Prince Gharios & Royal Family received by the Grand Mufti of Albania

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The Grand Mufti of Albania with HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor

Last month, HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIII, head of the Royal House of Ghassan and members of the Ghassanid Royal Family were officially received by the Grand Mufti of AlbaniaDr. Skënder Bruçaj, the highest Sunni Muslim authority in the country.

Dr. Bruçaj, born June 22, 1976 in Malësi e Madhe District, is an Albanian Muslim scholar who has been serving as the Grand Mufti (Albanian: Kryemyftiu) of Albania since March 2014. He is also the current head of the Sunni Muslim Community of Albania and had been Director of the Epoka University and Professor at the Bedër University.

HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor discussed with His Excellency his initiative called “Alliance for Peace” regarding dialogue between Islam and the West, fighting the causes of the growing Islamophobia, receiving full support from the Sunni leader. For his work promoting peace between the religions the Royal House of Ghassan has bestowed upon His Excellency the highest rank of the Order of Saint Michael Archangel.

The delegation was composed by the head of the Royal House of Ghassan HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor, the honorary head of the House HIRH Prince Cheikh Selim El Chemor, the International Vice-President of Operations and CEO of the Lebanese Branch of the House Sheikh Dr. Elie Gharios, the President of the Royal Ghassanid Academy of Arts and Sciences and Protestant Grand Chaplain of the Royal House of Ghassan Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, ThD, Mr. Martin Wernecke, knight of the Order of Saint Michael Archangel and Mr. Erion Prendi, the CEO of the Albanian Branch of the Royal House of Ghassan.

 

“Generalization is the ‘mother’ of prejudice…” says Prince Gharios

HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of  Ghassan Al-Numan VIII , the head of the Sovereign Imperial and Royal House of Ghassan, the only active Christian Royal House in the Middle East recognized by the United Nations, always says:

Generalization is the ‘mother’ of prejudice, the ‘father’ is ignorance.”

When people try to “paint all Muslims with the same brush” they are not only being unfair but also playing exactly the role that the radicals want them to play. According to the French Intelligence, the strategy of organizations like ISIS (Daesh) is to make the Western world hate and marginalize the great majority of the moderate Muslims so they can rebel and join the radicals.

Let’s not play their game!

Watch the above video (in English), a brilliant interview from His Excellency Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs and understand the situation.

More about HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor HERE

HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor is interviewed by Brazilian TV while visiting NGO

HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIII was interviewed by Record TV in Brazil while visiting the NGO “Orquestrando a vida” (“Orchestrating the Life”). The NGO is an example for the world since takes unprivileged children and teach them classical music.

The above video is in Portuguese

More about the NGO http://orquestrandoavida.com.br/
More about the prince http://www.princegharios.org/

HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor is acclaimed for lectures ministered in Brazil

HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIII visited Brazil from August 1st to 10th 2016 and ministered lectures about the situation in the Middle East and its effects in the Western world in five venues: at UCAM – Candido Mendes University (Latin America’s oldest private University founded in 1902), at the Fluminense Federal Institute (Technical Faculty), at the City Parliament (founded in 1652), at the Maria Imaculada Diocesan Seminary and at the Imaculada Conceicao Catholic Seminary. The lectures were very appreciated and acclaimed by the audience and the press.

(the above video is in the Portuguese language)

More about HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor HERE

Order of Saint Michael has Investiture Ceremony and a new Grand Priory in Brazil

The Sacred Order of Saint Michael Archangel had a beautiful investiture ceremony and the creation of the Grand Priory of Brazil on August 4th 2016. The event happened at the Campos Catholic Cathedral in Rio de Janeiro. Presiding the Grand Master HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIII and the Grand Chaplain of Brazil HER Dom Roberto Francisco Ferreria Paz, the Catholic Bishop of Campos, Brazil. The Order is legally chartered under the Sovereign Imperial and Royal House of Ghassan, recently accredited and affiliated to the United Nations.

More about the accreditation with the United Nations HERE

More about the Order HERE

 

HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor visits the Grand Mufti of Istanbul

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Prince Gharios shaking hands with Prof.Dr. Rahmi Yaran, the Grand Mufti of Istanbul

As part of a very successful trip to Turkey, HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIII had an audience with Prof.Dr. Rahmi Yaran the Grand Mufti of Istanbul . The Mufti has under him 3,100 mosques in Istanbul, one of the most populous cities in Europe with over 14 million people. The highest Muslim authority in the country being only under the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

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The Mufti praying with Pope Francis during his visit to Turkey in 2014

The Prince Gharios’ delegation had the scholar and protestant bishop from Germany Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, Mr. Martin Warnecke also from Germany and Pastor Dr. Behnan Konutgan from Turkey. The Mufti joined Prince Gharios’ alliance for peace condemning the terror and any kind of violence against other religions. He also received the rank of Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael Archangel.

