Hit extremists with 'iron hand': Top Saudi cleric
Muslim leaders must strike the enemies of Islam with "an iron hand", Saudi Arabia's top cleric said during Friday prayers, in apparent condemnation of the Islamic State jihadist group.
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh's comments came after Saudi Arabia and four other Arab nations joined the United States in aerial bombardment of the ISIS militants in Syria.
Speaking to Muslims from around the world in an address during the annual hajj pilgrimage, the mufti called on fellow Islamic leaders to "hit with an iron hand the enemies of Islam."
The ISIS group has declared a "caliphate" straddling Syria and Iraq where they have committed a spate of atrocities including crucifixions and beheadings.
"Your religion is threatened. Your security is threatened," he thundered, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
"These criminals carry out rapes, bloodshed and looting," he said, adding that "these vile crimes can be considered terrorism" and their perpetrators have nothing to do with Islam.
"They are tyrants," he said, warning of "their deviant ideology."
The mufti spoke from Nimrah Mosque at Mount Arafat in western Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites.
The cleric added the enemies of Muslim nations are trying to spread "chaos and confusion”.
"And know that you are targeted by your enemies who want to tear your ranks, turn your hearts against each other and spread chaos and confusion and beware of their conspiracies," he said from the spot where Prophet Mohammed made his final sermon 14 centuries ago.
In August, he urged Muslim youth not to be influenced by "calls for jihad ... on perverted principles," and he described al-Qaeda and ISIS jihadists as "enemy number one" of Islam.
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