ODFS Director denounces cleric who incites violence in Syria
Monday, 3 June 2013
Ribal Al-Assad. Director of ODFS has denounced a radical cleric who has called on Sunni Muslims to murder Shi’ites, Jews, Christians and Alawites in Syria. In a report from the Boston Times radical cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi is reported to have said the following in his Friday sermon:
‘‘I call on Muslims everywhere to help their brothers be victorious,’’ Yusuf al-Qaradawi said in his Friday sermon in the Qatari capital of Doha. ‘‘If I had the ability I would go and fight with them.’’
‘‘Everyone who has the ability and has training to kill . . . is required to go,’’ said Qaradawi, who is in his 80s. ‘‘We cannot ask our brothers to be killed while we watch.’’
He denounced Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, as ‘‘more infidel than Christians and Jews’’ and Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah as ‘‘the party of the devil.’’
Commenting on the cleric’s address Ribal Al-Assad said:
ODFS Director denounces cleric who incites sectarian violence in Syria
“I am appalled at the words of this cleric; this rhetoric serves to divide on sectarian lines and could lead to a regional war. The situation in Syria is bad enough without this horrific and grossly irresponsible man using religion for his own extremist agenda.
This type of cleric labeling Muslims who do not share their perverted ideology (including Sunnis, Shias, Alawites, Druze, Ismailis...) and other religions such as Christians and Jews as “Infidels”, which is totally and utterly deplorable, because in their distorted belief, this means that they have to wage Jihad and kill all who they perceive as "Infidels". There is absolutely no place for people like him in society.
There is a Surah in the Quran which says:
‘He who kills an innocent soul is as if he had killed all humankind, and he who saves a life is as if he had saved the lives of all humankind’
Clerics should work to unite all Muslims together, guiding them along a path of peace – dividing Muslims and inciting them to kill is “Fitnah” the biggest sin in Islam.
The international community must stand up and take a firm stance against these supposed ‘clerics’ who incite killing, hatred and violence. They must be brought to justice.”