100,000 clerics issue fatwa against 'terrorism'

Over 100,000 clerics in Bangladesh have issued a dictate denouncing 'terrorism' in the name of Islam and called it "haram."

The fatwa by the Islamic scholars voiced their concern over a wave of brutal killings of Hindus and secular writers in the Muslim-majority country. Both Al Qaeda and the Islamic State have been involved in the spat of brutal slayings.

Maulana Farid Uddin Masud, the chairman of Islamic scholars’ organisation Bangladesh Jamiyatul Ulama, said in a press conference in Dhaka said that it was “wrong” of militants and terrorists to identify themselves as “jihadists”.

“Islam is the religion of peace...Islam doesn’t support terrorism,” Masud the imam of Bangladesh’s Sholakia Eidgah, the largest Eid prayer congregation.

Referring to the Quran and Hadith, he said the suicide attackers will be cast in hell. “Even taking part in funeral prayers of terrorists, militants, covert killers is haram. And those killed for their stance against militancy will be martyrs,” he added.

According to Masud, 101,524 muftis, alims and ulamas have signed the fatwa. The fatwa was issued amidst a spate of killings of writers, bloggers, online activists, and people of different religious and social views by suspected Islamic radicals.

The fatwa titled “the edict of peace for well-being of humanity” denounces the clandestine attacks on minorities and secular activists.