Maryam Rajavi addresses the “Interfaith Solidarity Against Extremism” gathering
Maryam Rajavi and a number of prominent personalities from Arab countries and the Muslim community in France took part in a gathering in Auvers-sur-Oise on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan. The meeting was entitled, “Interfaith Solidarity Against Extremism.”
In her remarks to this gathering, Maryam Rajavi said:
Ramadan is the month of bonding of hearts, friendship, solidarity and peace.
Unfortunately, however, in the present circumstances, there is no blame on us if we shed tears for the dissociation and agony among our countries and nations, for Syria, Iraq and Yemen and other countries where our Muslim sisters and brothers are living in exasperating conditions.
For this reason and with your permission I would like to call on all Muslim nations to unite in solidarity. This is a call based on a solid foundation acceptable to most Muslims.
Ideologically, this foundation is to deny religious compulsion and compulsory religion. Or in the words of the Quran: La Ikraha feddin (There is no compulsion in religion).
Politically, it is to stand up to the religious tyranny ruling Iran, who is the common enemy of all the countries in the Middle East.
In our times, religious compulsion and compulsory religion began with Khomeini seizing power. It has become a tool for pushing back opponents and for imposing a despotic rule.
On this basis, we say that the dispute is not between Shiites and Sunnis, nor between Christians and Muslims. Indeed, there is no war among civilizations. The main confrontation is between despotism and fundamentalism on the one hand and democracy and freedom on the other.
Rejection of all forms of compulsion in religion also opens the way for the principle of separation of religion and state and leaves no room for tyranny and religious discrimination under the name of God.
Yes, we can unite on a fundamental principle which makes up the sinew of Islam and that is the rejection of religious compulsion, namely the principle of La Ikraha Feddin.
The spirit of Islam abhors all forms of compulsion, coercion and forcible prohibition, ranging from imposing the compulsory veil to the forced observation of fasting and prayers by flogging and terror, to preventing the construction of Sunni mosques, and especially imposing the rule of a government under the name of God and Islam.
The Iranian regime’s animosity to peace and tranquility in the Middle East has been steady for the past three decades because export of terrorism and fundamentalism are indispensable to the regime’s strategy for survival.
Now that the international community concurs on the origin of terrorism and fundamentalism in the region, namely the Velayat-e Faqih regime in Tehran, I would like to propose a three-pronged initiative on behalf of the Iranian people and Resistance. And I urge all countries in the region to support it.
First, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) must be officially declared as a terrorist entity. The IRGC and all of its proxy militias must be evicted from countries in the region.
Second, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) must expel the Iranian regime from this organization and grant the seat of Iran to the Iranian people’s Resistance.
Third, they should recognize the Iranian people’s struggle to bring down the clerical regime and establish freedom and democracy.
