Sayyed Fadlullah calls on all Muslims to use all cultural means in defending Islam and Prophet Muhammad (p.)
| Fadlullah: Some Western parties insist on widening the gap with the Muslim world under the pretext of freedom of expression |
The Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah issued a statement in which he condemned the repeated offenses made by some Western officials against Prophet Muhammad (p.). The last of which was the offense that the German Minister of Interior had made, as it was reported by the media.
The Sayyed said:
It seems that there are some parties in the West who insist on widening the gap between the Muslim world and the Western world, through offending the Muslims sacred symbols, particularly the Holy Quran and Prophet Muhammad (p.).
We had thought that the issue of the offending drawings has ended, but we were surprised to see that the Danish newspapers have republished them. At a time, the religious scholars and the conscious thinkers in the Muslim world, are working to prevent any negative or violent reactions, and to emphasize the necessity of protesting in a civilized way, some emotional stands are made by officials who ought to be objective in treating sensitive issues that might refuel the anger of one and a half billion Muslims. These issues might also bring the relations between the Muslims and the West into complications that we have been working on getting rid of, especially that what the German Minister of the Interior said encourages publishing the offending drawings.
We will not stop at the statement that he has said in which he called on the European newspapers to publish the offending drawings, under the pretense of what he called "freedom of expression", though he denied that later, but we would like to draw the attention of the educated people in the West and the public opinion, to some issues:
Firstly: The basis of justifying the publishing the offending drawing is the freedom off expression. We also believe in the principle of freedom of expression, but this expression-especially concerning the issues that are related to the diversity of religions- should be side by side with the principle of respect, otherwise, this freedom would lose its cultural humanitarian concept and turn into a kind of aggression against the other human being, through offending his sacred symbols, regardless of the difference in defining the sacred symbol of this or that sect. Besides, the Western concept regarding the freedom of expression leads to permitting the aggression against the other's sacred symbols, in a way that turns any difference into an emotional instinctive reaction, instead of creating a scientific and an objective dialogue. For that reason, the concept of freedom ought to be reconsidered so that the principle will be more civilized.
Secondly: The hypersensitivity that the European countries and other Western countries practice against criticizing any Jewish issues, considering such criticism as anti-Semitism, reveals that the Western view regarding the principle of freedom of expression is not universal in itself. It also reveals a kind of electivity in applying this principle, as it stands with the Jews, allowing them to act freely in violating all what is related to Islam and its sacred symbols.
We say to all the Western parties that call for respecting the Jewish sensitivities that: If you really care for rebuilding what was ruined in the relation with the Muslim world, you should treat Muslims in the same way you treat the Jews.
Thirdly: We call all Muslims in the world, especially the Muslim communities living in the West, to use all cultural means in defending Islam and its sacred symbols, in order to defend Islam through all cultural and media outlets. Such a campaign should involve all Muslim scientific, cultural, and media outlets and organizations.
Fourthly: We call all official and non official economic sectors in the Muslim world to launch the plans and programs that warn all sectors that sponsor the offenses against Islam, that the issue of offending Islam can not be ignored, whenever some people feel that they can make cultural aggressions, without facing a decisive reaction on the level of the economic boycott in the Muslim world.
Fifthly: The UN should shoulder its responsibility in issuing a resolution that forbids offending the religions as well as in applying the previous resolutions that it has made in this respect.
Lastly: As we lay stress on these issues, it is important to emphasize that the door of holding dialogue with the West, within its cultural, political and religious sectors, should be open. We also consider that there is an essential need for conducting the open dialogue with the institutions, research centers, and the dignitaries in the West in order to unite the efforts for the sake of preventing the movement of cultural and media destruction from being free and cutting the bridges of communication between people, races and religions, in a bid to threaten the world peace.