More than 120 Muslim leaders and scholars have co-signed an open letter to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of ISIS, arguing the Islamic State caliphate's establishment and practices are not legitimate in Islam. The letter includes a technical point-by-point criticism of ISIS' actions and ideology based on the Quran and classical religious texts. From Religion News Service:
Even translated into English, the letter will still sound alien to most Americans, said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, who released it in Washington with 10 other American Muslim religious and civil rights leaders.
"The letter is written in Arabic. It is using heavy classical religious texts and classical religious scholars that ISIS has used to mobilize young people to join its forces," said Awad, using one of the acronyms for the group. "This letter is not meant for a liberal audience."
The 18-page letter's thorough catalogue of the transgressions of ISIS "relies completely upon the statements and actions of followers of the 'Islamic State' as they themselves have promulgated in social media-or upon Muslim eyewitness accounts-and not upon other media," it says, a move meant to forestall criticism that ISIS has been misrepresented by Westerners. From the English translation of the letter:
The word 'jihad' is an Islamic term that cannot be applied to armed conflict against any other Muslim; this much is a firmly established principle...Moreover, there are two kinds of jihad in Islam: the greater jihad, which is the jihad (struggle) against one's ego; and the lesser jihad, the jihad (struggle) against the enemy.
