revert-sister
Proud to be a MUSLIM
CAIRO — Feeling the pain of their country which is mourning the loss of 172 people in last week's Mumbai attacks, Indian Muslim leaders are planning a sober celebration of `Eid al-Adha.
"We have to think above caste, class, region and religion," the All India Organization of Imams of Mosques (AIOIM) said in a statement cited by Times of India on Thursday, December 4.
"It’s an attack on India and all true Indians should come forward and salute the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country."
At least 172 people, including 26 foreigners, were killed and 296 were injured in a wave of coordinated attacks on the western city of Mumbai.
Ten militants struck a number of targets in India's financial capital, including two luxury hotels, Mumbai's main railway terminus, a Jewish center and Cama hospital.
It took Indian commandoes nearly 60 hours to bring the situation under control and free the scores of hostages held by the attackers.
"We are deeply aggrieved by the loss of human lives and especially by the brutal killing of Jews," said the AIOIM.
The umbrella body, which comprises 530,000 Sunni and Shiite members, urged Indian Muslims to celebrate `Eid al-Adha, one of the two main religious festivals on the Islamic calendar, in a sober way.
They asked Muslims, estimated at 140 million in India, to wear black ribbons to show solidarity with the victims.
Muslims worldwide will celebrate `Eid Al-Adha, which marks the end of the annual hajj journey, on Monday, December 8.
Muslim groups and organizations in Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, have decided not to accept the burial of the attackers in Muslim cemeteries.
Delink Islam
The AIOIM will also be organizing an international conference to delink Islam and terrorism.
"Our priority is to invite religious heads from countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Palestine, which are victims of terrorism in one way or the other," said AIOIM General Secretary Umer Ahmed Ilyasi.
More than 500 Muslim scholars from across the world are expected to show up for the conference.
Thousands of Muslim scholars from across India denounced last month terrorism as a violation of Islamic teachings.
This came shortly after thousands of scholars, managers and teachers of madrasahs from across India met at the famed Darul-Uloom seminary to condemn terrorism as well as attempts to associate Islam with violence.
Ilyasi, the AIOIM leader, said the conference would demand that all militant groups to remove words with Islamic connotations from their names.
"How can a terrorist organization like the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which believes in bloodbath, use the name of Prophet Muhammad, who was one of the greatest messengers of peace," he stressed.
"It is highly condemnable."
"We have to think above caste, class, region and religion," the All India Organization of Imams of Mosques (AIOIM) said in a statement cited by Times of India on Thursday, December 4.
"It’s an attack on India and all true Indians should come forward and salute the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country."
At least 172 people, including 26 foreigners, were killed and 296 were injured in a wave of coordinated attacks on the western city of Mumbai.
Ten militants struck a number of targets in India's financial capital, including two luxury hotels, Mumbai's main railway terminus, a Jewish center and Cama hospital.
It took Indian commandoes nearly 60 hours to bring the situation under control and free the scores of hostages held by the attackers.
"We are deeply aggrieved by the loss of human lives and especially by the brutal killing of Jews," said the AIOIM.
The umbrella body, which comprises 530,000 Sunni and Shiite members, urged Indian Muslims to celebrate `Eid al-Adha, one of the two main religious festivals on the Islamic calendar, in a sober way.
They asked Muslims, estimated at 140 million in India, to wear black ribbons to show solidarity with the victims.
Muslims worldwide will celebrate `Eid Al-Adha, which marks the end of the annual hajj journey, on Monday, December 8.
Muslim groups and organizations in Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, have decided not to accept the burial of the attackers in Muslim cemeteries.
Delink Islam
The AIOIM will also be organizing an international conference to delink Islam and terrorism.
"Our priority is to invite religious heads from countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Palestine, which are victims of terrorism in one way or the other," said AIOIM General Secretary Umer Ahmed Ilyasi.
More than 500 Muslim scholars from across the world are expected to show up for the conference.
Thousands of Muslim scholars from across India denounced last month terrorism as a violation of Islamic teachings.
This came shortly after thousands of scholars, managers and teachers of madrasahs from across India met at the famed Darul-Uloom seminary to condemn terrorism as well as attempts to associate Islam with violence.
Ilyasi, the AIOIM leader, said the conference would demand that all militant groups to remove words with Islamic connotations from their names.
"How can a terrorist organization like the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which believes in bloodbath, use the name of Prophet Muhammad, who was one of the greatest messengers of peace," he stressed.
"It is highly condemnable."
