Egypt Islamic Authority Issues Fatwa Against Philadelphia Anti-Islam Bus Posters

Rasa - Egypt's most prominent religious authority on Wednesday condemned a poster campaign currently running on Philadelphia buses.

News ID: 2313

Date: 09 April 2015 - 17:22

RNA - Egypt’s most prominent religious authority has issued a fatwa blasting a controversial anti-Islam poster campaign that has been running on public transport in Philadelphia over the past week.

The fatwa from Dar al-Ifta on Wednesday proclaiming the posters racist is the most notable international criticism to be added to the wave of condemnation against the campaign, which features slogans that link Islam to Nazism.

The posters include an image of Adolf Hitler having a sit-down meeting with Haj Amin al-Husseini, a Muslim Palestinian nationalist leader during the 1920s and 1930s, whom the ad characterized as “the leader of the Muslim world.”

The ad urges an end to “aid to all Islamic countries” under the slogan “Islamic Jew-Hatred: It’s in the Quran.” At least 84 buses in Philadelphia, the fifth-largest U.S. city, are scheduled to display the posters through the end of April.

The fatwa by the Egyptian religious authority condemned the campaign on the grounds that such a message not only portrayed Islam incorrectly but also spread prejudice, hatred and conflict in the U.S., a statement posted on the institution’s website said.

“This hazardous campaign will leave the gate of confrontation and clashes wide open instead of exerting efforts toward peaceful coexistence and harmony,” it said.

The proclamation also argued that failing to respect Muslims in the U.S. would marginalize the religious minority from integrating into American society.

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