Dubrovnik, (IKA) – As a result of inter-religious dialogue between the Bishop of Dubrovnik, Msgr. Mate Uzinić, and the Imam of Dubrovnik, Salkana ef. Herić, the Christian and Islamic communities in the Diocese of Dubrovnik and the Mejlis (Council) of the Islamic Community in Dubrovnik will collect monetary assistance for the Christians and all the victims of the war atrocities in the area of Syria and Iraq.
More on this was announced in a statement for the media by Bishop Uzinić and Efendi Herić after a press conference held on September 5 at the St. John Paul II Auditorium in Dubrovnik, where a benefit concert was given to collect aid for Christians in Syria and Iraq. Bishop Uzinić stated that the Diocese of Dubrovnik is participating in the benefit concert to aid Christians in Syria and Iraq and that all alms collected on Sunday, September 7, the day after the concert, in the parish and monastery churches in the Diocese of Dubrovnik will be sent to help Christians and other religious minorities in the region of Iraq and Syria. In addition to financial assistance, Christians are helping with their prayers, as urged repeatedly by Pope Francis. On this occasion, Bishop Uzinić urged the faithful of the Diocese of Dubrovnik to pray for the Christians in Syria and Iraq on Sunday, September 7, when financial assistance will be collected for them. He recalled that Christians in the Diocese of Dubrovnik had prayed for peace in the world and persecuted Christians on the Feast of the Assumption, and that the Croatian Conference of Bishops will urge all Croatia to pray for this intention on September 14, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Events repeat themselves and we have learned nothing from the past.
In everything we do, we want to include the Islamic Community in Dubrovnik, said the bishop, and continued: Our intention is not to judge the political organizations as we are religious communities but to state clearly that some things being done in the name of God are not and cannot be in the name of God but are the betrayal of God. It is our clear intention to stand on the side of those who are victims and not on the side of those who are aggressors.” He added that this should have been done at the historical moment in the case of the suffering of Armenians but was not.
“With our statements, positions, prayers and financial assistance, we want to stand beside those who are the victims, hoping that although we cannot change their situation because we are not powerful enough, at least we can make their situation easier because awareness that someone is beside them helps them, understands them and supports them is something that will certainly help them,” said the bishop.
This is especially important, added the bishop, because we recall that we ourselves were the victims in the last war. What pained us, perhaps even more than the fact that we were victims, was the indifference that we could sense from those around us who could have helped us.
Efendi Herić said that the situation in today’s Muslim world does not leave people indifferent, referring to warfare, so that a victim and every creature of God has the right to life. In Islam, even cursing is forbidden, to say nothing of taking someone’s life, he stressed.
He also said that he was offended these days by the use of the word “Islamic” with some other word, such as Islamofascism etc. It cannot be Islamic or Christian or Catholic, it is simply fascism. We are on the side of every victim. God hears even the “smallest” and we condemn every genocide, he said.
The Efendi said that he supports the holding of the concert and collection of aid being organized by the Church and announced that a similar fundraising campaign to help all the victims in that region will be started in his Islamic Community.
“We, the Muslims of this city, I can say responsibly, want to build the present and future of our children in this city. We want coexistence and life. We also demonstrated this during the Homeland War, under the most difficult conditions. In this milieu, we have shown that we are always on the side of the victim, whether Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim etc.,” said Efendi Herić. Commenting on the so-called Islamic State, he pointed out that this term is also offensive to him because it does not correspond to reality. He explained that the concept of an Islamic state can be understood from the Constitution of Medina. Mohammed established the first such state and there are 70 paragraphs that define the relationships within it. Anything contradictory to it cannot be called an Islamic state.
He said several times that he condemns what is called the Islamic State in the territory of Syria and Iraq. They also condemn such a state and the functioning of the state.
The Islamic Community in Croatia has clearly taken a position, urging Muslims to be prudent. The Efendi asked for the same to be urged from the altars in churches, in order to avoid eventual tensions at the start of the school year, that are already somewhat evident
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Bishop Uzinić then expressed the hope that this press conference would help prevent us from behaving differently toward the members of the Islamic Community in our country due to what is being done by individuals in another religious community. “We are called to condemn evil together and work together for what is good,” concluded the bishop.