Qabbani Rejects Bickering with International Community, Slams Divisions

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani said Sunday that Lebanon should improve its relations with the international community and rejected any deal that would divide the region.

“We should hold onto each other amid attempts to redraw the map of the world particularly in our Arab region,” Qabbani said in his Eid al-Adha sermon.

“We won’t allow for a new Sykes-Picot agreement in the Arab region that comes in Israel’s interest,” he said in reference to the 1916 deal that divided the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire outside the Arabian peninsula into areas of future British and French influence.

“We as Lebanese should preserve our friendship with abroad and work on improving our ties with the international community and avoid bickering with it,” he said.

“Our only enemy is the Zionist entity which has usurped the land of Palestine, Lebanon and the Arabs,” he added.

Turning to the bickering between the March 8 and 14 forces, Qabbani said in his sermon that the word “minority” should be limited to the parliamentary representation.

“Minority should be dropped from our public, social and national lives,” he said.

“We are all majorities and there are no differences between us,” Qabbani added.

He stressed that “Lebanon does not belong to anyone,” saying it neither belongs “to any sect nor to any party or movement or politician.”

Lebanon is for all its citizens who should reject its division, Qabbani told worshippers, asking them “do you want to break your country?”

“We should hold onto our nation … reject differences and walk hand in hand towards a strong and fair state in which the Lebanese race towards serving each other,” he said.