The US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), a coalition of several leading national and local Muslim organizations, in conjunction with the Fiqh Council of North America, as well as national and local Muslim scholars and leaders came together at the National Press Club news conference in Washington, D.C. to release an open letter addressed to ISIS, the self-proclaimed “Islamic State”, refuting their ideology and rejecting their justifications for the brutal actions against innocent people.
More than 120 Muslim scholars, both international and local, have signed the 28-page letter, written in Arabic and translated to English. The letter covers 24 issues claimed to be key factors in motivating their actions are analyzed alongside the deconstruction of ISIS’s justification by experts on Islamic law. The open letter’s executive summary states Islam forbids the killing of innocents, denying the rights of women and children and harming or mistreating “People of the Scripture” i.e. Christians and Jews, or minorities such as Yazidis. The entire letter and list of signatories can be found here.
“The US Council of Muslim Organizations has stated in the past and continues to hold its position of condemning terrorism and all forms of violence irrespective of the perpetrators”. Violence and harming innocent people is alien to Islamic religion, laws and teachings.
