Lebanese Sunni Imam, Shaykh Maher Hammoud:

“Hezbollah saved Syria and Lebanon from Takfiris”

Rasa – The Sunni Imam of the al-Quds Mosque in Sidon, Lebanon, Shaykh Maher Hammoud, has stated that he believes that the Takfiri phenomenon which falsely calls itself an “Islamic State” is still in its infancy but by analysing it, it is obvious that it will end quickly.

News ID: 1180

Date: 19 September 2014 - 17:28

RNA – The Sunni Imam of the al-Quds Mosque in Sidon, Lebanon, Shaykh Maher Hammoud, has stated that he believes that the Takfiri phenomenon which falsely calls itself an “Islamic State” is still in its infancy but by analysing it, it is obvious that it will end quickly.

He stated that there are several reason for the quick demise of the IS. The first is that Saudi funding will eventually end and in addition, the Americans will also not continue to fund the IS for much longer. The most important reason for the quick demise of the Takfiri phenomenon is the lack of real roots for its continuation, and ideas propagated by the IS are not based on a true understanding of Islam. Another reason is that the aggressive actions of the IS in the region towards Muslims, Christians and other religious groups has isolated them from humanity. If we look at the history of Islam, we see that it is a tolerant religion.

In regards to the over hyped conflict between Sunni Muslims and the Shi’ite-led Islamic resistance group Hezbollah, Shaykh Hammoud said that the relationship has been excellent in recent years, especially between 2000 and 2006 and but that since then it has been falsely stated that there is a sectarian crisis between Sunnis and Hezbollah. Shaykh Hammoud stated that these rumours were fabricated by the American, Israel and Arab and Persian Gulf country’s intelligence and media corporations. “IS’ funding comes from the US, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and their desires goals are all in the favour of Israel. By targeting the Islamic resistance, they target Islamic unity. IS will never fight Israel,” the Sunni leader explained.

The Americans have spent a lot of money to propagate sectarianism, division and disunity among Muslim sects. Shaykh Hammoud said: “we mention a speech from the former American ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman, who said that the United States has spent $500 million to tarnish the image of Hezbollah... This is despite that over 33% of the Lebanese Sunni community strongly supports Hezbollah.”

“The battle that is being fought today in Arsal is a battle of life and death. If it wasn’t for Hezbollah, the IS and the Takfiri militants would have invaded many other Lebanese towns and cities and would have slaughtered endless numbers of people, especially Christians. Hezbollah saved Lebanon from these Takfiris,” Shaykh Hammmoud concluded.

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