Supreme mufti of Syria Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun sees the danger in establishing a "caliphate," as it has happened with the "Islamic state."
“Calls to set up an Islamic state are more dangerous that calls to unleash World War III,” the mufti said at his Moscow press conference.
He stressed that “religion is relations between God and a person,” and it does not have anything in common with a political regimen.
“When they wonder what will be with the state of “Islamic caliphate,” I ask, what state it is. I ask who of prophets commanded to establish it,” the Islamic leader noted.
[Actually, the prophet and founder of Islam, Muhammad, is the one who "commanded to establish" the Islamic caliphate, as seen in these hadiths:
Allah’s Messenger said: “I have been ordered [by Allah] to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah... so if they perform all that, then they save their lives and property from me.” (Sahih Bukhari, 1:2:25, also Sahih Muslim, 1:10:29-35)
Allah's Messenger said, “the earth belongs to Allah and his Apostle.” (Sahih Muslim, Book of Jihad, 3:17:4363; also Bukhari, Book of al-Jizya, 4:58:3167)
Islam is demonstrably both religion and political ideology. Its purpose is forever linked by its founder to the conquering of the entire globe for Allah. The mufti's protestations don't ring true and are not to be trusted. See my comments at bottom for more...]
According to him, “those, who try to impose any faith, will crush.”
He also warned Russian Muslims from the similar initiatives.
“I want to warn Russian Muslims: be careful, when someone tells you to set up a Muslim state. The destruction you now see in Syria show the danger of these words,” Hassoun said.
Speaking about Syria, the mufti points out that the country is fighting in economic, political and cultural spheres and “it is the fight of truth against lie, the fight of justice against injustice.”
According to him, 83 countries struggle against Syria today, and the Great Britain only spends 8,3 million pounds to bomb Syrian territory.
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My comments:
The Syrian Supreme Mufti sounds exactly like Muslim apologists in the West, who invariably seek to convince non-Muslims that the primary meaning of jihad — literally “struggle” — is internal, that is, a Muslim’s inner struggle against his faults and weaknesses, and striving in the way of God, "relations between God and a person," as the Mufti says.
These Muslim apologists often cite a hadith, where Muhammad, returning from battle, said, “We have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad.” Yet not only does this hadith not appear in any of the six canonical hadith collections, it has openly been called into question by many Islamic scholars as inauthentic (see Mark Durie, The Third Choice, pp 65-66.)
The doctrine of jihad warfare as the greater struggle commanded of Muslims is presented in this key passage from Reliance of the Traveller, published by Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, considered to be an authoritative manual of orthodox Sunni Islam:
The call for Muslims to wage jihad is global and universal, though not all Muslims wage offensive jihad. Yet if they cannot do so, they are still enjoined to support jihad through other means, such as financial, material, or in their heart and through their prayers (the lesser jihad).
The success of the Islamic State in winning more and more Muslims to their cause of global jihad and an ever-expanding caliphate is due to their zealous adherence to the dictates of Islam in the Quran and the Sunnah. Muslims know the Islamic State is practicing pure, authentic Islam, and they are signing up and lining up in droves to support them (including so called "lone wolves" like the Ottawa jihad attackers and many in the U.S. as well).
These Muslim apologists often cite a hadith, where Muhammad, returning from battle, said, “We have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad.” Yet not only does this hadith not appear in any of the six canonical hadith collections, it has openly been called into question by many Islamic scholars as inauthentic (see Mark Durie, The Third Choice, pp 65-66.)
The doctrine of jihad warfare as the greater struggle commanded of Muslims is presented in this key passage from Reliance of the Traveller, published by Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, considered to be an authoritative manual of orthodox Sunni Islam:
Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada signifying warfare to establish the religion.
The scriptural basis for jihad, prior to scholarly consensus (def: b7) is such Koranic verses as:
“Fighting is prescribed for you” (Koran 2:216); “Slay them wherever you find them” (Koran 4:89); “Fight the idolators utterly” (Koran 9:36);
and such hadiths as the one related by Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet said:
“I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Mes- senger of Allah, and perform the prayer, and pay zakat. If they say it, they have saved their blood and possessions from me, except for the rights of Islam over them. And their final reckoning is with Allah”;
and the hadith reported by Muslim,
“To go forth in the morning or evening to fight in the path of Allah is better than the whole world and everything in it.”
Jihad is a communal obligation. (o9.1)
The caliph [meaning that there is to be a caliphate] makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians... until
they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax. (o9.8)
The caliph fights all other peoples until they become Muslim. (o9.9)138
The call for Muslims to wage jihad is global and universal, though not all Muslims wage offensive jihad. Yet if they cannot do so, they are still enjoined to support jihad through other means, such as financial, material, or in their heart and through their prayers (the lesser jihad).
The success of the Islamic State in winning more and more Muslims to their cause of global jihad and an ever-expanding caliphate is due to their zealous adherence to the dictates of Islam in the Quran and the Sunnah. Muslims know the Islamic State is practicing pure, authentic Islam, and they are signing up and lining up in droves to support them (including so called "lone wolves" like the Ottawa jihad attackers and many in the U.S. as well).
The Islamic Caliphate is not "more dangerous than World War III, it is World War III.