RIYADH, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's top clerical
council, the only body in the country authorised to issue fatwas
or Islamic legal opinions, declared on Wednesday that "terrorism
is a heinous crime" under Sharia, and perpetrators should be
made an example of.
The statement, days after Saudi Arabia and other Arab states
pledged in Jeddah to combat militant ideology, was the most
comprehensive attack the kingdom's conservative clergy have made
so far on Islamist radicalism and the Islamic State group.
In a statement carried on state media, they did not specify
particular punishments, but said they should act as a deterrent.
Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty, usually by public
beheading, for many serious crimes.
Signed by all 21 members of the council and quoting
extensively from the Koran and sayings of the Prophet Mohammad,
the statement also prohibits militant financing or encouraging
young people towards militant acts.
It said people who issued fatwas or other opinions that
"justify terrorism" were not permissable in any way and were
"the order of Satan".
Saudi Arabia has joined international efforts headed by the
United States to combat the Islamic State group in Iraq and
Syria, and has also worked with Washington in its battle against
al Qaeda.
Sharia is the primary legal system in Saudi Arabia, where
clerics of the official Wahhabi Sunni Muslim school enjoy
significant power through a close alliance with the ruling Al
Saud dynasty, which bases its legitimacy in part on religion.
Some liberal Saudis and foreign analysts have said that
while senior Wahhabi clerics have spoken out against militant
groups, they routinely use highly intolerant language towards
Shi'ites and non Muslims that may contribute to radicalisation.
FATWAS
The kingdom's Grand Mufti, who heads the state-appointed
Council of Senior Scholars, has already described militants of
Islamic State and al Qaeda as Islam's foremost enemy in a series
of public comments in recent weeks.
The mufti, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, in 2007 said
"terrorists" deserved "had al-harraba", the ultimate punishment
under Sharia which involves execution followed by the public
display of the body as a deterrent.
The statement described terrorism as any crime aimed at
corrupting and undermining security, offences against lives or
property, homes, schools, hospitals, factories, bridges, state
facilities or oil and gas pipelines, or blowing up or hijacking
aeroplanes.
Dozens of people have been sentenced to long jail terms over
the past month for security offences connected to militant
attacks in the kingdom last decade, and to efforts to join
conflicts in foreign countries.
In February, King Abdullah decreed prison terms for people
giving support to extremist organisations or going overseas to
fight, following concerns that young Saudis with militant groups
in Syria, Iraq and Yemen may eventually target their homeland.
The statement also hit out at criticism of some religious
teachings in schools and remarks by senior clergy, which critics
of the Al Saud have said fosters hate.
(Reporting By Angus McDowall; editing by Ralph Boulton)
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