Takfiri groups, a creation of West to divide Muslims: Iran president

Rasa - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says the West has created Takfiri outfits that have nothing to do with the holy faith of Islam in a bid to sow discord among Muslims.

News ID: 436438

Date: 16 February 2018 - 01:40

RNA - Rouhnai made the remarks in a meeting with a group of elites, religious clerics and leaders of the Muslim community in the Indian city of Hyderabad on Thursday.

"The Western world has made Muslim countries preoccupied with themselves through creating discord among them," he said.

"The existing differences are while Shias and Sunnis lived brotherly together for centuries, where in Iraq and Syria all religions had peaceful coexistence," Rouhani added.

The president called India a "living museum of peaceful coexistence of different religions, faiths and beliefs."

The West, he said, has created split among Muslims and established groups in the name of Islam and Jihad that have nothing to do with Islam and are known as Takfiri outfits.

Rouhani said the Islamic Republic, from its very inception, has been calling for unity and independence and a "Look East" policy and standing with the regional nations to eradicate war and violence.

According to Press TV, the president also said problems in Muslim countries cannot be solved through the barrel of guns and military means, adding there is need for logic, reasoning and dialogue to sort them out.

"We do not want to have any gap with any Muslim country or regional states and friendly nations," Rouhani pointed out.

Rouhani has traveled to India at the head of a high-ranking politico-economic delegation.

Tehran and New Delhi are expected to sign almost 15 agreements on trade and economic cooperation during Rouhani's three-day visit to India.

Rouhani will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday when both are expected to sign an agreement allowing India to run operations in the first phase of the Chabahar port project.

847/940