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Lebanese Shiite leader launches interfaith dialogue

The prominent Lebanese Shiite scholar Ali Fadlallah has launched a new initiative aimed at promoting interfaith dialogue and cooling sectarian tensions in the region.
Shiite cleric Ali Fadlallah (R), son of Lebanese Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, receives condolences from Lebanese President Michel Sleiman at a mosque in Beirut's southern suburb on July 4, 2010, following his father's death earlier in the day at the age of 75. AFP PHOTO/ANWAR AMRO (Photo credit should read ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images)
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"God taught us how to converse with all people. There are no sanctities when it comes to dialogue. God Almighty himself spoke to the devil. Are there people like the devil? Also, the Quran is a book of dialogue with polytheists about the unity of God, and with infidels about the existence of God and the prophecy of Muhammad." This is how the late Lebanese Shiite cleric Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah responded when asked about the increased talk of interfaith dialogue in the 1990s.

The occasion to talk about the late Fadlallah today, and about his call for dialogue with the "Other" — especially with other Christian and Islamic sects — is an initiative launched by his son, the scholar Sayyed Ali Fadlallah. The latter established the "Religions and Cultures Forum for Development and Dialogue," in which 50 different personalities participated, including Muslim and Christian clerics and intellectuals from Lebanon and other countries of the Arab and Islamic world.

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