In the beginning of his fiqh course, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi condemned the terrorist attacks in France and said: “Islam condemns terrorism about everyone (friend or foe)”.
He, then, referred to the reaction of the European governments to these incidents and continued: “their first reaction was to hold a rally in which the presidents of forty countries took part and this rally was like a pain reliever for the terrified Europe and had its temporary effects”.
Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi called the assault on the Muslims, and in particular the Shiites, another reaction of the Westerners to the terrorist attacks and stated: “unfortunately they generalized these actions taken by the ISIL about all Muslims while the Muslim scholars are insisting and emphasizing that the ISIL is not a part of Islam”.
His eminence further continued: “the fact that various congresses against the ISIL has been held in the holy city of Qom and in Egypt and Syria indicates that ISIL is not a part of Islam; so why have the Europeans generalized the terrorist attacks of the ISIL to all Muslims and anger them against yourselves? Is generalizing the terrorist attacks of a small terrorist group to all Muslims a logical thing to do? You must condemn the terrorists so why do you tease and trouble the Muslims?”
He called the third reaction of the Europeans, with regard to the terrorist attacks, publishing insulting caricatures of the great Prophet (pbuh) and said: “the magazine that has been the victim of the terrorist attacks has announced that it will prepare some caricatures of the great Prophet (pbuh) and will publish a lot of copies of them. Is this really a rational thing to do?”
His eminence, then, stated: “Insulting the great Prophet (pbuh) is a declaration of war to all Muslims; if you have sustained a loss at the hands of the ISIL, is it a rational reaction to take your revenge on all Muslims? You have to think more about this”.
He further addressed the Europeans and said: “you must find the roots of these terrorist attacks and destroy them. If aid is not given to the ISIL by some countries, the people and the government of Iraq will very soon annihilate them; you do no need to form an alliance to defeat the ISIL; you just need to stop aid and assistance to be given to them. If they do not receive assistance and aid they will not last even for a month. Surely you know who is sending aid to these terrorists; so stop them and the terrorist attacks will cease.”
Emphasizing the importance of a rational reaction on the part of the Europeans, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi stated: “radical and illogical actions will lead to the alienation of others. Terrorism must be annihilated, otherwise a mere rally would not solve this problem and this problem is now like the calm before the storm and it will one day resurface again”.
He, then, added: “the incidents in the past must be edifying for you and getting angry and making hasty and unprofessional decisions does not help to solve the problem”.
May Allah bless us all
