Lebanese Shi'ite Scholar Calls for Separation of Religion and Stateof
"Lebanon Is At a Crossroads"
Muhammad Hassan Al-Amin: "Lebanon is
at a crossroads. Either it will opt for a modern civil state, or
else it will move towards further disintegration and collapse, as
long it adheres to such an extent to the sectarian regime."
Interviewer: "How can we achieve such a civil
state? You talked about a civil state, and about the need to move
on from a political sectarian regime. Are you referring to the
separation of religion and state?"
Muhammad Hassan Al-Amin: "Of course. The
separation of religion and state goes without saying."[...]
"Religion Must Be Separated From the State"
"Religion and state are two different things. There
cannot be such a thing as a religious state. A state is civil in
essence, and therefore, a religious state is used by one group to
facilitate [the establishment of] dictatorship and despotism.
"Religion must be separated from the state, and all the things that
are presented as the absolute truth - that Islam constitutes both
religion and state - have no foundation in Islamic thought or law.
Islam is a religion. That's it. No more and no less. And the state
is a state.
"A state is a man-made entity, which is chosen by the people and
represents them, whereas religion is sacred. How can you
incorporate the sacred into a worldly matter, about which people
have different opinions?
[...]
"A religious scholar who heads a political party is biased toward
that party. When we have disagreements with him about this
political party, we should be able to debate and disagree with
him... With regard to political issues."
Interviewer: "Yes."
Muhammad Hassan Al-Amin: "I hope that none of
these people are tempted to shield themselves with religion, just
because they can, because it is easy to distinguish between
religion and politics." [...]
"Nobody Can Claim That the Concept of the 'Rule of the
Jurisprudent' is Sacred"
"Nobody can claim that the concept of the 'Rule of
the Jurisprudent' is sacred, because it is not a religious tenet.
Among the tenets of the Shiites, there is no such thing as the Rule
of the Jurisprudent.
[...]
"Any one of us - whether a Muslim, a Christian, or even a
non-believer - is allowed to criticize the formula of [the Rule of
the Jurisprudent], because it is a manmade formula, and not one of
the tenets of Islam or of the Twelver Shia."