A senior Saudi cleric told Muslim pilgrims on Tuesday that the West was using the existance of terrorism to scare people away from Islam and discredit legitimate Muslim causes. Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Sudeis, the state-appointed preacher at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, also called for stability in Iraq and noted Islam was innocent of the charge of "terrorism."OK, let's see what the peaceful sheikh has to say on other topics: (This is from April, 2002)
"Islam is innocent of this grave phenomenon (of terrorism). The shedding of blood in this country and other Islamic states is a forbidden criminal act," the cleric said. "We should not forget our brothers in Iraq in the continuing spiral of injustice and murder, and (we must) act seriously to bring security, stability and unity to them," he said.
"The campaign against Islam has become fierce and Muslims are being described in insulting terms to distort the image of Islam and scare people away from it," he told the 2.5 million pilgrims in a sermon to mark the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha.
A top Saudi Arabian Muslim cleric prayed to God on Friday to "terminate" the Jews and urged Arabs and Muslims to abandon efforts to make peace with Israel.
"We must say farewell to peace initiatives with these people (Jews)," Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Sudais told worshippers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest shrine, in a sermon, carried live by several Arabic television and radio networks.
He prayed to God to "terminate" the Jews, whom he described as "the scum of humanity . . . the rats of the world . . . prophet killers . . . pigs and monkeys".
And in 2004:
He told those listening to “read history,” in order “to know that yesterday’s Jews were bad predecessors and today’s Jews are worse successors. They are killers of prophets and the scum of the earth. Allah hurled his curses and indignation on them and made them monkeys and pigs and worshippers of tyrants. These are the Jews, a continuous lineage of meanness, cunning, obstinacy, tyranny, evil, and corruption…”Yup, nothing dangerous about Islam here!
Mr. al-Sudayyis elaborated on the conflict between Muslims and Jews: “O Muslims, the Islamic nation today is at the peak of conflict with the enemies of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, with the grandsons of Bani-Quraydah, al-Nadhir, and Qaynuqa’ [Jewish tribes in the early days of Islam]. May Allah’s curses follow them until the Day of Judgment.”
“The nation must know that these are people with a disgraceful history and a black record… They want to establish the Greater Israel with Jerusalem as its capital. They also aspire to demolish the Al-Aqsa Mosque and build their alleged temple in its place. They want to liquidate the State of Islam and the Koran, and build the State of the Torah and Talmud on its debris. They will get what they deserve from Allah…
“Our Al-Aqsa is crying out saying all mosques have been liberated, while I — a great holy mosque — am still being desecrated. Is the aspiration of over 1 billion Muslims to preserve their holy places [to be] considered savagery and terrorism? What a great lie, O Allah, O steadfast brothers in struggler and steadfast Palestine, the land of honor, loftiness, sacrifice, jihad, and bravery. The captivity of our Al-Aqsa in the hands of the tyrants makes us sleepless. May Allah please us with its liberation.Victory is coming soon, Allah willing.”
“...Here are the flags of victory looming on the horizon. We can smell it. It is crowned by a brave jihad, an intifada, which is still the winning card and the lit candle in the hands of the devout sons of this nation…O nation of jihad and sacrifice, it is the duty of Muslims to support their brothers in creed in Palestine and elsewhere and to back them with material and moral support. Jihad with money sometimes supersedes jihad with soul, as mentioned in many Koranic verses and the prophet’s traditions.”