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Following are excerpts from a TV program hosted by Egyptian cleric Hassan Abu Al-Ashbal, which aired on Al-Nas TV on March 19, 2009:
Hassan Abu Al-Ashbal: The Sunnis [in Iran] do not have any religious or political rights. They are not allocated even a single seat in parliament, whereas the Iranian constitution allocates seats in parliament to the Jews. The Christians have seats in the Iranian parliament. But the Sunnis are by no means entitled to this. This is so you understand the level of enmity between Sunnis and Shiites. It is as if we are the one and only enemy impeding [the progress] of the Shiites in Iran.
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I was in America in 1996, and I lived in Chicago... sorry, in Detroit. Some brothers took me to a restaurant, and they sent me to wait in line to order food for all of us. When I got to the cash register, I said: "My name is Hassan." I received a warm welcome, and was told to wait a couple of minutes. So I waited for a couple of minutes... The guy was an Iraqi Shiite. Within no time, he called my name and I went to get the food, but I said to myself: How come my hosts are using me to order their food? Even if [some of] the food is for me – as a guest, I should be treated with respect. Using a guest is bad manners. The next day, they did the same. On the third day, when they wanted to do it again, I told what was going on in my mind. They told me to sit down, and a brother called Omar went and stood in line. So we sat there waiting for four hours. People were coming and going, and we were still waiting. So I asked Omar: What's going on? Are you mad at me? He said: "Your name is Hassan – a [Shiite] name from the Prophet's household. But because my name is Omar, they consider me an infidel, who deserves this punishment. We were lucky to get the food after four hours only." Look what racism, or rather, look what faith – a faith that considers the righteous caliphs to be infidels, who deserve to be cursed, banished, and sent to the Hellfire.
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Does the loyalty of the Shiites lie with Islam? Does Islam constitute their homeland, wherever they may be? Are they loyal to Islam, wherever they may be? Absolutely not. A Shiite is loyal to Iran. He is loyal to the Imam. He is loyal to Ruhollah [Khomeini] – that pagan Persian Iranian – regardless of whether he is an Egyptian, Saudi, Syrian, Lebanese, or a blue demon. His loyalties lie with Iran.
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This is why the deputies of Khamenei all over the world, like Nasrallah and others, are loyal to Khamenei. They collect one-fifth [of the income] in their countries and send it to Iran. Moreover, the Ayatollah in Iran determines the fate of peoples, and orders when to start a war and when to end it.
Don't think that when the war started... That imaginary war – that shameful charade between Hizbullah in Lebanon and the Jews in 2006... This was a shameful charade. The purpose of this charade was to strike the Sunnis in South Lebanon, in order to open up the route between north and south, between Tel Aviv and Iraq, enabling the Jews to use this route to enter Iraq. This was a charade. The Jews and the Shiites are one and the same. They have always loved one another. The Shiites stand by the enemies in all their battles against the Sunnis. Why? Because they consider [the Sunnis] to be their one and only enemy, and the war in Iraq is the best proof of this.
When the coalition forces arrived in 2003 – whom did they embrace, and from whom did they distance themselves? They embraced the Shiites and distanced the Sunnis. The infidel coalition forces – all the European countries – embraced the Shiites and distanced the Sunnis. They protected the Shiites and fought the Sunnis. Read history books – modern history, at least – in order to find out what is happening to the Sunnis all over the world.
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The [territorial] aspirations of the Shiites with regard to the Islamic countries – and especially the Arab countries – far exceed those of the Jews. Don't think for a moment that Iran is producing a nuclear bomb against the Jews. By God, Iran is doing it against the Sunnis. They have produced the nuclear bomb for their coming war against the Sunnis. If they don't manage to spread the Shiite faith all over the region by peaceful means, they will spread it by means of nuclear bombs. Why would they bomb the Jews? The Jews are their masters. The Shiites originated from the Jews in terms of their ideology, their politics, their morality, and their tactics. So why would they fight them and drop a nuclear bomb on them?
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The American soldiers used to knock on the door, before going in to kill, rape, take captives, and do whatever they wanted. But at least they would knock on the door. The Iraqi Shiite soldiers, on the other hand, break the door down with their boots. When they go in, they see a Sunni man with his wife and children, eating, minding their own business. They kill the man and the boys who have reached maturity.