Muslim scholars denounce ISIL

ABU DHABI // More than 100 Muslim scholars – including officials from the UAE – have united to denounce ISIL.

In a 15-page open letter to Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the terror group’s leader, and his followers, the scholars set out how the killing of innocent civilians and the issuing of fatwas was not in accordance with Islamic Sharia.

The letter commented on a sentence often repeated by ISIL followers when they said that Prophet Mohammed “was sent with the sword as a mercy to all worlds”.

The 126 scholars, who included the UAE adviser to the Head of State for Judicial and Religious Affairs and the head of the Dubai Fatwa Department, cited a verse from the Quran that says: “We did not send you, except as a mercy to all the worlds.”

The letter added that “sent with the sword” is part of a hadith that is specific to a certain time and place “thus it is forbidden to mix the Quran and hadith in this way, as it is forbidden to mix the general and the specific, and the conditional and unconditional”.

A renowned Islamic scholar from the UAE, Dr Ahmad Al Kubaissi, one of the signatures on the letter, said ISIL was like a “black snake with mysterious roots attacking a neighbourhood; it bites everyone in its way without distinguishing”.

“How will this neighbourhood fight it? One will carry a sword, and another a shoe, then each will strike in their own way. This letter is a public speech that wanted to fight this snake using logic and argument.”

He said he believed such people did not understand logic and reason. He said the evidence used in the letter was valuable and informative. “The discussion is an Islamic moderate elegant one, those who wrote it enjoy high ethical morale.”

The letter also explained it was forbidden in Islam to enact legal Sharia punishments known as “hudud” without following the correct pre-conditions and procedures. It was also forbidden to torture people, force them to convert or deny women and children their rights. It also clarified that loyalty to one’s nation was permissible in Islam, and, following the death of Prophet Mohammed, Islam did not require anyone to migrate.

Other issues addressed included difference of opinion and over simplification of Islamic matters by extracting verses from the Quran without understanding them in their full context.

hdajani@thenational.ae