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Al-Azhar's Grand Imam Condemns Killing of Civilians
CAIRO, Sep 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, on Wednesday condemned the killing of civilians in the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, considering it a gruesome act denounced by the three monotheistic religions, said Egypt's state information service, Egypt Online.
Also, a number of al-Azhar scholars stressed that Islam rejected violence and bloodshed, expressing regret over the tragic explosions and plane crashes that took place Tuesday
The president of al-Azhar University, Ahmed Omar Hasham, said that Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance and stability. "It does not call for aggression or injustice. Those who are trying to describe Islam as a religion of extremism and violence are wrong," he asserted.
Muslim and Arab leaders, among others around the world, have strongly condemned the attacks and have urged the international community to refrain from equating the acts of terrorists with the Islamic faith.
In addition, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, a world renowned Muslim scholar, was among the first to issue a
fatwa (religious degree) denouncing the actions of terrorists, regardless of their faith and nationalities, saying, "Our hearts bleed for the attacks that has targeted the World Trade Center [WTC], as well as other institutions in the United States despite our strong oppositions to the American biased policy towards Israel on the military, political and economic fronts.
"Islam, the religion of tolerance, holds the human soul in high esteem, and considers the attack against innocent human beings a grave sin, this is backed by the Qur'anic verse which reads:
Who so ever kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he has killed all mankind, and who so ever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind," (Al-Ma'dah:32).
In addition, in a continued display of solidarity with fellow Americans, Muslim and Arab students have also taken up the cause of condemning the attacks as well, and have distanced the Islamic faith and Muslims as a whole from the actions of a few people acting in contradiction with Islam as a faith.
In an effort to enlighten the younger generation and quell potential acts of violence against American Muslims and people of Arab descent, MTV has also actively supported the disassociation of Islam as a faith from the acts of the terrorists. It is actively interviewing and broadcasting statements of American Muslim students in New York, who echo the words of the scholars in a way even young people can understand.
Be it a statement from the most powerful Muslim leaders in the world, or from the young, Muslim students seeking to enlighten the next generation and ending stereotypes and misrepresentations of Islam, the message is the same; the heinous attacks are by no means Islamic.
With additional reporting by Neveen A. Salem
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