Boko Haram outrages Muslims

DUBAI: Islamic scholars and human rights officials of the world’s largest Muslim organization on Thursday denounced the mass kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls by the militant group Boko Haram as “a gross misinterpretation of Islam.”
The statements from a research institute and human rights committee of the OIC echoed denunciations of the radical group by religious leaders and officials. “This crime and other crimes carried out by such extremist organizations negate all human principles and moral values and stand in contradiction to the clear teachings of the blessed Qur’an and the rightful examples set by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), ” the International Islamic Fiqh Academy said.
“The secretariat of the academy, shocked by this ugly act, strongly demands the immediate release of these innocent girls without causing any harm to any of them,” said a statement posted on the website of the academy in Jeddah.
The OIC’s human rights commission condemned “the barbaric act of abducting the innocent schoolgirls” and the “misguided claim of Boko Haram” that selling them as slaves was Islamic. This was “a gross misrepresentation of Islam,” it said.
Jama’atu Nasril Islam, Nigeria’s umbrella group of Muslim organizations, denounced the kidnapping as an “act of barbarism” on April 16, shortly after it became known.