Fadlallah implores Muslims to unite their stands

Source: Daily Star, 09-01-2008
BEIRUT: Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said on Tuesday that the current phase is one of the most dangerous periods in Islamic history, calling on Muslims to stand united and foil all attempts to attack Islam's strength. Addressing Arabs and Muslims on the occasion of the Islamic New Year, or Hijra, to be celebrated on Wednesday, Fadlallah said, "Viciousness has emerged in order to destroy Islam on the political, economic, cultural and security levels."
"This period has drawn Islam into the labyrinth of international politics and economics [...] in a bid to deprive Islam of its power of participating in the world decision-making process," Fadlallah said.
The Hijra marks the emigration of the Prophet Mohammad and his followers to the city of Medina in 622, and is the first day of the Islamic calendar. Fadlallah urged Muslims to recover "the horizons of emigration" in an effort to vivify Islam "in the soul of [new] generations."
"Muslims should unite their stands and opinions ... and reject arrogance in order for them to emigrate from weakness to strength, from incapacity to power and from being on the margin of history to being effective in making history," he said.
Meanwhile, Higher Shiite Council vice president Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan in his Hijra message urged the Lebanese to welcome the Arab League initiative for Lebanon "with honesty and transparency."
"The Lebanese should elect the Lebanese Armed Forces commander [General Michel Suleiman] as president as soon as possible, establish a national unity government and work on resolving all living, economic, educational and health problems plaguing the country," Qabalan said.
Arab foreign ministers approved on Sunday a resolution calling for a national unity government in Lebanon to be formed in such a way that no one party can impose or block any decision.
The draft also endorses the election of Suleiman as the next president of Lebanon and says he should be the arbiter in any contested decision.
Qabalan also urged Lebanese citizens to remain in their country and to work for the good of its interests.
"The country should not be left in the hands of ferocious wolves," he said.
"The Lebanese should fight corruption as well as "Israel's" plans to attack the country's unity and stability," he said.