JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti has condemned Nigeria’s Boko Haram as a group “set up to smear the image of Islam” and condemned its kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls.
Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Al-Sheikh said the group was “misguided” and should be “shown their wrong path and be made to reject it.”
His remarks came as religious leaders in the Muslim world denounced Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.
“This is a group that has been set up to smear the image of Islam and must be offered advice, shown their wrong path and be made to reject it,” he told the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat in an interview.
“These groups are not on the right path because Islam is against kidnapping, killing and aggression,” he said. “Marrying kidnapped girls is not permitted.”
Boko Haram kidnapped some 250 girls on April 14 from a secondary school in Chibok village, near the Cameroon border, while they took exams. Fifty have since escaped.
Shekau’s video was released on Monday, sparking a wave of revulsion in Nigeria and abroad and prompting offers of help from countries such as the United States, Britain and France to search for them.
On Thursday,scholars and human rights officials of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation denounced the kidnapping as “a gross misinterpretation of Islam”.
This week, Al-Azhar also said that the kidnapping “has nothing to do with the tolerant and noble teachings of Islam.”
Bravo to the grand mufti for condemning these animals who defame Islam…more condemnations should be issued against other radical Islamic groups who perform atrocities in the name of Islam…the TTP is another group doing the same type of thing in Pakistan…and the Taliban in Afganistan have undermined the true Islam and substituted a violent type of extremism that destroys human rights…
What a joke! The Saudi’s smear Islam more then anyone else, in their kingdom women can neither drive or go out anywhere on their own. It’s an incredibly backward and oppressive society full of racism towards South Asians and other coloured people. This is not to condone what Boko are doing in Nigeria.