Sayyed Fadlullah addressed the Muslim religious scholars calling on them to uphold their historic responsibility of confronting sectarian strife and occupation
Fadlullah: The sectarian crisis has begun to infringe on the big taboos
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
The Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah, issued a statement addressing the Muslim religious scholars in which he said: “In the midst of the events that are devastating the Muslim world and in the course of the escalation of the crisis and the formation of political sectarian axes in the nation, in addition to the internal, political and cultural struggle motivated by illusions of protecting this group or that, I would like to address the Sunni and Shiite Muslim religious scholars and ask them to uphold their historic responsibility towards the nation and its destiny.
I notice that our Muslim world is collapsing under the blows of the American-Israeli attack that seek to burn it with consecutive internal strives, while I do not find any intensive Islamic focusing on the dangers of this attack that aims at fragmenting the region. Instead there is a sectarian engrossment at the expense of the general Islamic interests, a traverse from sectarianism to personalism and individualism, and a consecration of many leaders who, in their consciousness and movement, do not have any Islamic values and do not aspire the nation’s welfare.
I am really astonished by how the occupation armies are blockading the nation inside its countries in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan and establishing huge military bases in other places, while some of our countries are making studies on the numbers of Sunnis and Shiites and their fighters. It is as if the Shiite and Sunni sects represent two antagonistic clans, and what we should do is to predict what is going to happen after the big fighting between these two clans occurs.
Faced by this difficult and critical situation that is escalating day by day, I appeal to the Sunni and Shiite scholars in the region and call upon them to have the final word towards this situation, be aware of what is happening and direct people towards the following issues:
Firstly: The sectarian crisis has begun to infringe on the big taboos and we have started to loose the ethics of criticism and offend others through insulting the Prophet’s (p.) companions and his Household (a.s.). We are also witnessing a backward reality that is guarded by many leaders who are not sincere to the nation or to Islam and seek only to promote their own interests and remain committed to their engagements rather than looking for the higher interest. Therefore, the Islamic Sunni and Shiite religious scholars should start to confront this reality, not only on the level of prohibiting it by words, but also on the level of the movement that sieges it on the ground.
Secondly: We see that several Muslim religious scholars here and there are trying to ride the waves of sectarianism that the American oppressor paves the way for in Iraq and the countries around it. Thus, every party starts to call for protection of a sectarian Muslim group and starts to talk about the atrocities that the other group commits… Then we witness a conference that is attended by well-known Muslim scholars and we listen to words from other Muslim scholars and to Fatwas that pour oil on the fire in order to confuse people and distort the public scene on the nation’s level. Therefore, we are afraid on the nation not only from the oppressor, but also from the nation’s children and those who are supposed to be the conscious vanguard in preserving and protecting the nation's unity. This issue drives us to call upon these scholars and tell them: "Fear God. You are about to lose the nation and plunge it into instinctive sectarian mazes that wipe out everything everywhere. You must siege these sectarian incitements in their birth place.
Thirdly: The Muslim religious scholars should not be the victim or the mount of the American project that seeks to divide the nation into two axes. One of which is “moderate” and the other is “extremist”. That is because this division does not serve any Islamic party, but it rather promotes the revitalization of the American movement in the region after it has sunk in the Iraqi and Afghani quagmire and after the setback in Lebanon as a result of the fiasco of the latest Israeli war on Lebanon.
We should know that the alternative of the American Administration failure in Lebanon is to inflame the fire of sectarian strife on the one hand and stir up the spirit of internal fighting on the other hand. An example of this is what is happening in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, where America is urging the Palestinians to fight each other. It also wants the Lebanese people to be more engrossed in their internal problems and it is trying to prevent them from reaching a solution that serves stability in the country. It wants a solution which serves only Israel that is working on reinforcing its power and rebuilding its army and intelligence.
The American Administration also wants Iraq to stay occupied with the sectarian and racial shares creating an internal chaos that threatens to turn into a civil war because this will strengthen the American occupation of Iraq and thus, realize the American strategic interests at the expense of the nation’s interests.
Fourthly: The western axis that is led by America is still insisting on revitalizing the American project and not admitting its defeat in Iraq. This is because it knows that this admission will serve the interests of the Muslim and liberation movements. Hence, the attempts of this axis focus on protecting the western project that aims at inflaming the fire of sectarianism among Muslims.
