French Muslims Support Mid-East Christians
"We are all, no matter what our religion, Christians of the Middle East", said Dalil Boubakeur, rector of Paris Central Mosque, RFI reported on Tuesday, September 9.
"It is essential to support Christians against barbarity".
Boubakeur was speaking at a news conference Tuesday to call for a national day of prayer in support of Christians in the Middle East.
Last month, Christian families streamed out of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul after Mosul by the Islamic State (ISIL) said they would be killed if they did not pay a protection tax or convert to Islam.
In the warning, ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who the group has now named Caliph Ibrahim, had ordered Christians who did not want to stay and live under those terms to “leave the borders of the Islamic Caliphate”.
Meeting at the Grande Mosque in Paris, French Muslim Democrats, Muslims of France, Paris Mosque, Christians of the Orient in Danger, Turkish Muslims of France, Orthodox Coptic Church in France, Human Rights France Egypte Organisation and Coptic Associations in Europe, gathered to sign 'l'Appel de Paris' against ISIL.
"The Islamic State group is neither Muslim nor a state" said the 'Appel de Paris' in a message to the French youth as French young individuals make up the biggest number of European jihadis heading to fight in Syria and Iraq.
Militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have been widely condemned by Muslims worldwide who staged several protests to express anger against the terrorist group.
On Monday, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the highest seat of religious learning in the Sunni world, condemned ISIL, accusing it of serving a “Zionist” plot to “destroy the Arab World”.
Along with Al-Azhar Grand Imam, Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh has urged Muslims to take up arms against the militant group’s members as aggressors who abuse people’s lives, possessions and honor.
A few days ago, Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh condemned Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State jihadists as “enemy number one” of Islam.
Earlier this month, Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam had condemned the militants for atrocities they have been perpetrating in the countries and their violation of principles and teachings preached by Islam.
India Sunni and Shiite Muslims have united against the rise of ISIL, asserting that the actions of destroying holy sites, supporting sectarianism and divisions between Muslim groups cannot be attributed to a true Islamic state.
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia’s largest Islamic group has condemned ISIL, urging the government to take firmer action against the possible spread of the movement in Indonesia.
Source: On Islam
