Shiites have no plans to create separate state
Lebanon, 7/21/1997

Higher Shiite council chief Sheikh Mohammed Mahdi Shamsdeen said on July 17 that the Shiites in Lebanon had no plans for a separate state, adding that they favored the concept of a modem, secular nation.

Speaking in Cairo at Al Ahram's studies center, Shamsdeen tackled the issues of relations between the Shiites and the compatibility between Islam an the modern state.

Denying that the Shiites wanted an individual state in Lebanon or anywhere in the Arab world, Shamsdeen said they were supportive of a general project for building a state that has a place for all sects.

"The Shiites' private project is a public one, for which they have struggled all these years," Shamsdeen said.

The cleric warned of the danger of sectarian differences, adding that "any state based on sectarian alliances would be a betrayal of Lebanese society."

He said that while the political regime in Lebanon should not be based on religion, society should be diverse, noting that this did not contradict the rulings of Islam.

"The strictures of Islam are not incompatible with those of modern political methods," he added.

Shamsdeen went on to call for Arab states to forge national integration that is not based on sectarian groups.

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