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More about HIRH Prince Gharios El-Chemor of Ghassan please visit www.princegharios.org

Pope Francis ends 10 years of tensions with leading Muslim authority

 … with a hug!

Pope Francis has met the grand imam of Al-Azhar at the Vatican in a historic encounter that was sealed with a hugely symbolic hug and exchange of kisses.
The first Vatican meeting on Monday between the leader of the world’s Catholics and the highest authority in Sunni Islam marks the culmination of a significant improvement in relations between the two faiths since Francis took office in 2013.

We strongly believe that the only way to achieve peace in the world, save the Christians in the Middle East and stop radicalism is with an alliance between the Muslims and Christians. Learn more about our initiative: http://www.alliance4peace.org/

More details about the news here: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/pope-historic-talks-grand-imam-al-azhar-160523124712606.html

Democracy: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”?

Ancient Greece: the cradle of democracy

Can we have real democracy? The majority really rules in a democracy? Is democracy just an utopia?

 At this point I’ll imitate the mighty Morpheus, the character of the movie “Matrix”, and offer you one of the two pills: the red one, you should stop reading, at once. The green one, you’ll know the truth.

 Assuming that you’ve chosen the green pill:

 In practice, there’s no such thing as democracy. Especially, for a people that is not politicized, educated and used to the system.

 What we see is an illusion. Usually, we misplace the word “democracy” by the word “freedom”.

One of the most important aspects of Muslim Arab politics is the difference of concepts. In the West, Democracy is (or should be) ‘the government of the people, by the people, for the people’.

Personally, I believe that what we call Democracy is the ideal form of government; however, it doesn’t work for every situation and culture. It’s more dangerous to have a bad democracy than a good dictatorship. Plato agrees with me. Well, I can explain. If a democracy is based on the deception of voters, it’s a bad democracy. In some 3rd world countries like Brazil, a candidate can easily buy a vote today by giving the voter a t-shirt and a pair of flip-flops.

Even the multi-party system can be a deception since it’s not rare in the world  having politicians from opposite idealistic sides making collusions to achieve personal and political favors.

“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”

 Winston Churchill

That principle can be easily verified in a very developed democracy, the United States. During the process of primaries to choose the candidate to run, for example, for the Presidency, all kinds of low attacks are made between the candidates. After the official candidate is appointed, they’re all best friends again and, usually, they’re part of each other’s administrations.

Back to the Middle East, since the very beginning, Islam was always associated with secular power; therefore, a purely secular Arab state sounds a little utopic after the Pan Arabism idea started to fade in the 60’s, although the separation of church and state in the region is around 300 years old.

According to Muslim politics, the sovereignty doesn’t belong to people but to God. That’s also conflicting with the monarchical hereditary regime, according to some scholars.

Professor Bernard Lewis said that we’ve this feeling in the West that Democracy is the natural and normal condition in humanity and any departure from it is “either a disease to be cured or a crime to be punished”. I agree with him, democracy is not for everyone. But freedom definitely is.

Nobody can deny that the called “Arab Spring” in 2011 was a hope of “winds of change”. However, the people’s mindset makes us believe that nothing significant will change. On the contrary, the quest for freedom will bring an unbalance to the region as the fall of Saddam Hussein did in 2003. And that brings us to a “golden rule” to understand the region.

Nothing is “black & white”.  Personally, I believe Saddam was a terrible person and tyrannical ruler. His regime was a burden to the Iraqis’ shoulders. No doubt, Iraq without Saddam is better than Iraq with Saddam, right?

 In theory yes, however the region went out of balance once Saddam’s regime used to “hold” one of the most important tension’s clusters of the Middle East: the Iran-Iraq.

