Lebanese Shiite Scholar Calls for Separation of Religion and State

Aired June 29, 2009 on Murr TV (Lebanon)
Partial Transcript:

Muhammad Hassan Al-Amin: Of course. The separation of religion and state goes without saying.

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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?

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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.

Full transcript on YouTube