Leading Muslims condemn ISIS after France church attack
Leading figures of the Islamic faith condemned the acts of the Islamic State terrorist group after attacking a Catholic church in Normandy, France and killing an 85-year-old priest.
Shawki Allam, the grand mufti of Egypt, Dr. Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, the grand mufti of Australia, and Dalil Boubakeur, a mufti and rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, all released individual statements to express their sympathies to the families of the victims and the French people.
They also condemned the terrorist act on July 26 when two young men interrupted the morning mass celebrated by Fr. Jacques Hamel at the church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen, Normandy. The two extremists reportedly filmed themselves as they delivered a sermon in Arabic around the altar and then slit the throat of Fr. Hamel. They also shouted "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great" as they rushed out of the church before the police gunned them down.
The Egyptian mufti condemned the attackers as "extremists" and what they did as a "criminal act that dissents from what God has commanded in all religions."
The Australian mufti condemned the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) militant group, who claimed responsibility for the attack and hailed the two attackers as their soldiers.
"Isis is an evil organisation that has hijacked the religion of Islam for its own brutal and nihilistic goals. The betrayal of the Islamic faith and violation of its core principles are enough to refute Isis's false and absurd claims," said Dr. Mohamed in a statement.
He also added that religious people of all faiths and their places of worship "are of paramount importance in Islam" that maintains "the sanctity of all human life."
The French mufti considered the attack a "blasphemous sacrilege which goes against all the teachings of our religion."
Muslims across France showed solidarity with Christians as they united in prayer at a mosque in Normandy on Friday.
A French imam, Abdelatif Hmitounot, addressed the extremists and renounced them as "not a part of civilization" and "not a part of humanity" while Fr. Pierre Belhache, in-charge of the relations with Muslim community, asserted the unity between Christians and Muslims.