US Muslims Slam ‘Un-Islamic’ Boko Haram
"It is almost impossible to express the level of disgust felt by American Muslims at the un-Islamic and obscene actions of the terrorist group Boko Haram for the kidnapping and threat to 'sell' hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement obtained by OnIslam.net.
Nearly 234 schoolgirls were kidnapped by the extremist militants while being at school in the Chibok area of Borno State on Monday, April 14.
The kidnapping occurred the same day as a bomb blast, also blamed on Boko Haram, that killed 75 people on the edge of Abuja and marked the first attack on the capital in two years.
The militants repeated that attack a week later in almost exactly the same spot, killing 19 people and wounding 34 in the suburb of Nyanya.
The abduction was widely condemned by Nigerian officials as well as religious groups.
Al-Haji Sa’ad Abubakar III, who is the sultan of Sokoto, has also called for prayers and intensified efforts to release the innocent girls from Boko Haram militants.
On Monday, May 5, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau admitted kidnapping the girls in a video obtained by the Agence France Presse (AFP), threatening to sell them in the market.
CAIR also renewed its condemnation of Boko Haram's decade-long campaign of violence and intimidation targeting Christians and Muslims, urging the Nigerian authorities to take required measures to return the girls to their families.
“We urge authorities in Nigeria and throughout the region to do everything they can to return the girls safely to their families and to eliminate the threat to peace and security posed by Boko Haram," the statement added.
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the oldest and largest American Muslim umbrella organization, also condemned the kidnapping of and threat to sell off the over 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by the terrorist group Boko Haram.
In a statement, ISNA Vice President Azhar Azeez said: “We condemn wholeheartedly, the disgusting and un-Islamic actions that the terrorist group known as Boko Haram has committed. Kidnapping and threatening to sell the over 200 Nigerian school girls has no validation in the religious tradition of Islam and we urge the Nigerian authorities to find the missing school girls and bring their captors to justice.”
The Muslim Public Affairs Council yesterday condemned the repugnant actions of Boko Haram, which claimed responsibility for kidnapping over 300 teenage schoolgirls from a school in Nigeria three weeks ago. Boko Haram, which translates as “Western education is sinful,” has once again violated core Islamic teachings that value all human life as sacred, prohibit depriving people of their basic freedoms, and mandate seeking knowledge as an obligatory duty of every Muslim.
Source: On Islam
