The Union Expresses Strong Displeasure with the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Calls for Respect for Religions and Sacred Values
The International Union of Muslim Scholars expresses its deep dissatisfaction with the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics, which exhibited a blatant disrespect for religions and an egregious affront to the Prophets of God, particularly to our Master Jesus and his disciples.
What transpired during this ceremony represents an unprecedented moral decline and a flagrant assault on spiritual values and human principles. It constitutes an affront to the feelings of all believers in God and His messengers, and it offends their deepest convictions. Furthermore, it is a blatant violation of what sports should embody—an ethos of unity and understanding.
We are witnessing an increasing moral decline in Western values across all spheres of life, where spiritual and ethical values have been abandoned, leading to the promotion of family disintegration, indifference to human relationships, and moral decay.
The values represented in this event are rejected by all divine laws and peaceful instincts, as they lead to societal deterioration, the spread of corruption and crime, and the proliferation of hatred and disrespect among people.
The Union is also astonished by the statements of French officials at this Olympics, who enthusiastically welcomed the occupying state that continues to kill children, the elderly, and women in broad daylight, blatantly violating human rights and being condemned by international and regional organizations for ethnic cleansing crimes.
This blatant contradiction between the claims of respecting human rights and welcoming the occupying state highlights the bias and injustice prevalent in the international community, opening the door to more violence and persecution.
We, in the Union, strongly reject these tendencies that promote insult and mockery instead of unity and understanding. We call on all sports bodies and international organizations to assume their responsibilities in respecting religions and sacred values and to avoid anything that might incite strife and tension among peoples. Sports should serve as a bridge for communication and understanding, not a platform for insult and degradation.
In this regard, we call upon imams and preachers to emphasize in their sermons and lessons the necessity of respecting all prophets and messengers, as faith in them is a pillar of our noble religion. We also reaffirm their esteemed status in all divine religions. We remember our stance towards Prophet Jesus, whom we regard as a great prophet and messenger of God, among the resolute messengers, whose divine mission called for the worship of God alone, and we honor his miracles and great stature.
Promoting these values helps to spread tolerance and mutual respect among peoples and underscores the unity and noble goals of divine messages.
Doha: 22 Muharram 1446 AH
July 28, 2024
Dr. Ali bin Mohammed Al-Salabi,Secretary-General
Dr. Ali Muhyiddin Al-Qaradaghi,President