BEIRUT: Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani slammed Sunday those criticizing Islam and distorting its teachings, the National News Agency reported.

During a ceremony to honor late Sheikh Rashid al-Hajjar at Mohmammad al-Amin Mosque in Downtown Beirut, Qabbani said: “Those who are labeling Islam and Muslims as obscurantists actually represent the darkness itself in our world and in our Arab and Islamic countries.”

Mount Lebanon Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Ali al-Jouzo, who was also attending the ceremony, deeply regretted that some Lebanese newspapers were attacking Islam.

“Unfortunately, certain newspapers in Lebanon are blasting Islam, whereas some Lebanese are lobbying against the [imminent] victory of Muslim rebels in their battles against cruelty, persecution, dictatorship and genocide,” he said, in a direct reference to the unrest Syria.