Lebanese Hezbollah, Salafists sign "document of understanding" - Al-Manar TV

Beirut Al-Manar Television in Arabic at 0720 gmt on 18 August carries live the ceremony held at Al-Safir Hotel in Beirut to sign the Document of Understanding between Hezbollah and the Islamic Salafi Movement in Lebanon. The news conference begins with Dr Hasan al-Sha'al, representative of the Salafi forces in Lebanon, making his statement. He says: "Out of our belief in the correct Islamic Salafi line we wanted by this step to show that the Salafi Movement is an old Islamic religious line that calls for accord, peace, and reconciliation."

He adds that the incidents that took place in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon were serious "and we felt that if matters continued this way, Lebanon would be scorched by the fire of sectarian sedition and the civil war, from which it has not yet recovered."

"Therefore," he adds, "we went to the Hezbollah leadership with advice and found it very responsive. We call for continuing on this path towards a comprehensive political solution that preserves everyone's rights and returns Lebanon to the zone of safety, and enables us to safeguard this homeland and face a savage waylaying enemy."

Dr Al-Sha'al says: "This step is not an attempt by Hezbollah to penetrate the Sunni arena or an attempt by the Salafi group to give up its creed, course, and defence of Sunnis. In fact, the provisions of this document, as you will soon hear, do not contain any religious violation, concession of rights, or slackening in duty. This document is a model for peaceful coexistence."

Concluding, Al-Sha'al thanks Hezbollah for the invitation and prays for more meetings, understanding and cooperation for the wellbeing of Lebanon, Muslims, and all Lebanese.

In his statement, Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyid, head of the Hezbollah Political Council, thanks God for this achievement and says this "step conforms with our adherence to our Islamic creed according to the holy verse: 'And hold fast altogether by the rope which Allah (stretches out for your) and be not divided among yourselves.'"

He says this is a right step in the right direction "to tackle disputes or crises from the position of understanding, limited as it is, rather than from the position of dispute." This means, he adds, that we must resolve our differences through understanding.

Al-Sayyid says this step is important in that it brings joy and happiness to the faithful who work for unity, especially among the followers of one religion. At the same time, he says, it brings chagrin to the hearts of its enemies, headed by the United States and Israel who work day and night to spread divisions and sedition, chaos, and disputes between us.

He says: "While we express our great respect to our dear brothers and our appreciation for the blessed efforts they exerted with high Islamic and national responsibility, we affirm that a great deal of effort and work as well as meetings and dialogues still await us to narrow differences and widen the area of understanding and agreement.

"We know that this understanding will be faced with much distortion by the enemies of the nation at home and abroad. Therefore we present this understanding as a bright, pioneering, leading, and courageous step to the peoples of our nation in Lebanon and the Arab and Islamic world."

Concluding, he says: "This understanding is not against anyone. The substance of this document is understanding and agreement." He adds that in the meetings and discussions that were held with the brothers we found that they displayed full responsibility in presenting their opinions, observations, and criticisms. And we were open to all observations and we expressed our opinions and viewpoints on the incidents experienced by Lebanon."

He says: "We were open to criticisms and some of them were wrong. But we accepted them because we knew that the ones that criticized us or made observations to us did so out of concern, love, and preservation of the national stand. We call upon everyone to follow this course in making observations and criticisms. From the position of concern we accept everything, from the position of love we accept everything, and from the position of brotherhood we accept everything."

The following is text of the document of understanding:

"In light of the big challenges faced by our Arab and Islamic nation; foremost, fostering communal and sectarian bigotry so as to pounce on the region and plunder its resources to serve the interests of Israel and the United States; and in view of the negative developments taking place on the Lebanese arena in the service of the Israeli enemy - as Israel wants to take from the Lebanese what it could not take by force of arms - especially after the July War;

And, in fulfilment of the Islamic duty, we tried hard to abort the sedition and contain the dispute between Sunnis and Shi'is within the ideological and religious framework pursued by the scholars of both communities, while banning the public from dealing with or harping on it. The main factors in managing this dispute are preserving the peculiarity of every community and respecting its principles and symbols, and fully abiding by the bases of calm scientific discussion.

"The sharp expression of political differences among all parties has its negative effects and repercussions on all the people and all Lebanese arenas in general and Islamic arena in particular.

On the basis of the above a meeting took place between the Salafi forces and Hezbollah leaders and agreement was reached on the following provisions:

"First: Proceeding from the sanctity of Muslim blood, we forbid and condemn any aggression by any Muslim group against another Muslim group. If any group is attacked, it has the right to resort to legitimate means to defend itself.

"Second: Refraining from instigating and agitating the public, as this tends to rekindle the fire of sedition and takes the decision away from the hands of the elders. Thus the fools and the enemies of the Islamic nation would dominate the arena.

"Third: Confronting US-Zionist plans, whose main aim is to foster sedition and divisions.

"Fourth" Striving hard to eliminate the takfiri ideology existing among Sunnis and Shi'is because blasphemy of all Shi'is is banned by Salafis and the blasphemy of all Sunnis is banned by Hezbollah.

"Fifth" If Hezbollah or the Salafis are subjected to any clear injustice by internal or external parties it must be faced strongly and firmly as much as possible.

"Sixth: Forming a committee of senior scholars from the Salafi Movement and Hezbollah to discuss the points of disagreement between Sunnis and Shi'is so as to restrict the differences within this committee and prevent them from spreading to the streets.

"Seventh: Every party is free in what it believes in. No party has the right to impose its ideas and endeavours on another party.

Eighth and last: The understanding between the two parties calls for banning sedition between Muslims and strengthening social peace and peaceful coexistence among all the Lebanese."

The document of understanding is then signed by the representatives of both parties.

The floor was then opened to questions by members of the press.

Replying to a question, Al-Sha'al says let everyone rest assured that there isn't a single Salafi who does not believe in dialogue. He says that this step was taken to achieve social peace in Lebanon. He also expresses the hope that the document will achieve positive results. Replying to another question, he says we want scholars from the Sunnis and the Shia to hold a discussion that leads to understanding and peace.

Replying to a question, Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyid says the understanding has nothing to do with narrow-minded political interests. Replying to another question, al-Sayyid says "we look up to the day and phase when we will reach understanding with everyone. We also look up to the day when we will reach an understanding even with the brothers in Al-Mustaqbal Movement."

Source: Al-Manar Television, Beirut, in Arabic 0720 gmt 18 Aug 08