IRAQ:Mainstream Sunni Muslim clerics in Iraq have formed a body to issue edicts aimed at curbing the influence of al-Qaeda militants whose activities kill civilians, not only foreign troops, a leading cleric said yesterday.
Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samarrai said that the "council of ulama of Iraq", set up by a founding committee of 40 prominent religious scholars in Amman last week, was prompted by a need for balanced fatwas (religious edicts) within the community as violence intensified in Iraq.
"It is high time our clerics unify their utterances. Religious scholars have to work on teaching Muslims respect for the others," he said, referring to radical Islamists with ideological links to al-Qaeda.
Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda in Iraq wields influence in several western and central provinces. Its militants are gaining support by preaching in a country occupied by US-led foreign troops and beset by sectarian fighting between Shia militias.
But their indiscriminate killing of civilians and a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam have alienated traditionally-minded tribal leaders and escalated a power struggle within Sunni ranks.
Suicide-bombings by Sunni militants have not only killed Shias indiscriminately, but also have been directed at fellow Sunnis seen as collaborating with the Iraqi government or US-led forces.
Mr Samarrai, who headed a state body which oversaw Sunni religious sites in Iraq but was dismissed last February for criticising the Shia prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, said that extremist groups who killed on flimsy evidence must be fought.
"They kill by suspicion and commit senseless bloodletting and boast about it . . . Whoever kills a Muslim believer should be penalised by going to hell," he added.
The new grouping includes some of the most illustrious Sunni scholars. Sheikh Abdul Malik al-Saadi, Iraq's leading Sunni cleric, regarded as the de facto mufti of the community, will head a group within the council which has been empowered to issue fatwas drawing on Islamic beliefs and sharia (Islamic law) doctrine.