Nasrallah’s speech vs. the Pope’s message: Analysis

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By Randa Takieddine

The message Pope Benedict XVI gave when he visited Lebanon was very important and grand, whereas Sayed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech following the Pope’s visit was totally the opposite; it was provocative and mobilized people against a film that didn’t not deserve that much publicity.

In the same time, the Pope’s visit reflected the ability of the Lebanese people to unite and be present as Christians and Muslims to listen to his message that was not only addressed to Lebanon but to the entire region.

It was very significant to see Sunni, Shiite, Druze Muslim clerics and Christian archbishops shaking hands with the Pope, welcoming and respecting him, away from all the tension that has emerged again – once the Pope left Lebanon. The Pope’s message promoted a precious and peaceful coexistence and a love formula for Lebanon and the region, clear of tensions and wars. His words to the Syrian youth were very emotional; he told them how much he appreciated their courage and how sad he was for their pain, adding that he will be receiving the Syrian opposition in Rome during the weekend.

The Pope came to Lebanon to convey his message to the peoples of the Middle East. Lebanon, whether government or people, succeeded in showing its appreciation to the Pope’s visit. It was very emotional to hear young Muslims chanting for the Pope in one of the reception ceremonies.

The success of this visit brought to our mind the importance of the interfaith dialogue, an initiative that was launched and promoted by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

Unfortunately for Lebanon, as soon as the Pope left, we saw Hezbollah’s secretary general coming out to the open, mobilizing his audience against the United States and at a silly film that didn’t not deserve this much of publicity. This showed his weakness and his strategy linked to the tyrannical and dictatorial Syrian and Iranian regimes. Through his speech, Nasrallah wanted to show that he still can mobilize people while knowing that his alliance with a killer regime will break as it is disintegrating.

This week is the anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila painful massacre committed by a Lebanese group and the Jewish state thirty years ago. How many massacres like Sabra and Shatila’s are being committed by the Syrian regime today?

The International Commission of Inquiry on Syria has a secret list with names of those responsible behind massacres committed in Syria, including regime’s officials supported by their Lebanese ally, Hezbollah.

Hezbollah is providing all the support and assistance to kill the Syrian people. Is this the resistance? A resistance that claims that its weapons in Lebanon are to defend Lebanon against the Zionist enemy.

With its Iranian ally admitting presence of its Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon and Syria; what kind of defense would that be, if Hezbollah allows those Iranian Guards to reside in its territories in order to support the massacres committed against their neighboring people and on a daily basis. What kind of resistance is this that provokes the feelings and fears of the rest of the Lebanese people who do not belong to Hezbollah?

A number of Lebanese politicians in Lebanon, who were all along supported by Syria, such as President Michel Sleiman and PM Najib Mikati, have realized that the Syrian regime is falling so they were encouraged to adopt positions that reflect their independence from the Syrian – Iranian dominance which is weakening.

This change by the staunchly Syrian-supported officials has urged Nasrallah to show his presence and strength on the ground. This change is also a threatening provocation to Hezbollah and to the rest of Lebanon’s balance of power.

(Randa Takieddine is a writer for Al-Hayat newspaper where this article was published on Sept. 19, 2012)

Al Arabiya

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48 responses to “Nasrallah’s speech vs. the Pope’s message: Analysis”

  1. Constantin7 Avatar
    Constantin7

    Please do not compare the Pope’s speech to Nasrallah’s speech, it is like comparing day and night, good and evil, peace and war, order and disorder, clarity and confusion, sincerity and hypocrisy, freedom and slavery etc…. even I dare to say like comparing our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and the charlatan man who assigned himself as a prophet from God, called himself mohammad, forced others to believe in him, and created the biggest prison of the world called ISLAM.

