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It's on the Breaking News Sidebar
Posted on 07/12/2003 12:13:48 AM PDT by JerseyHighlander
Islamic scholars condemn terrorism for bringing disrepute to
religion
Kuala Lumpur, July 12, IRNA -- The world's top Muslim scholars
gathered in Malaysia have roundly condemned terrorism for bringing
disrepute to the Muslim religion, and called for books by extremists
to be banned and for more dialogue with the West.
The ulema, or Islamic scholars, said the killing of innocent
civilians has no place in Islam and that terrorists, if left
unchecked, would threaten Muslim countries as well as Western
nations.
The condemnation was led by one of the Muslim world's foremost
authority, Dr Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the sheikh or head of Al-Azhar
University in Egypt.
"Extremism is the enemy of Islam," Egypt's most senior Islamic
cleric told a news conference at the three-day World Ulema Conference
in Putrajaya, about 40 km from here, that was attended by 800
scholars.
"Whereas jihad is allowed in Islam to defend one's land to help
the oppressed, the difference between jihad in Islam and extremism is
like the earth and the sky," he said.
In Arabic, the word "jihad" means striving.
While some commentators have voiced worries about a so-called
"clash of civilizations" between Islam and the West, Dr Tantawi said
he did not share such a view.
"I do not subscribe to the idea of a clash among civilizations,"
he said in a keynote speech at the three-day meeting which ends today
(Saturday).
"We do not see any obstacles to stop the West from benefiting from
the East, the East taking from Western civilization, or the North
taking from the South, as long as these cultures make humans happier
and make them better persons," Dr Tantawi said.
His views are widely respected by Muslims in this region as
Al-Azhar is seen as Sunni Islam's most venerated institution of
learning.
Dr Tantawi had condemned the suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia
that killed 34 people in May and the Casablanca bomb attacks that
killed 43 people.
He reiterated his stance that suicide attacks by Muslims,
including those against Israelis, were unjustified.
"They were wrong," he said, adding that extremism was not the
way to vent frustrations.
Another speaker at the meeting called for the naming of leaders
of extremist groups and the banning of their literature to halt the
rot.
"Names of extremist leaders must be made public, exposing their
radical ideas and proving they have no logic behind them but
misinterpretations.
"Their books must be banned and taken off the shelves of mosques,
schools, universities and libraries," said Shaikh Husamuddin
Al-Qaraqirah, who is chief of the board of the Lebanon Islamic
University.
A scholar from Libya said true Muslims are comfortable with people
of other faiths, and blamed the current troubles involving Muslims on
aggressive Western politics that Muslims react to.
"Islam rejects fanaticism and racism, and demands that its
followers co-exist with all other people in safety and peace," said
El-Hadi Mohamed El-Mabr ouk El-Gumati.
In a paper presented on Friday, a Muslim scholar from France
suggested more inter-faith dialogues to reduce misconceptions.
Leading the Iranian delegation to the meeting was Ayatollah Seyed
Hassan Rabbani, acting general secretary of the World Forum for
Inter-Religions.
BN/LS/AR
End
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This is evidently spoken by a "liberal" moslem that doesn't believe his own scriptures. The so-called "extreme" moslems do.
They cannot hide the joy that was expressed all over the moslem world when it learned of 9/11.
Translation: it's bad BECAUSE it has a negative impact on Islam (like providing an excuse for the US to bomb and invade you) RATHER THAN having any intrinsic objections to extremism
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