Fifthly, the strategic issues of Muslims in most of their countries have become subjected to the projects that are made by others to solve the latter’s own interests armed by a devious scheme that claims to be interested in solving the problems of Muslims of this country or that. These projects are serving their own interests and not ours. For this reason, the leaders, especially, the conscious and faith religious scholars must move to solve the problems of Muslims.
We want all the Sunni and Shiite authorities to start studying the problems of the Islamic world on the ground, through holding practical meetings disregarding all the traditions of the protocol that prevent some parties from effectual participation. This is because the gravity of the crisis overrides any protocol the religious authorities may be concerned with.
Sixthly: God wanted Muslims to be strong, competent, and able to have an effective role in determining the world decision. They should also be open on the element of progress in the economic aspect to increase their wealth; in the political aspect to establish the basis of freedom and independence, and in the social aspect, to preserve the Islamic unity that is based on meeting on what we have agreed on and resorting to rational objective dialogue concerning the issues that we have disagreed on.
Seventhly: This Islamic reality needs the decisive stand of the religious scholars in confronting the Takfiri groups on the level of public education, far from individualism, personalism or sectarianism. On the other hand, we should move on the level of the Fatwas and stands to confront all kinds of occupation because it represents a strategic danger that threatens the destiny of the entire nation.
This reality, with all its consequences, requires from all the Sunni and Shiite religious scholars to uphold their big responsibilities. It also requires from their religious authorities in Najaf, Koum, Al-Azhar, Al-Hijaz and in other centers, to be steadfast in front of the big challenges and lunch their conscious reaction that organizes all the efforts of the of the Council of Unification, the Islamic Scholars Gathering, the Islamic Conference Organization, the Islamic World League, and all the Islamic organizations to form the Islamic unity through a comprehensive Islamic charter and to pressurize all the religious Muslim scholars to intensify their movement for the sake of preserving Islamic unity and protecting the nation…
I call upon all the religious authorities to interfere directly in preserving this unity and to follow the movement of their representatives in the region making sure that it does not offend the Islamic unity but rather maintain the Islamic movement in the region and the entire world, especially that we are facing a critical stage that could pave the way for a universal unifying Islamic project after the failure of the opposed projects. Otherwise, we would fall in the quagmire, be at the margins and witness sectarian partisan wars. Consequently, the standing of Islam will also fall and its entity and existence will be weak and threatened.
Fadlullah: The sectarian crisis has begun to infringe on the big taboos
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
The Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah, issued a statement addressing the Muslim religious scholars in which he said: “In the midst of the events that are devastating the Muslim world and in the course of the escalation of the crisis and the formation of political sectarian axes in the nation, in addition to the internal, political and cultural struggle motivated by illusions of protecting this group or that, I would like to address the Sunni and Shiite Muslim religious scholars and ask them to uphold their historic responsibility towards the nation and its destiny.
I notice that our Muslim world is collapsing under the blows of the American-Israeli attack that seek to burn it with consecutive internal strives, while I do not find any intensive Islamic focusing on the dangers of this attack that aims at fragmenting the region. Instead there is a sectarian engrossment at the expense of the general Islamic interests, a traverse from sectarianism to personalism and individualism, and a consecration of many leaders who, in their consciousness and movement, do not have any Islamic values and do not aspire the nation’s welfare.
I am really astonished by how the occupation armies are blockading the nation inside its countries in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan and establishing huge military bases in other places, while some of our countries are making studies on the numbers of Sunnis and Shiites and their fighters. It is as if the Shiite and Sunni sects represent two antagonistic clans, and what we should do is to predict what is going to happen after the big fighting between these two clans occurs.
Faced by this difficult and critical situation that is escalating day by day, I appeal to the Sunni and Shiite scholars in the region and call upon them to have the final word towards this situation, be aware of what is happening and direct people towards the following issues:
Firstly: The sectarian crisis has begun to infringe on the big taboos and we have started to loose the ethics of criticism and offend others through insulting the Prophet’s (p.) companions and his Household (a.s.). We are also witnessing a backward reality that is guarded by many leaders who are not sincere to the nation or to Islam and seek only to promote their own interests and remain committed to their engagements rather than looking for the higher interest. Therefore, the Islamic Sunni and Shiite religious scholars should start to confront this reality, not only on the level of prohibiting it by words, but also on the level of the movement that sieges it on the ground.