    1. saoudiAhbal Avatar
      saoudiAhbal

      brother; mr nasrallah is an intelligent person; believe you me 99.99 per cent of muslims do not believe islam is godly & i believe mr nasrallah is one of them; dont listen to what politicians say, look at what they do. mr nasrallah is a trustworthy intelligent person giving me feelings of security

      1. Constantin7 Avatar
        Constantin7

        “99.99% of muslims do not believe Islam is Godly” ? What are you talking about ? All muslims, Sunni or Shiaa,  believe that the Kuran is the word of God and that Mohammad is rassoul allah. At least the muslims that I know and I have known all my life. As for Mr. Nasrallah, you think he is an intelligent man giving you “security”, after what he did in 2006, I would not trust this man at all with my security becaue he has the capacity to start a war that could destroy all my country. But I have to admit that the man  has a very charismatic personality and is very close to the heart (as we say in Lebanese: arib lal alb).  

        1. saoudiAhbal Avatar
          saoudiAhbal

          islam is a political organisation: al islam houwwa din wa dawla; thus a muslim is not necessarily one who believes in allah but one who follows the crowd
          as far as mr nasrallah is concerned, like all other players, he is just an american pawn; but like assad father he knows how to perform his pawn function to the perfection

    2. $31060015 Avatar

      Constantin7, you should not offend the pope. You might start a protest around the world. I don’t think he is that bad. He is quite a cute old man. 

      1. saoudiAhbal Avatar
        saoudiAhbal

        brother mr anti fsa: a day older than you is a year wiser than you; old people are the wise ones in villages, frequently consulted for their wisdom; even though i have a lot of respect to this Pope in particular, i have no problems with you criticising him; i do not think this would create any reaction. I would even go further, you are even free to say your opinion about Jesus, even insulting him; a believer in Jesus would tell you it is not up to me to judge youy, He will do it. By HE i meant the famous word of Jesus “I AM HE” I wish from the deepest of my heart this to be true for islam

        1. $31060015 Avatar

          I never meant in any way to offend the pope. Just like you have respect for the pope, I have the same respect for Sayyed Hassan. People like constantin7 through their ridiculous blogs sometimes force people to go on the offensive. As for Jesus, true Islamic people would not dare criticize him. Believe it or not Jesus is as important to me as the Prophet (PBUH). As far as I’m concerned, anybody who criticizes Jesus is nothing more than evil devil worshipper.
          I take you comment on board and appreciate what you have said.       

        2. saoudiAhbal Avatar
          saoudiAhbal

          brother mr fsa: i never said you insulted the pope; btw i do not have same respect for all popes: but i like this one in particular

        3. saoudiAhbal Avatar
          saoudiAhbal

          brother mr fsa: i never said you insulted the pope; btw i do not have same respect for all popes: but i like this one in particular

      2. Constantin7 Avatar
        Constantin7

        Sorry AntiFSA if you feel offended by my postings sometimes, but after what I learnt about your prophet, his life, and his actions, without going too much into detail, I cannot have any respect for him and consider him responsible for all the innocent people who muslims kill because they role model is this prophet, who killed everyone who opposed him and still entices muslims to our days to kill any one who opposes them. For this reason Bashar is killing people without regard to any human rights, for this reason Saddam killed thousands of shiaa and kurds without any regard. 
        You say Jesus has the same status like Mohammad for you, I doubt it. Actually you put Mohammad even above God when you repeat every day : ” Rassoul Al-allah salla allahu aalayhi wa aala ahlihi wa sahbihi wa sallam”, i.e. God is going to pray for Mohammad, his family and his friends and greet them !!! This is the ultimate “shirk”.
        In any case, I never mean to offend muslims but rather to push them to think and debate with reason. 

        1. $31060015 Avatar

          Constantin, Do you seriously believe that the film really portrays what the Prophet (PBUH) stood for. This film is nothing more than an absolute lie. It wasn’t even made by an Muslim person. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, No religion tells its follows
          to kill people in a inhumane way. It’s the individual who interprets it as such. It would very
          easy for me to dislike the Christian religion because of a few who have caused
          the same atrocities as the some of the Muslim people have, However I don’t, All religions preach love and respect. As far as me loving Jesus as much as the prophet (PBUH), This is something I don’t need to prove to you or anybody else for that matter. Only God knows what’s in my heart. 
          Furthermore, No person is above God, Not even Jesus or the Prophet. You need to remember, its actually the Christians that have put Jesus pretty much as Gods equal. Islam has never put anybody equal to God let alone above him. At the end of the day each to their own. We are all brothers and sisters in eye of God and should not let any religion tell us otherwise.

