Muslims criticize the Islamic State for perverting Islam

A new voice in the international community is speaking out against the Islamic State; over 100 Muslim leaders have signed a 17-page letter that criticizes and condemns the terrorist state, their actions in Iraq and Syria, and their interpretation of the Quran and Islamic teachings.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The letter was issued in September from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and in that time 125 Muslim leaders have signed it-including 20 Muslims from the United States.

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Egypt had more signers than any other country, but Muslims from Jerusalem, Palestine, Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan, Argentina, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chad, France, Gambia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Hordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Portugal, Sudan, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and the regions of Kosovo and Kurdistan signed the document.

The letter condemned of the actions of the Islamic State against Christians in Iraq and Syria.

"Regarding Arab Christians, you gave them three choices: jizya - poll tax - the sword or conversion to Islam. You painted their homes red, destroyed their churches, and in some cases looted their homes and property. You killed some of them and caused many others to flee their homes with nothing but their lives and the clothes on their backs," the letter said.

"These Christians are not combatants against Islam or transgressors against it, indeed they are friends, neighbors and co-citizens. From the legal perspective of Sharia (Islamic law) they all fall under ancient agreements that are around 1,400 years old, and the rulings of jihad do not apply to them."

The letter also criticized the treatment of other civilians by the Islamic State.

"You have killed many innocents who were neither combatants nor armed, just because they disagree with your opinions," it said.

"Emissaries have a special inviolability," the letter noted. The letter clarified that journalists are "emissaries of truth, because their job is to expose the truth to people in general. You have mercilessly killed the journalists James Foley (a Catholic) and Steven Sotloff (who was Jewish), even after Sotloff's mother pleaded with you and begged for mercy. Aid workers are also emissaries of mercy and kindness, yet you killed the aid worker David Haines. What you have done is unquestionably forbidden."

In general, the Muslim leaders accused the Islamic State of engaging in "cafeteria Islam".

"It is not permissible to constantly speak of 'simplifying matters,' or to cherry-pick an extract from the Quran, without understanding it within its full context," it said.

The Islamic State is set to undo decades of Western and Islamic relations, and may further destabilize a region that needs a great deal of time to regrow and modernize, already Syria and Iraq have been set back a great deal, and even if the group is defeated, it is unclear if those two nations can continue to exist as single entities.

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