RNA – Shaykh Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, the Grand Mufti of Syria, met with Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi in the Iranian holy city of Qom on Monday morning.
Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi offered his congratulations on the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad and said, “We witnessed the results of Islamic unity in Iraq, Syria and Iran and we tasted the sweetness of victory due to unity.”
During the meeting, Shaykh Hassoun described the situation of the Islamic world in the future as “good” and said, “The noble prophet Muhammad has told us that God Almighty spreads Islam throughout the world.”
He added, “During my recent visit to Russia, I observed that Muslims from many different countries are present in Russia and the number of Muslims in European countries is also significant and their populations are increasing day by day.”
The Grand Mufti of Syria stressed that Muslims do not differentiate between the followers of any religions and stated, “Muslims accept all religions and prophets of the past and believe in them while the followers of Judaism and Christianity do not accept Muslims.”
Shaykh Hassoun added, “Everyone expected that after the occupation of Syria by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist movement that Damascus would also fall and on this basis, the representatives of more than 100 countries gathered for conferences in Tunisia, Turkey, France Morocco, Italy, Jordan and Qatar and called themselves the ‘The Group of Friends of the Syrian People,’ and provided money for the purchase of weapons in order to destroy Syria.”
The Group of Friends of the Syrian People is an international collective of countries and bodies convening periodically on the topic of Syria and in support of the so-called “moderate opposition” outside the United Nations Security Council. The collective was created in response to a Russian and Chinese veto on a Security Council resolution condemning Syria.
The Syrian Arab News Agency denounced the April 2012 Istanbul conference, calling it “a series of related circles of conspiracy against Syria” and identified participants as “enemies of Syria.”
The Syrian cleric added that after Daesh occupied Syria and its people became desperate, Iran and Russia helped Syria and changed the equations in the region.
Shaykh Hassoun described Daesh as the “Kharijites of the current era” and added, “Members of the Daesh terrorist movement are descendants of the murderers of Imam Ali and Imam al-Husayn.”
The Grand Mufti of Syria described the terrorists as the utmost enemies of knowledge and the scholars and stated, “I have met with terrorists many times in prison but some of them are not even deserving of forgiveness and mercy because they explicitly say that if they are freed or escape from jail, they will kill us and are not willing to talk to anyone and only follow their desires and passions.”
He added, “The scholars of Islam will plant the seeds of unity and see the outcome of such actions. They must appreciate the greatness of the World Forum for the Proximity of the Islamic Schools of Thought and expand their level of activity.”
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