        2. lefthanded Avatar
          lefthanded

          I suggest you start reading some books, when you comment on things that you’re misinformed about, you’re certainly going to offend others, you know absolutely nothing about Islam or the Prophet(PBUH).

          Let’s not fight if he was truly a prophet or not, he was a great man, who fought social injustice at that time when the tribe named Kouraysh had monopoly on everything and left the rest fighting for scraps(we can make a comparison to many modern governments), he created equality, he encouraged people to study(and the results could be seen how much the muslims contributed to science at the early stages of Islam), he encouraged people to set their slaves free and obliged them to start treating them as human beings instead of a possession( which paved the way to abolish the slavery mentality). As for blaming him for the killings of today, he hated war, he told muslims that war should only be as a last resort and only self defense, muslims should not even harm a tree when in war, so don’t blame him if muslims these days are a mess and uneducated(the ones you see in the news), i suggest you blame poverty which is an another discussion.

        3. You offend muslims when you say false things about them.  Your true colours are clear. You have pure hatred for muslims. is this what you are taught, and how many are like you. and answer this if you dare on behalf of your fellow christians. Do you support Assad or the FSA or do you just enjoy watching them kill each other in the hope that the christians can swoop to power in the after math .

      3. Constantin7 Avatar
        Constantin7

        Sorry AntiFSA if you feel offended by my postings sometimes, but after what I learnt about your prophet, his life, and his actions, without going too much into detail, I cannot have any respect for him and consider him responsible for all the innocent people who muslims kill because they role model is this prophet, who killed everyone who opposed him and still entices muslims to our days to kill any one who opposes them. For this reason Bashar is killing people without regard to any human rights, for this reason Saddam killed thousands of shiaa and kurds without any regard. 
        You say Jesus has the same status like Mohammad for you, I doubt it. Actually you put Mohammad even above God when you repeat every day : ” Rassoul Al-allah salla allahu aalayhi wa aala ahlihi wa sahbihi wa sallam”, i.e. God is going to pray for Mohammad, his family and his friends and greet them !!! This is the ultimate “shirk”.
        In any case, I never mean to offend muslims but rather to push them to think and debate with reason. 

        1. $31060015 Avatar

          Constantin, Do you seriously believe that the film really portrays what the Prophet (PBUH) stood for. This film is nothing more than an absolute lie. It wasn’t even made by an Muslim person. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, No religion tells its follows
          to kill people in a inhumane way. It’s the individual who interprets it as such. It would very
          easy for me to dislike the Christian religion because of a few who have caused
          the same atrocities as the some of the Muslim people have, However I don’t, All religions preach love and respect. As far as me loving Jesus as much as the prophet (PBUH), This is something I don’t need to prove to you or anybody else for that matter. Only God knows what’s in my heart. 
          Furthermore, No person is above God, Not even Jesus or the Prophet. You need to remember, its actually the Christians that have put Jesus pretty much as Gods equal. Islam has never put anybody equal to God let alone above him. At the end of the day each to their own. We are all brothers and sisters in eye of God and should not let any religion tell us otherwise.

        2. lefthanded Avatar
          lefthanded

          I suggest you start reading some books, when you comment on things that you’re misinformed about, you’re certainly going to offend others, you know absolutely nothing about Islam or the Prophet(PBUH).

          Let’s not fight if he was truly a prophet or not, he was a great man, who fought social injustice at that time when the tribe named Kouraysh had monopoly on everything and left the rest fighting for scraps(we can make a comparison to many modern governments), he created equality, he encouraged people to study(and the results could be seen how much the muslims contributed to science at the early stages of Islam), he encouraged people to set their slaves free and obliged them to start treating them as human beings instead of a possession( which paved the way to abolish the slavery mentality). As for blaming him for the killings of today, he hated war, he told muslims that war should only be as a last resort and only self defense, muslims should not even harm a tree when in war, so don’t blame him if muslims these days are a mess and uneducated(the ones you see in the news), i suggest you blame poverty which is an another discussion.

