MUSLIMS AND ISIS

Since 2001, I've read and heard complaints about the lack of indignation in the Muslim world about the terror attacks of Islamic radicals so I would've thought this meeting would get a lot of US media attention but it didn't.

Muslim clerics meet in Iran to counter extremists

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
November 23, 2014 1:39 PMn
Yahoo News

QOM, Iran (AP) — Shiite and Sunni clerics from about 80 countries gathered in Iran's holy city of Qom on Sunday to develop a strategy to combat extremists, including the Islamic State group that has captured large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, the chief organizer of the conference, appealed for consensus among Islam's two main branches, urging all Muslim clerics to work to discredit groups espousing extremism.

"Military attacks against this deviant group (IS) are necessary but insufficient. The roots of their violent ideology must be dried up. This is the job of Muslim scholars, to preach the true, moderate face of Islam and expose the ugly face of IS ideology," said Shirazi, a prominent Shiite cleric who has a large following in Iran and abroad.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, said the Islamic State group is the biggest threat to Islam. "They were created to undermine Islam and destroy Muslim societies. IS kills both Shiite and Sunni Muslims," he said.

Sunni scholar Abdolrahman Sarbazi, who leads Friday prayers in an area of southeastern Iran that is home to many Sunnis, said "Sunni Muslims also condemn the violent practices of takfiris, who are a threat to humanity." ''Takfiri" is an Arabic word for Islamic extremist.