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| Olde Tyme Religion | |
| Clerics Gather in Egypt to Counter Extremist Fatwas | |
| 2015-08-18 | |
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group jihadists who have declared a "caliphate." The muftis -- usually the official interpreters of Islam in their countries -- are meeting alongside other holy mans over two days in Cairo to cope with what the holy mans described as a rash of bully boy fatwas, or edicts. "You do not need to be reminded that leniency (in dealing) with fatwas that ex-communicate" Moslems has resulted in "murder and bloodshed," Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the head of the prestigious Cairo-based Islamic Al-Azhar institution, told the conference. But it was not immediately clear how effective the holy mans' proposal to realistically address the problem would be, especially in the age of the Internet where many Moslems consult religious websites. And for the first time in Islamic history, the entire corpus of Islamic scholarship is available online, a Google search away for those seeking a quick answer to a religious query. The dilemma has particularly been highlighted by the Islamic State group's atrocities in Syria, Iraq and other countries where they have a presence. In February, the jihadists announced they had immolated a captured Jordanian pilot, Maaz al-Kassasbeh, prompting an outcry among Moslems. IS supporters circulated, among other justifications, a collation of classical fatwas taken from the website of a major Saudi university in support of such execution-style killings. "The goal of this conference is to unite the message of muftis in light of the challenges faced by the region and world in the shape of bully boy fatwas and groups that talk in the name of religion," Ibrahim Negm, an adviser to Egypt's mufti, told AFP. Negm said the conference could decide to form a general secretariat for the region's muftis, centers to monitor and rebut bully boy fatwas and training for aspiring muftis. The holy mans also aimed at "creating a new strategy for Moslem communities in the West to confront bully boy thought," he said. The Islamic State group, which follows a strict interpretation of the Salafi sect in Sunni Islam, had added to the challenge of traditional Moslem authorities such as al-Azhar. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |