Sayyed Fadlullah: We have to be vigilant and rely on direct meetings to ensure the failure of such sectarian plots .

Asked in his weekly seminar the following question: After the martyrdom of Sayyed Muhammad Baqir Al-Hakim and scores of worshipers, attempts have been made to exploit this horrific crime to create sectarian divisions in Iraq and open the way to civil strife. Do you think there is an opportunity for those who are planning for such a development to succeed?

The Religious Authority Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah said:

One of the motives of those who committed this crime is probably to initiate civil strife between the Sunnis and the Shiites.

Towards this end, we noticed that several media sources and certain shady parties have hastened to give the issue a sectarian dimension.

But they were unable to harvest their desired results, for the Islamic reaction in Iraq, as was demonstrated by both Shiite and Sunni clerics and the effect they had on the Muslim Iraqi “street” that demonstrated its unity by the angry demonstrations that condemned the assassination, was able to thwart the vicious plot.

Nevertheless, more awareness is needed, in this stage, as well as monitoring any attempt to commit similar crimes which we feel that the occupation night be indirectly involved in, because it benefits from them on several levels.

Therefore, we should confront these developments by enhancing our political awareness that studies the deep-rooted motives of the crime. We also have to discover who is responsible for the assassination, for many states have begun to enter Iraq to benefit from the existing situation. In this respect, we notice that the struggle between the major powers does not focus on the principle of occupation, but on the share the US would give each country in the reconstruction or oil contracts.

We call upon our Iraqi brothers not to yield to this new situation and became distracted from their real cause, to liberate themselves from the occupation, especially that there are many plots and many international powers that would like to see Iraq sink in this state of turmoil to serve their own interests. Therefore, the Iraqis, having been liberated from the dictatorship, ought to prove to the world that they could run their own affairs without a need for an American or a British overseeing. They have to be weary of the rosy dreams the occupation spreads, for all they care about now is protecting their own soldiers having got sunk in the Iraqi quicksand.

The higher religious leaders of both sects ought to meet directly and study the repercussions of these crimes, so as to thwart the plots of civil strife that many are trying to incite.

Similarly, Shiite and Sunni religious leaders in the Islamic world should emphasize in their condemnation of this crime the critical importance of Islamic unity, and make every effort to fight the plot of inciting a civil strife that will not remain in Iraq alone. It will extend, as it is hoped, to the entire Islamic nation ending all its hopes of freedom and prosperity.