Addressing the opening of the 28th International Islamic Unity Conference in the Iranian capital Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani said a group of mercenaries is sullying the image of Islam and condemned the Takfiri ISIL militants for committing atrocities in Iraq and Syria in the name of Islam and that “violence and terrorism is reprehensible whether in this region, in Europe or in the United States.”
President Rouhani added that imperial powers are trying to cause division among Muslims in order to rule over strategic Islamic lands.
He also underlined the need for unity among Muslims and called on Islamic countries to take “practical” measures to foster unity. “Today we should join hands and all Islamic scholars should make efforts so that the Muslim world would enjoy unity,” he said.
He also said that Iran will defend every Muslim standing against violence, terrorism and occupation.
Alluding to Wednesday’s terrorist attack in Paris, France, the Iranian president said: “Those who kill and carry out violent and extremist acts unjustly in the name of jihad, religion or Islam provoke Islamophobia whether they wish it or not... We should tell the world that Islam is not the religion of violence and extremism, but the religion of tolerance.”
In Paris, gunmen claiming to be acting in revenge for the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo’s malicious depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, massacred 12 people, including eight journalists, at the headquarters of the magazine.
Charlie Hebdo was known for lampooning radical Islam and had angered Muslims on several occasions, particularly when it published in 2006 cartoons depicting the Prophet, including one which showed a turban as a bomb.
Iran condemned the attack Wednesday, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham saying “all acts of terrorism against innocent people are alien to the doctrine and teachings of Islam.”
Hundreds of Sunni and Shi’a scholars and intellectuals from more than 60 countries are attending the Tehran-hosted conference Unified Islamic Ummah: Challenges and Strategies.
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