“Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.” (Qur’an, 5:32)

MAPS stands with the people of the world to express our condemnation of the senseless act of mass murder perpetrated against innocent civilians in London. The city of London stands as a hallmark of tolerance, diversity and acceptance. We express our deepest feelings of sympathy to the friends and families of the victims.

Such senseless violent acts, whether they are against an Indian immigrant in Kansas or against a young child in Syria or against a policeman in London, are very disturbing and against the very fabric of what makes us human.

We have repeatedly said that groups like ISIS and those who are influenced by them “are not us and we are not them. Their interpretation of Islam is twisted and wrong no matter how much they justify it.” And borrowing from an eminent fourteenth century Islamic scholar and jurist, “thus, any ruling that replaces justice with injustice, mercy with cruelty, common good with intolerance, or wisdom with ignorance, is a ruling that does not belong to Islam.” I have repeated this statement time and again in my addresses and emails to the community. Let me make it clear once more in unequivocal terms: the ideology of groups like ISIS is ignorant, wrong, destructive, twisted, sinful, murderous and has absolutely no place whatsoever in Islam! Our position on this is unconditional, categorical and absolute!

We pray for the day when love overpowers hatred and when each human life is valued and protected.

Ameen

Mahmood Khadeer

MAPS President