mahdi, I would like to apologise to them,” he said. “I have never scorned anyone from the family of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and in fact I have written often times about Al Mahdi,” he told Al Watan.
Ali Al Ali, a lawyer who filed a lawsuit against Al Milaifi, said that the rally planned for next Friday had been cancelled after the Emiri Court condemned the remarks by the controversial writer and the interior ministry transferred the case to the public prosecution.
However, he warned that any move to fuel sectarianism and to target the beliefs of Shiites would be countered by public rallies.
