Lebanese Muslim leader: There is no Middle East without Christians

The Middle East will no longer exist, if the exodus of the Christians continues, Sheikh Abdel Latif Darian, Mufti of the Lebanese Republic, said yesterday, during the graduation ceremony for 350 students from the Makased institutes, the Lebanese Islamic private schools.

"We live in the same country with Christians, we share the air and the daily bread. We have the same destiny: our future will either be together or not," said the official representative of the Lebanese Sunni community. He said attacks on Christians were a crime against the entire population.

During the ceremony, held in the presence of government representatives, Sheikh Abdel Latif Darian invited students to enjoy their special day. He appealed to them to stay in their country. Non-state schools in the Lebanon are going through a crisis he said, but he was confident that Islamic schools will continue to educate new generations in the healthy principles of citizenship, to the love for the Arab identity and to the sense of brotherhood towards the whole human family.

Elected Mufti of the Lebanese Republic in August 2014 65-year-old Abdel Latif Darian is known as a man of dialogue and peace. From his first speeches after his election, he has criticised the clashes between Shiites and Sunnis that heavily contribute to the destabilisation of the Middle East and condemned attacks on the local Christian communities.