MOUNT ARAFAT: Muslim leaders must strike the enemies of Islam with “an iron hand”, Saudi Arabia’s top cleric said during Friday prayers, in apparent condemnation of the Islamic State jihadist group.
Speaking to Muslims from around the world in an address during the annual Haj pilgrimage, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh called on fellow Islamic leaders to “hit with an iron hand the enemies of Islam.”
“Your religion is threatened. Your security is threatened,” he thundered, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
“These criminals carry out rapes, bloodshed and looting,” he said, adding that “these vile crimes can be considered terrorism” and their perpetrators have nothing to do with Islam.
“They are tyrants,” he said, warning of “their deviant ideology.”
The mufti spoke from Nimrah Mosque at Mount Arafat in western Saudi Arabia.
