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ISLAM-ALHAKIM Dec-7-2006 (520 words) With photos posted Dec. 6. xxxi
Iraqi leader: Islam is religion of freedom with responsibility
By Regina Linskey
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Islam rejects oppression and is a religion of freedom with responsibility for society's common interest, said the head of the largest political coalition in the Iraqi government.
"Oppression is not acceptable, but nor is chaos," said Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, president of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution and leader of the United Iraqi Alliance.
Islam teaches "peaceful cohabitation" with many religions and races, he said.
Al-Hakim spoke through a translator Dec. 5 at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington about freedom in the Shiite branch of Islam. He briefly answered questions from journalists who filled the center's auditorium.
Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, Italian Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Vatican nuncio to the United States, and Rabbi Ephraim Isaac, a professor of Semitic studies at Princeton University in New Jersey, attended the speech, sponsored by The Catholic University of America in Washington.
Al-Hakim, one of the most influential Iraqi religious and political leaders, was in Washington to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush Dec. 4. According to news reports, the two discussed religious and sectarian reconciliation and the need to increase the capabilities of the Iraqi government.
During the rule of the Sunni-majority Baath Party regime, Al-Hakim lived in Iran. He returned to Iraq in 2003 when he was appointed a member of the Iraqi Governing Council's Presidential Committee. The committee was the first democratic organization to lead Iraq after more than 30 years of dictatorship.
Seven of Al-Hakim's brothers have been killed. Six were killed by former dictator Saddam Hussein and the most recent in 2003 by terrorists.
During the event at the center, Al-Hakim said the prophet Mohammed's example teaches that Islam is a peaceful religion. The Quran, the sacred book of Islam, describes nonbelievers "as worthless and hollow" enemies, he said, but the Prophet, who was subjected to danger from nonbelievers, never reacted with the same level of violence or initiated a war.
"The tragedies we see today are from those who misunderstand Islam," he said. "Islam says, 'Whoever kills one person unjustly kills all of mankind.'
"Sectarian violence is rejected by scholars, whether Sunnis or Shiites," he said.
He added that religious leaders have been working to issue statements and to reach "reconciliation with all those who did not take part in the political process."
Al-Hakim also addressed questions about the drain of Iraqi Christians; he said Muslims were not the reason why half of all Iraqi Christians left the country.
Iraqi Muslims have been "defending Christians and their rights for centuries," he said, blaming the violence on so-called "Saddamists," gangs and murderers.
For the first time, Christians' rights are mentioned in the constitution, he added.
After meeting privately with Al-Hakim and Archbishop Wuerl, Archbishop Sambi told Catholic News Service he discussed the Vatican's desire for peace and the safety of Iraqi Christians. He also said he told Al-Hakim that Iraqi Christians need more protection and rights in the Iraqi Constitution.
When asked what Al-Hakim's response was, Archbishop Sambi said, "He promised."
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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