HYDERABAD, INDIA, November 9, 2008: Nearly 6,000 senior Islamic clerics from around the country endorsed a fatwa (edict) against terror issued on May 31 by influential Islamic seminary Darul Uloom, Deoband. On Sunday, 50,000 more are expected to put their signatures on it, making it the biggest and clearest rejection of terror by Muslims. Darul Uloom, some 100 km north of Delhi, is one of Islam’s two most-revered theological schools — the other being Al-Azhar in Cairo — and is often charged with propagating a radical version of the religion.On the first day of the 29th annual convention of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind here on Saturday, clerics endorsed the fatwa, which was issued under the seal of Darul’s grand mufti Habibur Rehman. The fatwa was ratified by three other Darul clerics, as required. On Sunday, the open session of the convention, comprising of 50,000 clerics and community leaders will endorse the fatwa. “We did not have a chance to endorse the fatwa when it was issued because people like me stay far away. I am happy to be part of the campaign now,” Syed Ahmed, a tribal cleric from the Northeast.
A daily summary of world news for Hindus and non-Hindus alike