Senior Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders condemned violence by jihadi militants such as Islamic State (IS) at a Saudi-backed conference on Wednesday in a rare display of inter-faith unity aimed at promoting tolerance and diversity.

Islamic State has caused international alarm by capturing large expanses of Iraq and Syria, declaring a Sunni “caliphate” straddling their borders and massacring those they deem apostates and infidel, like Shi’ite Muslims and Christians.

“Some organisations that are affiliated with Islam are perpetrating some actions in the name of jihad. This is not Islam at all,” said Abdullah bin Abdulmuhsen Al Turki, secretary-general of the Muslim World League.

“This is why we wish to deplore and strongly condemn this behaviour, which we see as against Islam,” he told an audience including the Muslim grand muftis of Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan; top representatives of several churches, Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee, and diplomats.

Nizar bin Obaid Madani, Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, decried the emergence of factions in the Middle East “that use terrorism and violence in the name of religion. They are wreaking havoc. They are killing and destroying everything.

“Those who have embraced terrorism unfortunately attribute everything they do, every oppression they practise, to Islam. Islam has nothing to do with them,” he said.

The conference called for countering the messages of jihadi militants on social media used to lure recruits, and for leadership courses in schools, houses of worship and the broader community to spread the principles of diversity and tolerance.

The conference was organised by the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), which is sponsored by Saudi Arabia.

KAICIID has come under intense scrutiny in Austria since it opened in 2012 to fanfare. Critics say the center has done little to promote religious dialogue at a time when 150 jihadis have left Austria to fight in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia itself enforces a strict Islamic code and bans non-Muslim religious practice. But as the birthplace of Islam and a champion of conservative Sunni doctrine, the country is an important ally for Western countries battling Islamic State and a symbolic target for the militant group itself.

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The Pakistani court that upheld Asia Bibi’s death sentence last month has now called on the government to enact legislation that will make it more difficult to make blasphemy convictions.

The appeals judges at the Lahore High Court are asking for a law that requires courts to apply a test to accusers, to ensure that they meet “strict standards of Islamic piety”, World Watch Monitor (WWM) reports.

A 1992 decision by the Pakistan Supreme Court ruled that courts must make an “elaborate enquiry into the piety, uprightness and integrity of the witness from the men of the same virtues” in blasphemy cases. It is a legal principle known as tazkiya al shuhood.

However, Bibi’s accusers were not held to this standard during her original trial in 2010, and her lawyer – Naeem Shakir – therefore insists that her conviction is invalid.

Muhammad Anwaarul Haq and Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi, the judges who upheld her death sentence, now say they had no choice on the matter. They claim a weak defence, with no cross-examining of witnesses, left the prosecution to win “by default”.

They also said there are no guidelines in place to help justices carry out tazkiyah al shuhood. Bibi’s case may have had a different outcome if those guideline were available, they suggested.

“The bench has referred the case to the executive for consideration after identifying a legal glitch,” Abid Saqi, former President of Lahore High Court Bar Association, said…Read More

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