Intellectual Diversity Allowed in Islam But Wars Not: Lebanese Thinker
“Intellectual and jurisprudential diversity is legitimate in Islam but what is illegitimate is that this diversity leads to bloody conflict and war,” Sheikh Ghazi Hanina, chairman of the Assembly of Lebanese Muslim Scholars, told IQNA in an interview last month on the sidelines of the 36th International Conference on Islamic Unity in Tehran.
“The truth is that Islam and the religious text naturally contain different opinions,” he said, adding that it is a God-given mercy that Islam and the Quran did not come down for a single group with similar thoughts.
“Therefore, there have been differences in the understanding of the religious text since early Islam, and there have been differences even among the Muslims who lived at the time of the Holy Prophet (PBUH),” noted the cleric.
Those Sunni or Shia scholars who use these differences to initiate bloody conflicts between Muslims are working in favor of foreign intelligence services, especially the CIA, he added.
“These people are certainly serving the Zionist enemy because any division between Muslims is a service to the enemy,” stressed the scholar.
“The most important reason behind the lack of unity between Muslims is that rulers and political forces are using the religious text to sow discord in the Ummah,” Hanina said.
Asked about the meaning of proximity between Islamic thoughts, he said that this means that every Muslim accepts others in the manner they are and refrains from protesting or insulting them.
He also went on to name the Palestinian issue as a topic that can bring unity to Muslims around the globe. “The Palestinian issue is the main axis in our lives.”
“Taking back Palestine from the Zionist enemy, returning the Palestinian nation to their land, establishing their independent government, and improving the situation of the community will be at the center of Muslim Ummah focus.”
The 36th International Conference on Islamic Unity was held here in the Iranian capital on October 9-11, 2022.
Some 200 foreign guests from 60 countries and 100 Iranian guests addressed the conference in person and virtually.
The International Islamic Unity Conference is annually held in Iran by the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought (WFPIST) on the occasion of Islamic Unity Week.
The 17th day of Rabi al-Awwal, which fell on October 13 this year, is believed by Shia Muslims to mark the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), while Sunni Muslims regard the 12th day of the month (Sunday, October 9) as the birthday of the last prophet.
The interval between the two dates is celebrated every year as Islamic Unity Week.
The late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran Imam Khomeini (RA) declared the occasion as Islamic Unity Week back in the 1980s.
4092981
