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Mainstream media doing little to give voice to non-violent Muslims

Three Catholic magazines highlight moderate Muslims who condemn extremism
Mainstream media doing little to give voice to non-violent Muslims
Published: September 08, 2014 05:12 AM GMT
Updated: September 08, 2014 05:50 PM GMT

Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists are spreading violence and death. The entire world is still shaken by the horrific murder of James Foley and Steven Sotloff, the two US journalists who were decapitated and the macabre scenes captured on video. International politics is trying to react but Muslim countries are expected to take more concrete initiatives.

But within civil society “many Sunni Muslims have raised their voices against IS, even though this is not always mentioned in the media. This is not just the case in the West but also in more conservative Muslim countries,” writes Popoli, the international monthly magazine of the Jesuits in Italy.

Among those who have spoken out against IS’s ferocity is the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah Al-Sheikh, who on 19 August called both IS and Al Qaeda “Islam’s number one enemies,” adding that they did not belong to the common faith of all Muslims. The Wahhabi movement, which backs the Saudi regime shares some of the terrorists’ doctrines but is averse to their violent approach and the destabilizing threat they pose.”

Key figures in the area have also condemned the attacks, Popoli goes on to say, starting with the Grand Mufti of Al-Azhar (Egypt), Shawqi Allam, who denounced ISIS as a threat to Islam. The Jesuit magazine also quotes the head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate, Mehmet Görmez, who said that "the statement made against Christians is truly awful. Islamic scholars need to focus on this (because) an inability to peacefully sustain other faiths and cultures heralds the collapse of a civilization.”

Similarly, Missione Oggi, a magazine published by the Saverian missionaries of Brescia (Italy), writes: “Iraq’s Muslims are not all ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) extremists. Many are Muslims who want peace. Some have even died to defend Christians in Mosul. Mahmoud al ‘Asali was a law professor who lectured on pedagogy at the University of Mosul. He was killed because he had the courage to tell ISIS’s militants that that was not the Kind of Islam he believed in. He was fully aware of the risk he was running in stating this publicly. He refused to become an accomplice to violence and pay for this with his life.” Vatican Insider published an article about his experience, in July.

 

Full Story: What about those Muslims who condemn Islamic State violence?

Source: Vatican Insider

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