Preachers denounce attacks

Local imams in the capital have strongly condemned the terrorist attacks that took place near Arar and in Paris recently killing 12 people, including 10 cartoonists working at a French weekly magazine called “Charlie Hebdo”.
“Oh my sons, like a father to you, follow the moderate path and listen to moderate scholars,” Sheikh Khalaf, imam at Ad-Dubbat Mosque, told the congregation at his Friday sermon.
The imam said that even though Muslims are being oppressed in some parts of the world, we have to act according to the teachings of Islam that promote peace and harmony. Referring to the situation in Palestine where people have been cordoned off and deprived of food and medicines, the imam noted that the temptation to react is natural. "Even so", he said, "it is best not to retaliate by killing people as they did in Paris. It only complicates the situation further by creating more enemies of Islam around the world."
Charlie Hebdo magazine had mocked and lampooned the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
“We have three types of followers in Islam: extremists, moderate and liberals,” Al-Khalaf said, adding that extremists look at moderates as paid puppets, while the liberals want this Ummah to be more Westernized in their lifestyle.
These two categories, extremists and liberals, are not applicable to our Muslim community. So the best solution is to follow the path of moderate Islam, he observed.
In an earlier statement, Mohammed Al-Alam, undersecretary at Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University, said that terrorism is a disease that creates social instability. "All communities should condemn terrorism, as it conflicts with human nature and is inconsistent with the purpose of life in this world", he added.
“As such, the Muslim nation must remain vigilant to the enemy’s agenda, especially those who kill and sow terror in the name of religion killing innocent people,” Al-Alam, said, referring to the suicide attack that was staged Monday on the Saudi-Iraq border.