Mufti rejects street pressure as means to topple Cabinet

Grand Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani rejected Friday attempts to overthrow the government via violence and “pressure on the streets,” saying Parliament is the place to settle such decisions. “In Lebanon, a country of principles, democracy, [which enjoys a] constitution and institutions, we will never allow for the government to be overthrown via the street as we did not allow it years ago and will never do [so today],” Qabbani said during his sermon on the occasion of Eid al-Adha at the Mohammad al-Amin Mosque in Beirut. Over the weekend a group of March 14 protesters clashed with police as they attempted to storm the Grand Serail. The incident took place as Lebanon laid to rest Brig. Gen. Wissam Hasan’s, the head of the police’s Information Branch who was killed last week in a car bombing in the capital. The opposition has called on Prime Minister Najib Mikati to resign over Hasan’s killing and vowed to use peaceful means to overthrow the Cabinet which they accuse of providing cover for Hasan’s killing. On Saturday, prompted by Hasan’s killing, Mikati said he had given President Michel Sleiman time to consult the National Dialogue Committee on his previous decision to resign. Sleiman’s efforts to resolve to the government crisis were disrupted earlier in the week when the March 14 coalition voiced opposition to attending a new round of National Dialogue. The opposition insists the government resign prior to recommencement of National Dialogue. Referring to the clash between protesters and police outside the Grand Serail, Qabbani defended the post of prime minister, reserved for the country’s Sunni Muslims, describing it as a “moral symbol.” “The premiership is a moral symbol for us and for all the Lebanese and we will not allow anyone to harm the premiership via violence or through pressure on the streets,” Qabbani, who heads the Higher Sunni Council, said. He said that politicians should instead use the Parliament to bring down the government. Qabbani also criticized politicians who turned to the use of “sectarian rhetoric,” urging Lebanese to reject what he described as “the sectarian virus.” “Whoever uses sects to inflame instincts in order to rule in politics is a fool and with such incitements is committing suicide,” he said. Meanwhile, Lebanon's Grand Jaafarite Shiite Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan expressed hope that the cease-fire in Syria between rebel fighters and the government would hold and urged Muslims to abandon antagonism and set an example for the world. “I hope that the truce in Syria will last and for the Syrian people to return their religion, conscience,” Qabalan said during a sermon. “We should abandon the conspiracy, spitefulness, antagonism and selfishness and we should all have values so we can teach people about the virtues of Islam,” he added. Qabalan also voiced pessimism over the situation of Muslims in the region, saying: “What we are seeing on the Muslim scene bodes ill in terms of strife, problems and coups and we say to all Muslims and Arabs to fear God in religion, practices and unity.” From DailyStar