Daesh in Christian Eyes

Karmen Jokhadar

In the midst of the Quseir battles, when the Hizbullah mujahideen were fighting the battle of Lebanon's existence and identity, I was shocked by the opinion of a fellow journalist who had supported the March 14 camp.

Despite his objection to Hizbullah policies, he decisively said "I am with the Hizbullah intervention in Syria... Can you imagine for a moment we be ruled by the Islamic state in Iraq and Sham (Levant), or what is known as Daesh? Can you imagine them trying to practice or apply their beliefs and convictions?!"

The Lebanese shock of Daesh practices is incomprehensible sometimes; they have already suffered of the same practices during wartime, as they were killed under the name of religion or ‘the banner of Crusaders'.

If Daesh was in Lebanon, it would have been impossible for me to meet this friend in first place!

This 'cross' was once turned into a dagger with which the Lebanese -Christians topping the list, were stabbed. The massacres of Ehden, al-Safra, al-Shamoun best witness to such.

The short-term memory of the Lebanese, which absorbed the nomination of some war symbols for the Republic's presidency, have dealt with images of beheaded people, ripped chests, destructed churches, and burned bibles, especially in the Christian community.

Some see that as long as they are unaffected it's no big deal. Others see that the danger of terrorist organizations is real, which is an opinion increasingly adopted by Christians based on earlier events that have taken place in Egypt, Syria and Iraq.

One lady from the Maten region says "Oh God what matters is that they (takfiris) do not reach here, let them be killed there (meaning in Syria)."
Meanwhile, another uses the prominent March 14 slogan "the repressive regimes gave birth to Daesh."

Despite the fact that the 'March 8' Christians -both people and leadership, had expressed their opinion when it comes to Daesh, and despite the fact that some had reservations on the participation of Hizbullah in the Syrian battle, yet today we see them supporting the Hizbullah activity, which once again proves it has made right choices.

In light of security concerns demonstrated by the dozens of explosions and arrests to terrorist cells the latest of which was the red cell, not to mention the statements of Interior minister Nuhad al-Mashnouk of the Future party, Archbishop of Zahle and Bekaa (Melkite Greek) Issam John Darwish assured that "our major fear is from religious extremist ideology, whatever religion it was."

He noted that Daesh aims at creating a real gap between the different religions.

The Archbishop, who received the 2008 Australian Affinity Award for Interfaith Dialogue, noted "there should be ongoing effort to spread the culture of peace among brothers of different religions, especially among Muslims and Christians whether in Lebanon or other Arab countries. We should be an ideal and messengers of peace worldwide."

Moreover, he stressed that "the presence of presence of such terrorist organizations and their practices hamper our effort to spread peace, and it actually boosts disputes among people."

He accentuated the importance of "unity of all sides that reject extremism in order to form a common resistance front in face of the takfiri destructive ideology."
In addition, the archbishop pointed out to the vital role of religious scholars and cleriks- Muslims and Christians- to find proximity among religions.

He called on destroying this violence, reminding that "Daesh is a foreign movement that does not belong to our land or people, and therefore we in Lebanon and the Arab world should stand together hand-in-hand to fight it."

He reiterated that the Takfiri danger threatens the entire region, even the entire world, with all its religious groups and political parties.

Source: al-Ahed news