Sayyed Fadlullah: The Iraqi People Should Be Aware of the Arrogant Dubious Attempts of to Incite Sectarian Strife.

Asked in his weekly seminar about the impact of inciting sectarian issues particularly in Iraq on the Arab and Islamic cause as a whole

The Religious Authority Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah said:

Sectarian differences in Islam could be found in the fields of jurisprudence and “theology”, as a result of being a difference in understanding Quranic texts and traditions. This is a natural phenomenon that should remain in the intellectual level, and one that should be solved on the basis of the Quranic solutions that we should refer our differences to Allah, the most Exalted, and His Messenger(p.) , as well as the guiding command to say what we want to say or engage in any debate in the best possible way.

The dialogue, thus, should be an objective and scientific one away from any pressures the enemies of Islam and Muslim might exercise. Many of out clerics who call for Islamic union have adopted this attitude countering those who are associated with international arrogance or those who are merely ignorant that try to magnify and inflate the internal Islamic differences, either by accusing one another of being not Islamic or by suggesting that things that Muslims differ on are greater than what they agree on.

As for the political issue regarding the Muslims’ position towards the arrogant powers and tyrant rulers, we believe that all Muslims who agree on rejecting foreign occupation whether political, economic or settling ought to start from the fact that they all refuse occupation in principle even if they differ on the way to confront it; for resistance is not merely a slogan or an emotional reaction. It is an agenda, a plan and a conscious leadership that is aware of the Nation’s concerns…

A difference in view might occur between those who believe that we ought to resist at any cost and regardless of the circumstances, and between those who believe that we ought to start by peaceful resistance while working on preparing the resources and the conditions that allow us to start a full fledged confrontation. In this case, both parties should engage in an objective dialogue that studies the situation as it is and the circumstances that enable the resistance to start. For if one party starts to accuse the other of betraying the cause it will enable the occupation to have the upper hand, by using the old imperial method of “divide and rule”.

Muslims should be aware of the political and media campaigns the occupation initiates to make the problem like an internal Shiite-Sunni dispute. The difference in how to confront the occupation is not a Shiite-Sunni difference.

There are those among the Shiites who believe in military resistance although they might believe that the situation is not ripe yet and there are those among the Sunni who believe in peaceful resistance. Therefore it is not a Shiite-Sunni disagreement but rather a difference in viewpoints like any other political or economic one.

The issue of a tyrant oppressing a certain sect is another issue that has been widely misread. If a Sunni ruler persecutes some Shiites it does not mean that the Sunnis are oppressing the Shiites and vice-versa. Both Shiites and Sunnis believe that oppression and injustice is unlawful whether against Muslims or any other human being for that matter. Thus, Sunnis and Shiites cannot be engaged in any civil strife as long as they adhere to Islam. Therefore they should be vigilant and continue to monitor these dubious media campaigns to incite such disputes… These matters are mainly of political roots, and if some are due to certain jurisprudent judgment, the jurists should make sure that the dialogue conducted about them should remain rational and objective. We are living at a time the ground is shaking under our feet and the International arrogance is on the move to undermine Islam and Muslims and dominate their countries and resources. In these circumstances all these meaningless debates ought to be frozen.