Grand Ayatollah Fadlallah's institution condemns al-Manar report

BEIRUT — The institution of the late Lebanese-Iraqi Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah condemned a broadcast by an Islamic channel that it said featured a figure who "insulted" the cleric. While the statement did not identify the outlet, local media reported that the channel was Hezbollah’s al-Manar.

"We were saddened that some visual media outlets bearing the Islamic title contributed in recent days to reviving these unjust campaigns through those who played a role in promoting them and insulting His Eminence and focusing on the biography of one of the most prominent figures who insulted our late Sayyed with his style, positions, and words that are far from scientific research, which have been refuted by scientific responses in many published books," the statement read.

Fadlallah, who died in 2010, was regarded as a leading authority in Shiite Islam. Once a mentor and religious authority to many of Hezbollah members, he later distanced himself from the group over its ties to Iran. According to Lebanon Debate, al-Manar aired a series on the life of cleric Sayyid Jaafar Murtada, who had "excommunicated" Fadlallah and denounced him as promoting "ideological deviations."

“For nearly 40 years, the late Grand Ayatollah ... was subjected to an unjust campaign targeting the path of awareness and the dynamic, life-oriented Islam that he charted ... through his writings,” the institution said. His teachings, it added, were a “beacon of religiosity” rejecting superstition, extremism, and sectarian bigotry.

The statement said Fadlallah chose not to engage directly with his critics, instead responding through his scholarship and activism, which inspired followers in Lebanon, across the Islamic world, and among diaspora communities.

Still, the institution said, his opponents have continued their campaigns even after his death.

“Out of concern for this media outlet and its resistance role, we implore it not to ... reopen wounds that we chose to remain silent about despite their painful consequences,” the statement said, calling “those responsible in the station to halt this decline ... and avoid triggering new sedition during this most dangerous phase for the ummah, and for the Shiite Islamic community in particular.”