Turkey’s religious body calls for anti-ISIL unity

ANKARA

DHA photo

Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) head Mehmet Görmez has called on the religious authorities in the region to unite against the oppression of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Speaking at the annual “Provincial Muftis Consultations Meeting” organized by Diyanet on Aug. 17, Görmez called on religious scholars to “go out from their houses, madrasah and courses” and take action against the “instigation fire which makes brother kill their brother.”

“Let’s stamp out the fire which is produced by the temper of ignorance,” Görmez said.

The single fund of such movements is religion and arms, Görmez said, adding they presented Islam as a bloody religion by producing unpleasant images. 

This mentality allowed them to accept the fight against all beliefs and sects, other than themselves, which do not embrace their truth and religious understanding as Jihad, he said. 

“Whereas, it’s obvious that any fight that does not embrace morals and law cannot be called jihad,” he said. 
He criticized that young people were joining the ranks of “anti-Islamic life” with weapons, instead of having education. 

“You cannot reach any legitimate [status], through non-legitimate methods,” Görmez stated.

He called on those “who are under the thumb of propaganda, who feel hard done-by” and recalled all are responsible for their acts and will give an account to God for their preferences and actions.

In August, Diyanet released a report on ISIL, where it defined the group as a terror organization for the first time, denouncing its actions. 

“All the deeds of this anomalous armed group which is targeting non-Muslims and the rules of Islam is terrorism,” a part of the report said, adding people who conducted the acts of threating, killing, injuring and abducting were terrorists. 

Diyanet also described ISIL’s “twisted” portrayal of Islam and the Quran to further its violent agenda in the Middle East.