Sheikh Kameel Naser: Syria, an example of National Unity, Coexistence

 Syria’s deeply-rooted history, national stances, and unique state of coexistence among all sects of its society, make the Syrians, wherever they are, feel proud of their belongingness to this country, which was, throughout history, the cradle of all civilizations and religions. Unfortunately, Syria is being exposed to a heinous conspiracy targeting its existence and resisting role in the region. 

 “Syria is blessed by God as it is the land of all religions and prophets  and I am proud of my nationality as a Syrian, who grew up and earned the noble values of defending the homeland against any foreign aggression,” Sheikh Kameel Naser, member of Levant Scholars’ Union, said in an exclusive interview with the “Syria Times”.

 “In the past, our ancestors won victories over the Ottoman and the French colonialists and now we are ready to sacrifice ourselves in order to protect our homeland from any foreign invasion,” he added.

Talking about the ongoing crisis in Syria and the impacts of the armed terrorist groups’ criminal acts on all aspects of life, Sheikh Naser said  “Syria is facing a global conspiracy, backed and funded by Western, regional and Arab parties, to undermine the country, because of its principled national stances and support to resistance,” Naser said, pointing out that the Syrians have been suffering for more than twenty months from the practices of terrorist groups and mercenaries in Syria.

“However, Syria will keep steadfast and overcome the crisis thanks to the unity and cooperation between the Syrian people, their leadership and army,” Sheikh Naser added.

He cited an example of the strong national unity among the Syrian people who, in the city of Sweida, opened their houses for their fellow citizens who came from other governorates fleeing the terrorism of armed groups and mercenaries. He stressed that this is not strange for all the Syrian people countrywide.

Sheikh Naser underlined the essential role that can be played by religious men to convey the right image of Islam to the whole world, explain the real situation in Syria and mobilizes efforts against the enemies’ schemes. He affirmed the need to enrich the religious speech with values like amity, tolerance and coexistence and to abandon sectarianism.

 “Islam forbids killing. It always urges people to adopt noble and sincere values, seeks coexistence with other religions and keeps maintaining healthy relation among all sects on the basis of equality and justice,” Sheikh Naser said.

Thus, he went on to say, the establishment of the Levant Scholars Union, which comprises the elite of the regions’ religious men, has been very important to reflect the spirit of true Islam, to maintain its values and teachings and to build bridges of dialogue with other nations.

Within this context, Scholar Naser said that the Union participated in the recent Tehran conference on national dialogue in Syria to confirm dialogue principles. He pointed out that the participating delegations were keen to provide their views and suggestions on how to put an end to the Syrian crisis peacefully.

On the conspiratory role of some regional and Arab countries in escalating violence in Syria, Sheikh Nasser said, “these countries are tools to implement a US-Zionist agenda in the region and they don’t even have an independent decision. They helped Western countries dominate their resources and supported their plans to divide Syria and the whole region aiming at keeping (Israel) the strongest.”

 “Syria will emerge victorious from the crisis as it has got an open-minded resistant generation which solidifies the country’s position. In addition, Syria has a strong unified national army who has proved a great ability to fight in the most difficult kind of battles, so, by the will of God and the steadfastness of the  Syrian people, leadership and army, the conspiracy is vanishing,” Sheikh Naser concluded.  

Khaled Falhout