MOSCOW, October 30 (RIA Novosti) — Attempts to establish a state on a religious or national basis are pointless, Syrian Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun said Thursday.
"I'm not against any religion … but anyone saying he wants to build a purely Jewish, Muslim or Christian state is doomed to failure," he stated at a press conference held at Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
The grand mufti also argued that sectarian conflicts are the worst kind of war as they can last for centuries. He also stressed that the calls to establish a purely religious state are dangerous and do not have a foundation in Islam.
"When I hear that there is an 'Islamic state,' I ask, who of the prophets said that there is a need to establish such a state? No prophets called for the creation of a confined state for a particular religion or nation," Hassoun said.
The cleric emphasized that religion is a "relationship between a man and the God, and does not depend on any regime."
In June, the Sunni extremist group Islamic State proclaimed an Islamic caliphate on the areas it had seized across Iraq and Syria. Humanitarian organizations and governments have repeatedly accused the group of persecuting religious and ethnic minorities in its controlled territories.
