Sufis condemn Killing of Innocents
Al-Zaman: The Legal Rulings Office of the Central Council for Sufi Orders issued a fatwa or legal ruling on Sunday that forbids the killing of unarmed innocents from among the children of the Iraqi people.
The fatwa or legal ruling clarified, “The gunmen’s shedding of the blood of the people, and these sorts of torture against innocents are things that humanity has not witnessed before . . . No Muslim should shed the blood of innocents lest he become a cause for people to return to unbelief.”
Sufis are Sunni mystics. Some have sided with the guerrilla movement against the government, while others have been in favor of the new order in Iraq. This statement condemns the killing of innocent noncombatants, but not jihad against the new Iraqi police or army, or against the US military.
The Shiite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq issued a statement in response that suggested the fatwa was just empty words as long as Muslims were being killed.