Controversy
On 19 January 2010, Hassoun sparked controversy when, speaking to a delegation of Christians and Jews from the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution, he allegedly commented, "If the Prophet Muhammad had asked me to deem Christians or Jews heretics, I would have deemed Muhammad himself a heretic," and, "f Muhammad had ordered me to kill people, I would have told him, 'You are not a Prophet.'" In a later clarification, Hassoun stated that his initial statement had actually been, "If our Prophet Muhammad had ordered me to disbelieve in Moses and Jesus..."
Provoking an outcry amongst many orthodox Muslims, news of the incident reached the English-speaking world primarily after the prominent Muslim scholar Shaykh Muhammad al-Ya’qoubi's public condemnation of the mufti. During his Friday sermon of 22 January at Masjid al-Hasan in Damascus, Ya’qoubi decried Hassoun's indiscretion, imputing disbelief to his words, and demanded that the mufti resign. Ya'qoubi's comments led to his own immediate dismissal from the pulpit.
Read more about this topic: Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun
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