  2. Constantin7 Avatar
    Constantin7

    Please do not compare the Pope’s speech to Nasrallah’s speech, it is like comparing day and night, good and evil, peace and war, order and disorder, clarity and confusion, sincerity and hypocrisy, freedom and slavery etc…. even I dare to say like comparing our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and the charlatan man who assigned himself as a prophet from God, called himself mohammad, forced others to believe in him, and created the biggest prison of the world called ISLAM.

    1. saoudiAhbal Avatar
      saoudiAhbal

      brother; mr nasrallah is an intelligent person; believe you me 99.99 per cent of muslims do not believe islam is godly & i believe mr nasrallah is one of them; dont listen to what politicians say, look at what they do. mr nasrallah is a trustworthy intelligent person giving me feelings of security

      1. Constantin7 Avatar
        Constantin7

        “99.99% of muslims do not believe Islam is Godly” ? What are you talking about ? All muslims, Sunni or Shiaa,  believe that the Kuran is the word of God and that Mohammad is rassoul allah. At least the muslims that I know and I have known all my life. As for Mr. Nasrallah, you think he is an intelligent man giving you “security”, after what he did in 2006, I would not trust this man at all with my security becaue he has the capacity to start a war that could destroy all my country. But I have to admit that the man  has a very charismatic personality and is very close to the heart (as we say in Lebanese: arib lal alb).  

        1. saoudiAhbal Avatar
          saoudiAhbal

          islam is a political organisation: al islam houwwa din wa dawla; thus a muslim is not necessarily one who believes in allah but one who follows the crowd
          as far as mr nasrallah is concerned, like all other players, he is just an american pawn; but like assad father he knows how to perform his pawn function to the perfection

  3. Constantin7 Avatar
    Constantin7

    Please do not compare the Pope’s speech to Nasrallah’s speech, it is like comparing day and night, good and evil, peace and war, order and disorder, clarity and confusion, sincerity and hypocrisy, freedom and slavery etc…. even I dare to say like comparing our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and the charlatan man who assigned himself as a prophet from God, called himself mohammad, forced others to believe in him, and created the biggest prison of the world called ISLAM.

    1. saoudiAhbal Avatar
      saoudiAhbal

      brother; mr nasrallah is an intelligent person; believe you me 99.99 per cent of muslims do not believe islam is godly & i believe mr nasrallah is one of them; dont listen to what politicians say, look at what they do. mr nasrallah is a trustworthy intelligent person giving me feelings of security

      1. Constantin7 Avatar
        Constantin7

        “99.99% of muslims do not believe Islam is Godly” ? What are you talking about ? All muslims, Sunni or Shiaa,  believe that the Kuran is the word of God and that Mohammad is rassoul allah. At least the muslims that I know and I have known all my life. As for Mr. Nasrallah, you think he is an intelligent man giving you “security”, after what he did in 2006, I would not trust this man at all with my security becaue he has the capacity to start a war that could destroy all my country. But I have to admit that the man  has a very charismatic personality and is very close to the heart (as we say in Lebanese: arib lal alb).  

        1. saoudiAhbal Avatar
          saoudiAhbal

          islam is a political organisation: al islam houwwa din wa dawla; thus is muslim is not necessarily one who believes in allah but one who follows thre crowd
          as far as mr nasrallah is concerned, like all other players, he is just an american pawn; but like assad he knows how to perform his pawn function to the perfection

    2. Constantin7, you should not offend the pope. You might start a protest around the world. I don’t think he is that bad. He is quite a cute old man. 

      1. saoudiAhbal Avatar
        saoudiAhbal

        brother mr anti fsa: a day older than you is a year wiser than you; old people are the wise ones in villages, frequently consulted for their wisdom; even though i have a lot of respect to this Pope in particular, i have no problems with you criticising him; i do not think this would create any reaction. I would even go further, you are even free to say your opinion about Jesus, even insulting him; a believer in Jesus would tell you it is not up to me to judge youy, He will do it. By HE i meant the famous word of Jesus “I AM HE” I wish from the deepest of my heart this to be true for islam

        1. I never meant in any way to offend the pope. Just like you have respect for the pope, I have the same respect for Sayyed Hassan. People like constantin7 through their ridiculous blogs sometimes force people to go on the offensive. As for Jesus, true Islamic people would not dare criticize him. Believe it or not Jesus is as important to me as the Prophet (PBUH). As far as I’m concerned, anybody who criticizes Jesus is nothing more than evil devil worshipper.
          I take you comment on board and appreciate what you have said.       