According with Professor Chaney, from Harvard University:

“Will the Arab Spring lead to long-lasting democratic change? As Islamists perform well in elections across the Arab world, many have begun to predict that the recent uprisings will usher in a wave of Islamist-dominated autocracies instead of the democratic institutions many protestors initially demanded. These observers often point to the political trajectories of non-Arab states such as Iran and implicitly claim that Islamist-dominated states cannot be democratic. Others note that the emergence of democratic regimes in Indonesia and Turkey demonstrates that Islamists can play a constructive role in democratic institutions.” (Democratic Change in the Arab World, Past and Present, Prof. Eric Chaney, March 10, 2012, p.2)

“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”

 John F. Kennedy

I’m part of the observers that believe that the Arab Spring, although necessary, will bring unbalance to the region, at least in the first decades.

I agree with many things with Professor Chaney, however, I don’t think Turkey is a perfect example of democracy. It’s easy to see, for example, the constant censuring of the internet by the government, cannot be overlooked. Also, the lack of freedom of religion once the Patriarch of Constantinople, leader for the whole Orthodox Christian Church, has encroached over the years his freedom and also his monastery was closed by the government who also dictates the rules of succession in the Church of Constantinople which is, without a single solitary doubt, not their business.

The same with Lebanon, which was created to be a secular country with a Christian majority and now has less than 39% of Christians living there.

It’s very hard to have a real democracy if you have church and State together. A real democracy is not a rule of the majority but a regime where every single group of people is considered and equal.

For example, right after first Egypt’s presidential elections, Time magazine exhibits the following cover (July 9 2012):

 “The revolution that wasn’t – Why generals remain Egypt’s real rulers”

Inside (pg. 28), the article written by Jay Newton-Small (Washington) and Abigail Hauslohner (Cairo) starts:

“How military won the Egyptian Election – Mohamed Morsy may be Egypt’s first popular chosen President but a group of 19 generals are still the country’s real rulers”

Clearly, the power has changed hands, however for the people, very little will change. The worst form of dictatorship is the illusion of democracy. People think they’re choosing something but, in the end of the day, they’re just puppets in a pathetic but well-written play. In other words, they’ve no real freedom of choice.

“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.”

 Franklin D. Roosevelt

There’s absolutely no precedent of an Arab country that had dethroned a monarchy and got a democracy. Even the countries that started as democratic countries have their impartiality challenged by the Islamic interests.

I’m not against Muslim regimes; I’m against any religious regime. I’m in favor of secular governments with total freedom of religion. If you want to be a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, etc… God bless you! You should be able to worship with no fear.

To all of this, we can conclude that Democracy is a process, not some “magic trick”, and it’s only effective when the people / voters are relatively educated and politicized.

HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIII

visit HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor’s website HERE

Forget persecution “just” against Christians

While the world discusses about the intentions and anti-Isis projects, on small numbers of military forces to be sent to halt the advance of terrorists, on barriers to be placed as a thin brake for the peaceful entry of real or imagined migrant in Western Europe, a sad reality recurs and looms over the Middle East: Christians continue to be persecuted and murdered on a daily basis.

And so often, by fellow or friends of those want to uphold human rights in Gaza and impose sharia. I have nothing against the Palestinians, nothing against the Kurds, Iranians and Muslims. In fact, my long studies of history and anthropology have always led me to study and a great deal considering the civilizations of the Middle East or African populations whose history has put them in friction conditions if not continuous hostilities with other realities very next to their development centers. But these are problems concern the history and political science, with all the prospects a scholar can help to investigate and explore. I know too well the Christian religion is a Few since its inception has been persecuted. Jesus himself warned his disciples: “Rejoice when you are persecuted because of Me” by drawing several times what would be the essential lines in the history of Christianity.

It was not a persecutor of the St. Paul himself then struck on the road to Damascus? and how indifferent, how many jailers,since the days of the Roman Empire up to the Vietnamese prisons of the twentieth century, have been converted by the light emanated from love, patience and hope of those the blind would have looked like polosers condemned to rot for years?

However, I must remember the basis of persecution, as the basis for all the massacres perpetrated in the world at all latitudes, there is a rejection of life, a hatred for the individual man and mankind in a broader perspective. It’s no use trying to fool us. The hatred of which we speak is often generated and fed without cause, not only for economic or racial reasons of which we speak; but also for pleasure, for the satisfaction of hurting the man who is not like us or do not think like us. For the sick joy of inflicting the next mortal pangs in their own eyes, as did Calvin in Geneva, the Protestant capital of his time, when he wanted to personally attend to the numerous executions which were carried by its courts.

How surprising about this?

