DOHA: Most imams in Qatar, in their Friday sermons yesterday, slammed the burning alive of a Jordanian pilot by Islamic State (IS) militants late last week and dubbed them as cowards and anti-Islamic.
It was the first Friday after the pilot’s burning shocked the world. In Islam, the only one who can punish a human with fire is Allah, the Almighty, a cleric told this newspaper.
At the Grand Mosque, Imam Dr Thaqueel Al Shummari, in his sermon, denounced the burning alive of Maaz Al Kassasbeh.
It was an anti-Islamic act, for Maaz was a prisoner of war (PoW) and he should have been treated as per principles laid down in Islam on how to treat a PoW, he said.
A PoW can either be released or exchanged for another PoW or released in lieu of cash, said the prominent Islamic cleric.
The Grand Mosque, now renamed as Imam Mohamed bin Abdul Wahab Mosque, was packed to capacity with the devout.
Al Shummari said that Muslims were being burnt alive in different places around the world: in Central Africa, in Myanmar and in Iraq and Syria. “This must stop.”
Even if an enemy is to be killed, Islam says he should be killed in a merciful way without much pain, said the cleric.
And mutilating the body of a human, whether he has been killed or has died, is forbidden in Islam. It is ‘haraam’, he said.
In Soheb Mosque in Al Wakra, Imam Sheikh Ahmed Al Buanain, while delivering the Friday sermon, said the Islamic State was a group of terrorists.
“They are misusing the name of Islam and destabilising Muslim countries and we are just watching as mute spectators.”
Al Buanain, who is Secretary-General of the International Muslim Preachers’ Association, decried the killing of Al Kassasbeh as an act against humanity.
In Al Khor’s Osman bin Affan Mosque, Imam Dr Mohamed bin Hassan Al Miraikhi said these were times of crises as people were deviating from Islam. He slammed the pilot’s killing by the IS militants.
In Assailiya mosque, Imam Dr Abayee said, while denouncing the burning of Al Kassasbeh in no uncertain terms, that sometimes people could be confused with such acts of brutality and terror and may think Islam permits them.
“That’s not true. Islam forbids such acts of terror,” he said.
On the website of International Muslim Scholars’ Union, of which he is head, noted cleric Dr Yusuf Al Qarawadi said the rights of PoWs are protected in Islam.
“What we are seeing is against the teachings of Islam,” said Al Qaradawi.THE PENINSULA
