Lebanese Sunni and Shiite Scholars Wrangle over Role of Hizbullah

An interview broadcast by the Lebanese Al-Jadid TV channel pitted a Sunni scholar who supports Hizbullah with a Shiite scholar who opposes the Shiite organization. Sheik Muhammad Al-Hajj Hassan, founder of the Free Shia Movement, called Hizbullah "hooligans," while Sunni Sheik Suhaib Habli said that without Hizbullah, "Lebanon would have been destroyed a long time ago." The interview aired on May 13, 2015.

Following are excerpts:

Sheik Muhammad Al-Hajj Hassan: Do the Quran and the Sunna instruct you to support the paramilitary squads? These (pro-Hizbullah) squads gathered hooligans from all over the country, and attacked your own (Sunni) people on May 7, 2008...

Sheik Suhaib Habli: May 7, 2008 was a glorious day...

Sheik Muhammad Al-Hajj Hassan: These squads attacked the Sunnis. You have conspired against Lebanon and against the Sunni sect.

Sheik Suhaib Habli: May 7 was a glorious day.

Sheik Muhammad Al-Hajj Hassan: It was a day of shame and humiliation.

Sheik Suhaib Habli: If someone has gangrene in his finger, he amputates it, even if it leads to disability... Mistakes were made, and some people (were killed), but we managed to save the entire body from the spread of that disease.

Sheik Muhammad Al-Hajj Hassan: You shed blood and call it "mistakes"?!

Sheik Suhaib Habli: Everything you are saying is false.

Sheik Muhammad Al-Hajj Hassan: You shed blood on May 7. There were martyrs on that day. The hooligans of the resistance went in and...

Sheik Suhaib Habli: Take it from me, if not for Hizbullah, Lebanon would have been destroyed a long time ago.

[...]

If (the caliphs) Abu Bakr, Omar, and Othman were alive today, they would support Hizbullah. That's it.

[...]

Who do you think you are? You represent no one but yourself.

Sheik Muhammad Al-Hajj Hassan: Who do you represent? You represent nothing.

Sheik Suhaib Habli: I'm leaving. You should put a US flag on your turban. He should put a US flag on his turban. It is a disgrace for a Shiite to support the March 14 Forces.

Sheik Muhammad Al-Hajj Hassan: You should be ashamed of yourself for conspiring against the Sunnis on May 7.

Sheik Suhaib Habli: I did not conspire, I saved this country on May 7.

Sheik Muhammad Al-Hajj Hassan: You didn't save a thing.

Sheik Suhaib Habli: I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to argue with you. What you're saying is absurd. This is (propaganda) for the media. All the members of the March 14 Forces say the same things.

Sheik Muhammad Al-Hajj Hassan: Qalamoun is over there. Off you go to Qalamoun.

Sheik Suhaib Habli: He sounds just like Samir Geagea.

Interviewer: It's Dr. Samir Geagea for you...

Sheik Suhaib Habli: Geagea massacred our children... You support a man who slaughtered us in the streets of Sidon.

Interviewer: Show each other some respect.

[...]

Sheik Suhaib Habli: I'd like to speak in the name of Islam. What you're saying makes you an enemy of Islam.

Sheik Muhammad Al-Hajj Hassan: You are distorting the reputation of the Shiites. It is not your place to judge how Shiite I am. Youre not even a Shiite.

Sheik Suhaib Habli: Do me a favor, and don't go there. If Ali, the Emir of Believers, were here, would he be pleased with your conspiring against Hizbullah?

Interviewer: Sheik Suhaib, I run the show. Out of respect for me, do not leave the show. What the viewers are seeing here is a disgrace: Two sheiks, both speaking in the name of Islam... Could you please sit down, so I can continue...? With all due respect, I am ashamed of this. This is not logical.

[...]

Interviewer: Do you carry a gun?

Sheik Suhaib Habli: Of course.

Interviewer: Are you carrying a gun now?

Sheik Suhaib Habli: That is my own business.

Interviewer: I am asking you if you, a religious man, are carrying a gun?

Sheik Suhaib Habli: First of all, as Musa Sadr said, the gun is the jewelry of men. Second, as is said in the Sunna: "Arm yourselves, even with a piece of metal..."

Interviewer: Are you carrying a gun?

Sheik Suhaib Habli: How will my answer benefit you?

Interviewer: Are you carrying a gun or not? Will you please stand up?

Sheik Suhaib Habli: You're making me laugh.

Interviewer: Laugh as much as you like, but stand up. Did you bring a gun here? Does a cleric carry a gun or not?

Sheik Suhaib Habli: I always carry a gun.

Interviewer: Now too? Show me.

Sheik Suhaib Habli: I am not afraid of you.

Interviewer: Show it to the camera. What's that?

Sheik Suhaib Habli: These are the magazines.

Interviewer: Keep it open. What do you need a gun for? You have security guards. You are a man of religion. What do you need a gun for?

Sheik Suhaib Habli: This is my hobby.

Interviewer: What sort of hobby? Your hobby is to carry a gun?

Sheik Suhaib Habli: Yes.

[...]