(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, confirmed that Islam has nothing to do with the crimes that targeted Christian churches in Nigeria, regardless of the mentality of whoever executed these criminal acts, and he called for denouncing these crimes and any similar massacres by taking a decisive religious stand. He also called for a Christian – Islamic meeting to issue a unified stand from the massacres. His Eminence issued a statement on the crimes that targeted some Christian churches in Nigeria. Following is the text of the statement:The attacks that targeted a number of churches in Nigeria, resulting in the death and injury of tens of victims, represent the utmost level of brutality and criminality, regardless of the side responsible for these attacks and the claims on the basis of which they performed these criminal acts.He added: True Islam has nothing to do with these crimes that seem revengeful and that some might try to justify through their closed mentalities and confined attitudes that are marked with fanaticism and lethal grudge.He continued: Islam rejects these acts that represent a direct aggression on the soul that Allah forbade killing except in what is right. It also represents an aggression on the freedom of worship that Islam guaranteed to the followers of all the Divine messages. At a time we condemn these crimes, we call on the Muslim religious scholars and authorities to confront them with a decisive religious stand, expose whoever is standing behind them and demonstrating the tolerance of Islam and its openness on the others, especially on the followers of Jesus Christ (a.s.) whom Allah talked about in the Quran: “and you will certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who believe (to be) those who say: We are Christians; this is because there are priests and monks among them and because they do not behave proudly.” (05:82).He added: We emphasize the necessity of turning the occasions of Christmas and New Year’s Eve into a chance for engaging in a high-level Islamic – Christian dialogue and an opportunity to open up to the mutual values promoted by both Islam and Christianity, at the top of which is respecting man in his life, freedom and all his rights that no one can take the credit for giving them to him, for they are the natural rights Allah bestowed upon man.Amidst these massacres and other similar massacres taking place in our region which might be emanating from the same mentality or from direct or indirect encouragement by the international arrogance, we call for a unifying Islamic – Christian dialogue capable of producing a unified stand from these attacks and massacres so that the Muslims and Christians would have the same stand against all forms of injustice, especially that they are all targeted to the benefit of a scheme that aims at fragmenting, scattering and partitioning all the unifying elements.On another level, a delegation from the institution of His Eminence, the Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah (ra), headed by Sheikh Hassan Kresht paid a visit to the Catholic Archbishopric in Tyre and congratulated Archbishop George Baq’ouni on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Jesus Christ (a.s.) and New Year’s Eve. The delegation also visited the Maronite Archbishopric and the Roman Orthodox Archbishopric in the city and congratulated Archbishop Shukrallah Nabil Al-Hajj and Archimandrite Jack Khalil respectively on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Jesus Christ (a.s.) and New Year’s Eve. During the three visits, the discussions focused on the means of deepening the Islamic – Christian dialogue and asserting it in the daily relations, and the communication means at the level of the people and religious scholars./129
