Muslim clerics: Attacks on religious sites "anti-Islamic"

Leading Muslim clerics in India issued a religious edict, or fatwa, strictly banning attacks on religious sites or killing innocent people, and declaring such horrible crimes as “anti-Islamic.”

The edict, from prominent Muslim clerics in Lucknow and Varanasi, comes one week after two attacks on the Sankat Mochan Temple in the Hindu city of Varanasi killed more than 20 people.

All Muslim groups in India strongly condemned the attacks, describing them as shameful and barbaric.

The fatwa, issued by Darul-Ifta Firangi Mahal in Lucknow, ruled that attacks on all religious sites were anti-Islamic.

Firangi Mahal, which has been active in India for more than 300 years, had issued several other edicts to guide the community on all controversial matters.

Quoting verses from the holy Qur’an, Maulana Khalid Rashid of Firangi Mahli said that Islam is a religion of peace, and that attacks on religious sites were against its basic principles. He also said the Qur’an clearly bans Muslims from attacking innocent people, describing the killing of one innocent person as an attack on the entire humanity.

Maulana Khalid added that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was sent from Allah as a “rahmat” (benevolence) for the humanity. He stressed that in the long history of Islam, during the rule of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and later during the four rightly guided caliphs, religious sites of other communities were given proper protection.

Maulana Khalid made clear that those carrying attacks on religious places in the name of Islam were indulging in an “anti-Islamic act”. He said that peace and humanity had prime position in Islam and the perpetrators of such crimes should understand these basic tenets of the Sharia, the Islamic law.

In Varanasi, Mufti Taisaruddin of Darul Ifta Majidia also declared the attacks as anti-Islamic, saying that the assaults are considered a crime in Islam and could never be condoned.

Source: Hindustan Times