Sunni clerics interview on Hezbollah

[shiasoldier786]

Sheikh Maher Hammoud is an influential Sunni Muslim cleric based in Sidon, Lebanon. He is one of a handful of senior Sunni clerics who has defied the prevailing political current and sided firmly with Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Islamist movement that draws most of its members and supporters from Lebanon's Shi'ite community.

This interview was conducted in Sidon on November 17 and 26.

Mahan Abedin: As a prominent Sunni leader, how do you justify supporting Hezbollah's political position in Lebanon?

Maher Hammoud: We consider support for Hezbollah and its resistance - with its instigation to the ummah [global Islamic community] to rise and stand up against the arrogant schemes and its call for the unification of Muslims - a religious duty. What Hezbollah offers the Islamic nation as a whole is far greater than any classification of Sunni and Shi'ite; especially in the light of the strategic importance attached to Hezbollah by the United States and Israel.

Hezbollah's affect on Lebanese political life and more broadly on the morale of the ummah can't be reduced to any sectarian classification. Although Hezbollah has [mainly] Shi'ite members, and that is considered a weakness, there are bigger considerations that make this issue insignificant and in any case, Hezbollah is trying to overcome this weakness by building a more diverse support base.

MA: Do you believe Hezbollah has an agenda that goes beyond "resistance"?

MH: No, I don't believe that Hezbollah has a hidden agenda. I think the notion of a so-called Shi'ite crescent is all a bunch of lies made up by the weak and the agents. Everyone knows that the Shi'ites in Iraq are different from those in Lebanon and both are different from those in Iran and that they don't share the same culture, let alone the same scheme.

Without a doubt, some Iraqi Shi'ite [political forces] are part of the American project, whereas the Islamic resistance in Lebanon is working hard against the Israeli-American project; therefore the two fronts can't form a united scheme. The only scheme I see is the promotion of the theme of the inevitability of the demise of Israel, and the work that is done towards achieving that goal. That goal is an absolutely pure Islamic one that can't be classified into insignificant sectarian categories; and considering that this is a divine premise which is inevitable, we are sure that it will be achieved only by those approved of by God.

MA: What are your views towards the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiyah?

MH: Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiyah are our friends and family and despite the fact that I left the community over 30 years ago, I still share the same culture and the same ideology and I still recommend the same books we studied in the Jamaa and I still feel close to them despite their dreadful mistakes.

We always advised them through letters and through meetings, but their latest stances and positions can't be ignored. They have become extremely sectarian and prejudice has blinded them to the extent that they have deviated sharply from their original goals. The problem is that they have convinced the public that their stands are Islamic, but the truth is they are based upon sectarian issues and closed-mindedness which narrowly define Islamic principles and values based upon false interests and the benefit of [Jamaa] leaders.

But this doesn't mean that I don't think that the Jamaa can't mend its ways, especially after the victory of the [islamic resistance movement] Hamas and in light of [Hamas'] cooperation with Hezbollah and Iran, which will in due course lead to critical strategic developments that would lead to them [ie, Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiyah] backing down whether they are willing or not.

MA: How do you see the long-term strategic orientation of Lebanon; will it be pro- or anti-Western?

MH: Of course, the whole region, alongside Lebanon, is diverging from American policy. There are seven major global and regional signs that point towards the decline of American power in this region: 1) [uS President Barack] Obama has backed down on all of [George W] Bush's major foreign policy slogans; 2) Renewing American hegemony on the false premise of "democracy" and "freedom" promotion has been completely blown off course; 3) Both the Europeans and Americans are eager to engage Syria; 4) The Saudi clique led by Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud has departed the scene and made way for a new and more enlightened foreign policy elite; 5) Convergence of Saudi and Syrian views on Lebanon; 6) The growing strength of the "resistance" in Iraq and Afghanistan; 7) Iran's success in advancing its peaceful civilian nuclear program.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KL09Ak01.html

[TheHealer]

Intresting...........that too coming from a Saudi Wahhabi cleric. But honestly these opinions are shared by very, very few people of Wahhabi persuation................

[shiasoldier786]

I wouldnt call him a ''wahabbi'', but from the interview, it does mention that he shares the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, hence is most likely to be a salafi. There is a big difference between the two.

[Guest Zahratul_Islam]

Sickening poison for the mindless

[Fiasco]

Sickening poison for the mindless

Would u mind elaborating?

[Allahuakbar]

^ Yes, please do elaborate. Which part of the text is "poison?"