A major Russian Muslim group has issued a fatwa (religious decree) against the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group, condemning the militants as “enemies of Islam” and calling for all of its members to be punished as criminals.

The Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Russia published the religious decree on its website on Tuesday, saying all actions by the ISIL have shown and proved to contradict Islam.

“The followers of ISIS (ISIL) are mistakenly interpreting Islam as the religion of brutality and cruelty, of violence, torture and killings of all discontent,” the decree read.

The Muslim leaders added that, in reality, the basic principles of Islam forbid the killing of civilians, prisoners and envoys, which also include journalists and workers of humanitarian missions.

The decree called for the punishment of all ISIL terrorists, saying that “from the point of view of the Muslim canon the members of such criminal groups deserve either capital punishment or full lifelong isolation from the society.”

The Muslim leaders emphasized, however, that before being punished, every suspect must first be convicted by a court that would fully eliminate any potential doubts about his or her complicity in violence, robberies and killings.



This file photo shows leaders of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Russia meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

The decree highlighted that ISIL’s aim to create a so-called caliphate could be considered as mutiny as such a move can only be created by the approval of all Muslim communities.

“A single-sided declaration of caliphate would cause numerous competing caliphates to appear and this would cause strife and disagreement between Muslims,” the decree read.

The Takfiri extremists currently control parts of Syria and Iraq. They have carried out heinous crimes in the two countries, including mass executions and the beheading of people.

CAH/HJL/HMV