Leading Sunni and Shiite figures agreed Wednesday that clerics and Muslim Ulema ought to play a more active role in supporting Arab causes in the face of international pressure.
At a conference held in the Lebanese Commodore Hotel, some 130 clergy figures from the Far East, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East attended the meeting.
Speaking during the opening of the two-day conference for “Saving Jerusalem and Support for the Palestinian People”, Heads of the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance movements and senior Shiite and Sunni clergy men emphasized the role that they could play in promoting the Palestinian cause.
Lebanon’s Daily Star reports that Hizbollah’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah spoke about “the need for honest fatwas” and also the threat of “killing the essence of the resistance.” “This threat can only be overcome with the help of the Ulema all around the Muslim world,” Nasrallah stressed.
Over the last twenty years, resistance movements throughout Lebanon and Palestine have been recognized as groups that “qualified for victory” Nasrallah said, citing their suicide operations and continuous commitment to undertake resistance activities.
Nasrallah argued that the main character of a “Mujahid” (holy warrior) is his strong belief in God and his willingness to die in his name. “This belief creates inside of him an unimaginable ability to tolerate pain,” the Secretary General added.
“When voices hired by leading news televisions and satellite channels come and say that suicide attacks are against religion, that they are not a form of martyrdom, and that standing in the face of Israel under the prevailing circumstances will lead to destruction of the nation, they shake the belief of resistance fighters,” he said.
Nasrallah explained: “We are not asking for political Fatwas (religious edicts) that justify the strategic decisions that we have already adopted. We are only asking for honest Fatwas”.
Mashaal Comments
Head of Hamas’ politburo, Khaled Mashaal, invited clergymen throughout the Muslim world to “arouse the nation” to interact and support the resistance. He also highlighted the importance of talking about suicide operations and their status regarding Jihad.
Mashaal also pointed out the necessity of finding a clear Muslim definition for terrorism “in the face of the American and Zionist definition of the term”. He spoke of his hope that international events would not shake Arab and Islamic values, goals and principles. “The resistance will continue, it is our destiny, and our strategic alternative,” Mashaal assured.
As for establishing a political settlement with Israel, Mashaal said that it has “torn our people apart, destroyed our national unity, and turned a part of our people into servants of Israel’s security”. He added that the peace option has weakened a part of the political leadership of the Palestinian people, “many of whom have become professional beggars.”
Other Speakers
Iranian cleric Sayyed Ali Akbar Mohtashami, who also attended the meeting, invited Ulema to enhance the creation of a fund for the support of Palestine. In addition, he criticized the American bias toward Israel as well as America’s actions in the United Nations.
Mohtashami also said the international community was well aware that Palestinian resistance was a legitimate right, “a right also stipulated by the UN charter.”
Sheikh Yehia Ismail Ahmad, Azhar Ulema Secretary-General, criticized Washington’s approach to the Palestinian issue. Ahmad said that while many Palestinian mothers are not able to find anyone to cry with them over the loss of their children in the conflict, former United States President Bill Clinton recently issued a statement to mark the loss of his dog.
Speaking on behalf of the Syrian Mufti Ahmad Kaftaro, Sheikh Raja Dib invited Arabs and Muslims to overcome any of their differences and to strongly cooperate in order to reach victory. “Our world is witnessing a peculiar situation where the colonial media describes the resistance of unarmed citizens as terrorism” Dib concluded.
Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah urged clergymen to educate Muslims about the essence of the Palestinian cause, because, according to his views, “the Islamic world lacks awareness and cultural appreciation of this issue”.
Discussing the long history of the Palestinian issue, Fadlallah said that the problem with Arabs is that they always react rather than have their own plan. “The international game began, and Zionism started interfering in the Arab and Islamic world, instigating sectarian friction and introducing the fever of military coups and ideologies,” he stated.
Regarding Arab conduct, he conveyed that over the past five decades, the Arabs chose to act within small circles. This, according to him, eventually crippled them and made them boycott one another as well as fight wars against each other, Fadlallah explained. (Albawaba.com)
