Islamic State asks its followers to slaughter Muslim clerics

Picture for representation only. Photo: AP

London: ISIS terror group has issued a list of names of Muslim clerics, calling them "imams of kafir" and asking its followers to kill anyone who disagrees with them including Islamic leaders.

In the latest issue of its propaganda magazine Dabiq, the ISIS, also known as Daesh, has singled out those clerics who criticise them and said the "imams of kafir" (leaders of infidels) should be slaughtered.

Muslim clerics across the world, including in Britain and India, have condemned the attacks by ISIS in Europe, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, saying being a Muslim was about peace, not violence.

A number of British Muslim imams have openly condemned the ISIS-inspired attacks in Paris, Brussels, Tunisia, Turkey and the Ivory Coast over the last few months.

In September last year, nearly 1,000 Muslim clerics in India signed a fatwa against ISIS and other terror groups, saying they were "not Islamic organisations".

In a chapter called 'Kill the Imams of kafir in the west', the magazine said: "How can Muslims living in the West who claim to have surrendered themselves to Allah, completely accepting His rule alone, stand idly as these imams of kafir continue to spread their poison from atop their pulpits?

"One must either take the journey to dar-al-Islam, joining the ranks of the mujahid or wage jihad by himself with the resources available to him (knives, guns, explosives, etc.) to kill the crusaders and other disbelievers and apostates, including the imams of kafir, to make an example of them, as all of them are valid ? rather, obligatory ? targets," the Express newspaper reported, citing the magazine.

The group has published a list of names of Imams it has singled out as being "kafir". However, the paper did not disclose their names.

The magazine also identified those behind the Brussels terror attacks and praised them along with their photographs.