        2. saoudiAhbal Avatar
          saoudiAhbal

          brother mr fsa: i never said you insulted the pope; btw i do not have same respect for all popes: but i like this one in particular

      2. Constantin7 Avatar
        Constantin7

        Sorry AntiFSA if you feel offended by my postings sometimes, but after what I learnt about your prophet, his life, and his actions, without going too much into detail, I cannot have any respect for him and consider him responsible for all the innocent people who muslims kill because they role model is this prophet, who killed everyone who opposed him and still entices muslims to our days to kill any one who opposes them. For this reason Bashar is killing people without regard to any human rights, for this reason Saddam killed thousands of shiaa and kurds without any regard. 
        You say Jesus has the same status like Mohammad for you, I doubt it. Actually you put Mohammad even above God when you repeat every day : ” Rassoul Al-allah salla allahu aalayhi wa aala ahlihi wa sahbihi wa sallam”, i.e. God is going to pray for Mohammad, his family and his friends and greet them !!! This is the ultimate “shirk”.
        In any case, I never mean to offend muslims but rather to push them to think and debate with reason. 

        1. Constantin, Do you seriously believe that the film really portrays what the Prophet (PBUH) stood for. This film is nothing more than an absolute lie. It wasn’t even made by an Muslim person. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, No religion tells its follows
          to kill people in a inhumane way. It’s the individual who interprets it as such. It would very
          easy for me to dislike the Christian religion because of a few who have caused
          the same atrocities as the some of the Muslim people have, However I don’t, All religions preach love and respect. As far as me loving Jesus as much as the prophet (PBUH), This is something I don’t need to prove to you or anybody else for that matter. Only God knows what’s in my heart. 
          Furthermore, No person is above God, Not even Jesus or the Prophet. You need to remember, its actually the Christians that have put Jesus pretty much as Gods equal. Islam has never put anybody equal to God let alone above him. At the end of the day each to their own. We are all brothers and sisters in eye of God and should not let any religion tell us otherwise.

        2. lefthanded Avatar
          lefthanded

          I suggest you start reading some books, when you comment on things that you’re misinformed about, you’re certainly going to offend others, you know absolutely nothing about Islam or the Prophet(PBUH).

          Let’s not fight if he was truly a prophet or not, he was a great man, who fought social injustice at that time when the tribe named Kouraysh had monopoly on everything and left the rest fighting for scraps(we can make a comparison to many modern governments), he created equality, he encouraged people to study(and the results could be seen how much the muslims contributed to science at the early stages of Islam), he encouraged people to set their slaves free and obliged them to start treating them as human beings instead of a possession( which paved the way to abolish the slavery mentality). As for blaming him for the killings of today, he hated war, he told muslims that war should only be as a last resort and only self defense, muslims should not even harm a tree when in war, so don’t blame him if muslims these days are a mess and uneducated(the ones you see in the news), i suggest you blame poverty which is an another discussion.

        3. You offend muslims when you say false things about them.  Your true colour are clear. You have put hatred for muslims. is this what you are taught, and how many are like you. and answer this if you dare on behalf of your fellow christians. Do you support Assad or the FSA or do you just enjoy watching them kill each other in the hope that the christians can swoop to power in the after math .

  4. If Pope could visit evry friday afternoon in Beirut maybe his positive influence be able to buffer Nasrallah’s flood of venom.

  5. If Pope could visit evry friday afternoon in Beirut maybe his positive influence be able to buffer Nasrallah’s flood of venom.

  6. If Pope could visit evry friday afternoon in Beirut maybe his positive influence be able to buffer Nasrallah’s flood of venom.

