Sayyed
Fadlullah: we should hasten to act before all parasites
of localism and sectarianism will return us to the times of
pre-Islamic ignorance,
Asked in
his weekly seminar the following question: How do we
confront the problem of localism?
The Religious Authority, Sayyed
Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah, said:
One of the phenomena that has
grown in our Islamic societies is the emergence of localism and
its precedence over the national or Islamic issues. Such a
development had led the Islamic movement in most cases to be
more concerned with local issues at the expense of the issues
that have to do with the welfare, strength and even the very
existence of the nation.
Although this problem came to
exist as a result of the pressures of the external forces on the
Arab and Islamic societies and the consequent besiege of the
international arrogance, we cannot but admit that these
movements have fallen into the political and sectarian traps
that were laid for them. As a result they have pursued to
achieve local political gains at the expense of the general
welfare of Islam, whether in its principles and rulings or in
the actions and sayings of the Prophet(p.) , the Imams and the
faithful believers who have stressed on the need of the cohesion
of the Islamic nation, considering it as a single body. They
also stressed that the general Islamic issues should take
precedence over local ones.
The Prophet (p.) worked on
unifying the Islamic society on the basis of making each section
of this society feel that they are duty-bound to care about the
affairs of the Muslims. Any neglect to these affairs will be
equivalent to practically leaving the Islamic circle. This does
not mean that the Muslims should relinquish their regional or
national affiliations, but rather, that they should not allow
these affiliations to control their thinking , when it comes to
dealing with the major issues. Such a prospect even if it leads
to partial successes will eventually harvest greet losses.
We notice nowadays unjustified
preoccupations, on the part of most Islamic movements, with
local issues at the expense of the affairs of the nation on the
basis of giving this or that party or movement a position in the
government or a seat in the parliament. This has been reflected
on the general body of the nation which has been put on a
critical cross roads between the international and especially
American covets, and the sectarian strife whose initial
indications, are beginning to appear. There is already much talk
about the betrayal of this party or the loyalty of the party in
fighting the occupation.
Talking about treason and
treachery is in most cases the responsibility of those who have
laid their discourse on sectarian grounds, and those who have
educated the nation, one generation after the other, on
sectarian affiliations, in such a way that they allowed the
occupier to enter from the window, having been thrown out,
through jihad, from the door.
Nevertheless, the issue of jihad
had always to be supplemented on the ideological level with the
emphasis on the need for unification , since it has always run
into the wall of the superficiality of the parties concerned in
understanding the religion , subjectivity and selfishness. We
need in these critical times, extraordinary unification
initiatives that could deduce realistic mechanisms to lead the
nation out of the hellfire of enclosed sectarian.
The Islamic movements should be
aware of the dangerousness of what is going on, and make every
effort to reinvigorate Islam in their political affairs. This is
the only way which will make them get out of the cave of
sectarianism to the broad horizon of Islam and. This is true
whether in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, or any other Islamic
country .
The battlefront awaits us with
all the challenges that America and Israel have imposed. We have
to act on all levels so that we will arm our people with
awareness and create a political and jihadi movement that has a
clear and well defined purpose . If we do not hasten to act then
all these parasites and hatreds will return us to the times of
pre-Islamic ignorance, even if they claim to be talking in the
name of religion and liberation.