Jesus himself called the Devil “the murderer” and “the enemy of mankind.” The envy of the man who was one of the most beautiful of the angels was born since the beginning of time, ever since his heavenly and disembodied intelligence had the knowledge the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, has a body glorious and so human. Like being second to a man-God?

While for men the proof of his loyalty to God would have been constituted by the refusal to obey and not to eat the forbidden fruit, so for the angels proof was established by the acceptance of this supernatural reality. From knowing God had a mother, and that would be born men as priests who would have brought down the second Person on earth every day in the future earthly world. Michael and his fellows, devotees to their Creator proclaim their “amen” and went up to Heaven. Lucifer shouted his “non serviam” (I will not serve), and was instantly plunged into the deep abyss of which St. Paul speaks. Snatch man to God is the devil’s goal. Rip the soul but also to eradicate them from the earthly life; for the Lord is a lover of life, and therefore does not rejoice at the death of the living. Wars and persecutions, disasters and misunderstandings are the visible events of a struggle has physically started in heaven and continues on earth, having as object of conquest men and States.

About horrible massacres carried out by the pagan emperors, of which he himself was a witness, Eusebius of Cesarea says, “when the whole human race was plunged into a dark night and a dense darkness for the deception of demons and nefarious action of enemy spirits of God, with Jesus’ coming disbanded once and for all the chain of our wickedness.

But on one such grace and such a benefit the envy of the devil who hates the good and love evil is almost exploded and has moved against us its deadly forces (…)  and excited secretly against us all kinds the beast in human form “(cf. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, X, 4, 13-14).

It’s a fact brings us back through the millennia to the great massacres of history and chronicle. Protestant persecution physically liquidated all those refused to accept the creed of Luther, and caused the depopulation of entire Nations such as Norway and Iceland. The years of the English and French revolution who starved Europe and led to the martyrdom and war million victims in the name of civilization, of enlightenment. The invasion of the Americas with the massacres of American Indians and Redskins. And before that, human sacrifices with which the Aztecs and Maya pre-Columbian bloodied their temples, sacrificing thousands of innocent people every year in honor of their gods fatal. L ‘ “useless slaughter” represented by the First World War “.

The colonialism that was imposed in Africa and Asia, a new economic and political orders distorting the traditions of those populations. The Russian revolution which stretched its tentacles on the world to impose a new order in which there would be no place for God. The nazi and fascist regimes with their remodeling of human dignity, and the death camps, authentic temples of the devil and his unclean priests, clothed in the vestments of the uniforms of the SS squads, and to celebrate their satanic death rites. The Pol Pot fields where huge masses of people had begun to die and make room for a company that had no memory of the past. And ‘terrible to think how many massacres have been committed in the name of God, in the name of the alleged intellectual superiority, in the name of the greatness of a race or the triumph of a religion. Forgetting, especially on the part of too many Christians, Jesus’ warning that recalls how the smaller will be the first in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The persecution and an increasing number of Christians are part of this plot that insistently wants blood. While Jesus dies on the cross, shedding their blood and shouting his thirst for souls, the devil nailed on endless crosses so many human beings because of their blood thirsty. And the blood of these Hosts killed out of hatred for God and for life, is especially welcome if they are innocent baptized Christians who are blood relatives of Jesus for having received Communion or Jews in whose veins flows the same blood of Christ .

Think of as still in the Middle Ages knew well the families who were descended from King David, made up of people who had the same ancestor as the founder of Jesus. Kin of Our Lady, St. Joseph, St. Anne and S. Gioacchino, St. John Baptist, the Apostles. The fierce tyrants have sought them in the ghettos and in the houses, they wrote their sentencing boards, posters racist and racist laws to have the taste to become like King Herod who wants to identify, among the infants children of Israel, divine child.

It’s time to think of our Martyrs, from Nigeria to Egypt to Iraq, and that the false gods generalist leave space to our Christian brothers who are killed out of hatred for Christ.

Carmelo Currò

The opinions expressed by the Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of the Royal Herald or any employee thereof. The Royal Herald is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Blog’s collaborators.

 

 

Leadership by example

Pope Francis takes Syrian refugees to Rome after the visit in Lesbos…

… and guess what? All the 3 families are Muslim!

What message that sends to the world?

That humanitarianism is the highest expression of religion, or at least, it should be. After all , basic logic dictates that we are humans before being Christian or Muslim.

BRAVO, Pope Francis!

More about the news: http://www.wsj.com/articles/popes-refugee-airlift-was-last-minute-inspiration-1460927822