  7. The civilized (Pope) vs. a rabid animal.   

  8. The civilized (Pope) vs. a rabid animal.   

  9. MUSLMS should not wait for the permission of its kuffar allies to protect its brothers and sisters in islam. If Turkey wants to live,then it must go to war with its brothers and sisters against its enemies. This is a real test of character . If the politicians dont step up , the Generals must, otherwise they will thrown unto the dustbin of history.SURAH8;24 ” Give your response to Allah and his Messenger, when he Calleth you to that which gives you life; and know that Allah comes between man and his heart, and it is He to whom ye shall (all) be gathered. “

  10. cathy8111111 Avatar
    cathy8111111

    you idiots who hate assad so much…..do you think that with him gone there will be any CHRISTIANS left in Syria or region for that matter??? what are you guys smoking?? we have a very close source who’s nephew was in the syrian army, he was a christian and the “rebels” captured him, decapitated him on the net and called him an infidel. thats your wahhabi sunni muslims….i cannot believe the level of intelligence of some christian lebanese….

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      Very sad … and there’s hurt when it feels personal … but not all Syrians wishing for freedom are wahhabis and idiots. And not all the ‘rebels’ are Syrian … It’s an uncivil war now.

  11. cathy8111111 Avatar
    cathy8111111

    you idiots who hate assad so much…..do you think that with him gone there will be any CHRISTIANS left in Syria or region for that matter??? what are you guys smoking?? we have a very close source who’s nephew was in the syrian army, he was a christian and the “rebels” captured him, decapitated him on the net and called him an infidel. thats your wahhabi sunni muslims….i cannot believe the level of intelligence of some christian lebanese….

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      Very sad … and there’s hurt when it feels personal … but not all Syrians wishing for freedom are wahhabis and idiots. And not all the ‘rebels’ are Syrian … It’s an uncivil war now.

  12. Ref. Hizbollah’s manifesto: (Hezbollah does not believe in coexistence but seeks to establish an Islamic regime)”- Our Objectives, (c): “We call upon all of them to pick the option of Islamic government which, alone, is capable of guaranteeing justice and liberty for all. Only an Islamic regime can stop any further tentative attempts of imperialistic infiltration into our country.”

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      Wow NMIW. They said that?
      Then we can assume ‘all’ does not include females when it talks about justice and liberty.
      Justice and liberty in any given society have little to do with (theoretical?) infiltration from without, unless one considers free thought a form of infiltration.

      1. “Quoting you: “They said that?”. What I posted is being documented. As for Justice and Liberty they simply can’t be implemented under any specific ideology that concerns only its followers in a multicultural country like Lebanon. Islamic-Sharia-law-state, whether Shiite/Hezbollah or Sunnis/Salafists/MB, will not obviously comfort the other fractions of the Lebanese society. In addition to minorities i.e. Christians in all Christianity’s sects, the historical conflict between Muslim Shiites and Muslim Sunnis makes confront between Muslim extremist ideologies (Shiites/Hezbollah and Sunnis/Salafists/MB) in Lebanon even harder. Noting that Lebanon is the only state among all other Arabic-speaking neighborhood that was not formed on any religious basis — i.e. no Islam as religion nor Sharia law are mentioned in the Lebanese constitution–, only civil laws and most importantly the implementation of civil laws on all citizens in an equal and just manners can guarantee the existence of, justice and liberty for all different fractions of the society that makes what Lebanon is. Out of the Lebanese Forces and Army, are military arms dispersed in all the Lebanon territory. These weird phenomena can’t continue under any reasons, arguments or circumstances and that remains one of the principal barriers to implement a normal State in Lebanon.

  13. Ref. Hizbollah’s manifesto: (Hezbollah does not believe in coexistence but seeks to establish an Islamic regime)”- Our Objectives, (c): “We call upon all of them to pick the option of Islamic government which, alone, is capable of guaranteeing justice and liberty for all. Only an Islamic regime can stop any further tentative attempts of imperialistic infiltration into our country.”

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      Wow NMIW. They said that?
      Then we can assume ‘all’ does not include females when it talks about justice and liberty.
      Justice and liberty in any given society have little to do with (theoretical?) infiltration from without, unless one considers free thought a form of infiltration.

      1. What I posted is being documented.

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