JEDDAH, 6 March 2004 — Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, the imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, yesterday urged the Iraqis to end the bloodshed and work for unity.
The imam also blasted the newly established US-run Al-Hurra television channel for causing “intellectual chaos and confusion” among Muslims.
Delivering his Friday sermon to hundreds of thousands of faithful who packed the large mosque complex, Sudais warned Iraqis their disunity and infighting would only serve their enemies. “The ongoing bloodbath in Iraq must be condemned because it serves the enemy preying on the wealth of Iraq and its resources,” he said.
The Haram imam stressed the importance of correcting wrong religious notions in the light of Qur’an and Sunnah, citing ignorance, nepotism, partisanship, vested interests and love of publicity as the chief causes for the spread of wrong ideologies in Muslim countries.
The imam decried the growing number of tragedies in the Islamic world, in an apparent reference to recent sectarian violence in Iraq and Pakistan, which claimed the lives of more than 200 Muslims.
Many Muslims mistook deviations and false concepts for the main teachings of the religion, he said.
He emphasized the need to promote a correct understanding of Islam to strengthen Muslim unity. “Those who read the events of history will find that misconceptions have triggered crises and conflicts not only in Islamic countries but the whole world,” he said.
Such misconceptions served to divide Muslims and helped their enemies dominate them, the imam said, citing the murder of Caliphs Uthman and Ali as well as famous Muslim leaders like Hussein, Ibn Zubair and Ibn Jubair.
Sheikh Sudais denounced a “war of ideas” being waged by parts of the Western media with the aim of imposing particular cultural and intellectual patterns and dictating specific reforms in the name of globalization, openness and freedom.
The US government-funded Al-Hurra Arabic channel was aimed at sowing doubt among Muslims, especially women, about Islamic teachings and discrediting Islamic principles. “It spreads intellectual chaos and destroys the correct thinking of the Ummah and its cultural heritage,” he said.
Sheikh Sudais also criticized liberals and secularists among Muslims, saying “they follow the wrong way ... and call followers of the right path bad names like Wahhabis.”
Modern information technology must be harnessed to promote the right Islamic concepts, he added.