Secondly: We see that several Muslim religious scholars here and there are trying to ride the waves of sectarianism that the American oppressor paves the way for in Iraq and the countries around it. Thus, every party starts to call for protection of a sectarian Muslim group and starts to talk about the atrocities that the other group commits… Then we witness a conference that is attended by well-known Muslim scholars and we listen to words from other Muslim scholars and to Fatwas that pour oil on the fire in order to confuse people and distort the public scene on the nation’s level. Therefore, we are afraid on the nation not only from the oppressor, but also from the nation’s children and those who are supposed to be the conscious vanguard in preserving and protecting the nation's unity. This issue drives us to call upon these scholars and tell them: "Fear God. You are about to lose the nation and plunge it into instinctive sectarian mazes that wipe out everything everywhere. You must siege these sectarian incitements in their birth place.
Thirdly: The Muslim religious scholars should not be the victim or the mount of the American project that seeks to divide the nation into two axes. One of which is “moderate” and the other is “extremist”. That is because this division does not serve any Islamic party, but it rather promotes the revitalization of the American movement in the region after it has sunk in the Iraqi and Afghani quagmire and after the setback in Lebanon as a result of the fiasco of the latest Israeli war on Lebanon.
We should know that the alternative of the American Administration failure in Lebanon is to inflame the fire of sectarian strife on the one hand and stir up the spirit of internal fighting on the other hand. An example of this is what is happening in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, where America is urging the Palestinians to fight each other. It also wants the Lebanese people to be more engrossed in their internal problems and it is trying to prevent them from reaching a solution that serves stability in the country. It wants a solution which serves only Israel that is working on reinforcing its power and rebuilding its army and intelligence.
The American Administration also wants Iraq to stay occupied with the sectarian and racial shares creating an internal chaos that threatens to turn into a civil war because this will strengthen the American occupation of Iraq and thus, realize the American strategic interests at the expense of the nation’s interests.
Fourthly: The western axis that is led by America is still insisting on revitalizing the American project and not admitting its defeat in Iraq. This is because it knows that this admission will serve the interests of the Muslim and liberation movements. Hence, the attempts of this axis focus on protecting the western project that aims at inflaming the fire of sectarianism among Muslims.
Fifthly, the strategic issues of Muslims in most of their countries have become subjected to the projects that are made by others to solve the latter’s own interests armed by a devious scheme that claims to be interested in solving the problems of Muslims of this country or that. These projects are serving their own interests and not ours. For this reason, the leaders, especially, the conscious and faith religious scholars must move to solve the problems of Muslims.
We want all the Sunni and Shiite authorities to start studying the problems of the Islamic world on the ground, through holding practical meetings disregarding all the traditions of the protocol that prevent some parties from effectual participation. This is because the gravity of the crisis overrides any protocol the religious authorities may be concerned with.
Sixthly: God wanted Muslims to be strong, competent, and able to have an effective role in determining the world decision. They should also be open on the element of progress in the economic aspect to increase their wealth; in the political aspect to establish the basis of freedom and independence, and in the social aspect, to preserve the Islamic unity that is based on meeting on what we have agreed on and resorting to rational objective dialogue concerning the issues that we have disagreed on.
Seventhly: This Islamic reality needs the decisive stand of the religious scholars in confronting the Takfiri groups on the level of public education, far from individualism, personalism or sectarianism. On the other hand, we should move on the level of the Fatwas and stands to confront all kinds of occupation because it represents a strategic danger that threatens the destiny of the entire nation.
This reality, with all its consequences, requires from all the Sunni and Shiite religious scholars to uphold their big responsibilities. It also requires from their religious authorities in Najaf, Koum, Al-Azhar, Al-Hijaz and in other centers, to be steadfast in front of the big challenges and lunch their conscious reaction that organizes all the efforts of the of the Council of Unification, the Islamic Scholars Gathering, the Islamic Conference Organization, the Islamic World League, and all the Islamic organizations to form the Islamic unity through a comprehensive Islamic charter and to pressurize all the religious Muslim scholars to intensify their movement for the sake of preserving Islamic unity and protecting the nation…
I call upon all the religious authorities to interfere directly in preserving this unity and to follow the movement of their representatives in the region making sure that it does not offend the Islamic unity but rather maintain the Islamic movement in the region and the entire world, especially that we are facing a critical stage that could pave the way for a universal unifying Islamic project after the failure of the opposed projects. Otherwise, we would fall in the quagmire, be at the margins and witness sectarian partisan wars. Consequently, the standing of Islam will also fall and its entity and existence will be weak and threatened.
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