French Muslims support Mideast Christians against Islamic State
PARIS,
Sept 9 (Reuters)- The Muslim Council in France, home to Europe's
largest Islamic minority, denounced the persecution of Middle East
Christians on Tuesday and said mosques across the country would pray for
them this week. Several French Muslim groups have already condemned the
harsh tactics…
French Muslims support Mideast Christians against Islamic State
By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor
1 hour ago
Fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) stand guard at a checkpoint in the northern …
Several French Muslim groups have already condemned the harsh tactics of Islamic State, the radical movement that has declared a caliphate in Syria and Iraq, but this was the first time they got together with Christians to support the victims.
The Vatican and Christian leaders in Western countries have called on Muslims to speak out against Islamic State. Many have, but the decentralized nature of Islam means these individual declarations often carry less weight than a joint effort.
"The signatories
reaffirm their support to their Middle Eastern Christian brothers, many
of them Arabs, as well as for all other minorities in the region who are
now victims of a destructive campaign by these terrorist groups that
threaten their existence," the joint declaration stated.
Islamic
State fighters drove Christians from Iraq's northern city of Mosul in
July, ending a presence stretching back to the early years of
Christianity. The Sunni Islamist group has also targeted Shi'ite Muslims
and religious minorities, executing hundreds of captives in Iraq and
neighboring Syria.
"The
issue of Middle Eastern Christians is not only one for Christians," said
Patrick Karam, head of the group Endangered Middle East Christians that
drew up the statement with the Muslim Council. "French Muslims are with
us to support them."
There are about five million Muslims in
France, about eight percent of the population. Other large Muslim
minorities live in Britain and Germany.FRENCH MUSLIMS GO TO FIGHT
Council President Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, said the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia and large Muslim organizations in Britain and the United States had clearly condemned Islamic State.
If the militants succeeded in driving Christians out of the Middle
East, he said, that could harm relations among religions elsewhere.
"Muslims in Europe would be suspect," he said.
Boubakeur, Karam
and other speakers stressed that Muslim organizations had to work
against radicalization by explaining to young Muslims that Islam did not
condone such killing.
Anouar Kbibech, head of an association of Moroccan mosques in France,
said young Muslims must understand that Islamic State was trying to
carry out ethnic cleansing. "They must not be deceived," he said.
Karam said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told him last week there
were about 800 French citizens who were "candidates or on the ground"
to work with Islamic State militants. Twenty percent of them were
converts to Islam.
According
to the ministry's rough breakdown, about 360 are actively participating
while another 220 or so were preparing to go fight. Around 180 more
were "in transit in Turkey", he said without giving further details.
"Of the 150 who have returned, they are all over France," he added. "We can expect a wave of terror attacks in France."
Several French-based clergy from eastern Christian churches attended
the meeting and thanked the Muslim groups for their support. "This is
something that had to be done," said Coptic Orthodox Bishop Abba
Athanasios.
(Editing by Dominic Evans)
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