Islamic awakening spread to other parts of the Arab world

What happened in Egypt and Tunisia spread to other part of the Arab World. That was a gift from God to those oppressed people that their authoritarian governors wrested their freedom and rights.

Tyrannical governors such as Ben Ali and Mubarak thought they could hold the power for ever. They rely on the power of the arrogant world and forget this fact that God is more powerful than the arrogance. Unfortunately these dictatorial governments depended to the west and the regime of Israel, plundered peoples’ properties.

Taqrib News correspondent in Egypt had an interview with Head of The World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhri.

In this exclusive interview, the Grand Ayatollah delineated the recent events and issues of the Islamic world.

Q: What is your idea about the revolution of Egypt which happened 30 years after the Islamic Revolution of Iran? I had a conversation with you in 2002 and at that time you said that the nation of Egypt should get rid of the tyrannical government.

A: What happened in Egypt and Tunisia recently are spreading to other part of the Arab World. That was a gift from God to those oppressed people that their authoritarian governors wrested their freedom and rights. Tyrannical governors such as Ben Ali and Mubarak thought they could hold the power for ever. They rely on the power of the arrogant world and forget this fact that God is more powerful than the arrogance.

Unfortunately these dictatorial governments depended to the west and the regime of Israel, plundered peoples properties and captivated innocent people; especially the government of Egypt which destroyed the Egypt’s potentiality for leadership in the Islamic World.

But the voice of Egyptian nation was heard in January 25 and revolution happened in the country. This revolution was not happened by just some parties or figures. All Egyptian nations made that revolution; and we saw that this revolution derived from mosques and Friday prayers and that was the Islamic awakening.

We appreciate God for the victory of the Egypt revolution and Egyptian nations gave a lesson to other nations.

This revolution, I think, was like the revolution of the late Imam Khomeini (RA). Imam Khomeini could overcome the totalitarian regime of Pahlavi; and Iran which was the arrogant base turned to the revolutionary base. That revolution got a paradigm for nations and revolutions.

Q: At this time some of powers try to hijack this revolution. What is your idea about this case?

As the late Imam Khomeini (RA) said, the U.S is the great Satan. Today The U.S is the arrogant world and the supporter of the Zionism, this government endorsed and supported the regime of Mubarak, but when it saw the victory of the revolution, tried to high jack it. That is the policy of the arrogant world and its puppets. But we believe in God and people’s awareness, this awareness does not let the U.S reach its malignant aim.

I believe that the U.S cannot be succeeded in diverting and high jacking the Egypt revolution. But the pro excommunicative Salafi is a gigantic diversion in the history of the Islamic world; since in Islam we do not have excommunication and in Quran verses people are ordered to eschew from excommunication. But unfortunately some of the Salafis try to change people’s idea with their own extremist beliefs. I hope that Al Azhar scholars make a move in neutralizing this extremist acts. Al Azhar was always moderate and I hope that they guide these people to the balance and moderate way.

Q: What is your idea about the recent remarks made by Sheikh Al Azhar?) in this remark he extolled the role of Seyyed Hassan Nasrollah.)

A: I’ve had an amicable relation with Sheikh Ahmad Al Tayyeb since many years ago. To me he is a good and moderate person. He does his best in the realm of unity among Islamic schools of thought and also informing people. His recent remark, I believe, was so good; it underscored moderation. I congratulate him and his speech was what we had expected.

Q: Do you think that the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought has gotten good results and do you think that this organization did its duty well? What are the obstacles on the way of unity and proximity among denominations in Salafi countries?

A: First of all I should stipulate that when we talk about proximity, we should study it from the thinking point of view and consider it as a practical monotheism. So from this point of view, it is not possible to have the united and similar ideas and credos because ideas are different.

Regarding this case we do not want to combine religions with each other or overcome one religion on the other. We try to invite people to proximity and we try underscore the similarities exist among all the religions. The similarities among religions, I think, are more than 90 percents. But the enemies forget these similarities and focus on just 5 or 6 percents of differences.

I think that the nation of Egypt is moderate. Followers of the denominations of Shafei, Maliki, Hanbali, Hanafi and Shia live together in this country. All the people respect Ahlalbayt(The household of the holy prophet) . Actually the nation of Egypt is the paradigm of moderate Islamic society. These are different denominations in the country but all their followers respect and believe in Islam.

Most of the problems and conflicts we have in the Islamic world happened because of the enemies of Islam and the arrogant world. They try to change people’s idea. They even targeted the culture of this Ummah. They are the main reason behind all the problems we have. Albeit some inside differences try to help the enemies to accomplish their goals.

Q: How can we guide the Islamic ummah toward unity and proximity?

A: Actually the holy Quran showed us the way and invite people to unity as ordered them to eschew form division and schism. In this way the Islamic scholars and the Islamic centers have a serious duty. They should inform Muslim Ummah.

In this way the arrogant try to divide Muslims. They try to hijack the revolutions and guide people to forget the spirit of revolution and Jihad against the arrogant world. In such condition the Islamic scholars should focus on the unity among Muslims in the Islamic world and Muslim nations should abide by the Quran rules and keep their unity and proximity.

For reaching their goals, the arrogant world changed its methods and strategies. One of the strategies that the arrogance uses is the softwar. A nation, for instance, may be ignorant to the effects the movies the watch (movies made by western countries). But the point is that these movies may have a lot of negative effects on people and these effects can change the Islamic education.

The softwar effects on our characters and our culture. In such condition the role of our officials and Islamic scholars for standing against this war will be obvious.

Q: How do you evaluate your visit from Afghanistan?

A: In Afghanistan the U.S propagate vastly. They try to belittle the role of Jihad, revolution, Martyrdom and freedom. Those who held the unity Conference in Afghanistan try to make a distinction between conscious Jihad and extremist movement of Taliban.

We took part in that conference and announced that if you (Afghan people) want to get your independence and liberty back, you should abide by the Islamic rules and Quran teachings such as Jihad and martyrdom.