Muslim Scholars Must React Decisively against ISIL's Claims about Quran
Speaking to IQNA, Ayatollah Sheikh Fadhil al-Maliki said ISIL's assertion that some verses of the Quran are distorted requires serious response from Muslims, especially scholars, because it could have perilous outcomes.
He underlined that the Holy Quran's verses reject any possibility of distortion in it.
In fact, the Holy Book is whole, complete, and above corruption, change, addition or deletion.
Last month, the terrorist group ISIL said it has decided to leave out some verses of the Quran which it considers to be distorted.
The extremist group has reportedly said that these verses have been distorted by some clerics in order to serve their political agenda or the interests of other religions like Christianity.
Sheikh al-Maliki said ISIL's assertion is a big crime which should not be met with silence by the world Muslims.
He said ISIL has no logic but Takfir (considering others as non-believers) and that "these deviated elements do not represent Islam in any way".
He urged Sunni scholars to reiterate that ISIL is not representing the Sunnis and that the group's claim of upholding Sunnis' rights in Iraq and Syria is a pure lie.
The Iraqi scholar also called for cooperation and consultation among Sunni and Shia Ulama (scholars) and efforts to strengthen Muslim unity in order to tackle threats like ISIL.
He noted that creating rifts between Shias and Sunnis and distorting the image of Islam in the world are the main purposes behind creation of the terrorist group.
ISIL is a militant group in Iraq and Syria believed to be supported by the West and some regional Arab countries. The terrorist group claims as an independent state the territory of Iraq and Syria, with implied future claims intended over more of the Levant, including Lebanon, occupied Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus, and Southern Turkey.
The extremist group, which controls parts of Syria's northern territory, sent its fighters into neighboring Iraq in June, quickly seizing swaths of land straddling the border between the two countries.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Sheikh al-Maliki praised the Islamic Republic of Iran as the biggest supporter of Islamic resistance in the region.
He also referred to the United States as the biggest enemy of all Muslims because Washington "does not want the Muslim Ummah to be united and strong and considers the formation of a powerful Islamic front in the region as a threat to Israel and to its own interests".
