Ihsaan Hendricks – 2015-11-16 – Paris terror attacks

Brutality of ISIS actions in Paris, France is

still making headlines across the world. Islamic militants

did claim responsibility for those particular attacks. While

Maulana Hassan Hendrix is the president of the

Muslim Judicial Council based in Cape Town, he

joins us on the line. Good afternoon, Maulana,

and thank you for your time on the

news today desk.

Good afternoon, and good afternoon to, all our

fellow South Africans.

Molana, to what extent,

is the ISIS religious philosophy

rejected by the wider Islamic community?

ISIS claim they are driven by Islamic religious

principles.

I want to say from the offset and

in my capacity as the president of the

Muslim Judicial Council South Africa

that ISIS has absolutely,

no contact or no, basis

in the pure teachings

of the higher objectives of Islam

as a religion.

And therefore, I wish to place on record

that whenever we juxtapose,

the term,

Islamic with ISIS,

then I feel compelled in my capacity as

the president of the Muslim Judicial Council

to pronounce

clearly to the South African community

that there is

absolutely nothing Islamic of ISIS.

There cannot be,

the,

equivalence

of Islamic,

to such

a terrorist

group that, performs,

such type of,

brutal,

inhumane,

actions against

humanity

and against innocent people.

Even though they claim to be, in the

name of Islam

or they have the apparent,

religious or Islamic,

paraphernalia,

I think it is absolutely important to understand

that ISIS has no basis

in Islam as a religion.

Mulana,

these,

I hear you. You you're saying that these

atrocious acts,

should not be allowed

to define an entire religion.

But this extremist group in particular,

it is tainting the name and,

image of of a religion that's practiced by,

1,600,000,000

people worldwide.

What can be done to counter that, Maulana?

The imams coming out in Paris in the

aftermath,

of those attacks singing the French national anthem

and so on, for example, goes a long

way,

to shatter these kind of,

negative indeed dangerous,

kinds of religious

stereotypes? It is precisely for this reason that,

in my capacity as the president of the

MJC and, religious,

leaders in the Muslim community in South Africa

and internationally,

whenever,

such,

inhumane

attacks takes place and it is claimed to

be in the name of ISIS

or anybody carrying an Islamic or a Muslim

name or an Arab name that we as

a religious community, as Muslims are placed on

the back foot that we have to explain

Islam.

And therefore, I want to reiterate

that it is important for people like myself

and the imams and the learned scholars in

Islam to be consistent in explaining

to the South African community and to the

international community

that there is no basis for such a

claim in the name of religion.

Secondly, I wish to place on the record

and not to dilute the importance of it.

It is the fact that,

many people do many things in the name

of religion and religion is absolutely

innocent of it.

Those who do it in the name of

Christianity,

it is not a reflection on Christianity.

Those who claim to do it in the

name of Judaism,

Judaism is not a reflection of that. And

those who do it in the name of

Islam, it is not a reflection

on the pure teachings of the divine religion

such as Islam. Thank you, Maulana. That was

Maulana Hisan Hendrix. He's the president of the

Muslim Judicial Council that's based in Cape Town.

Moving on to other news now between March

2012,

up until now, France has suffered up to

10 terror attacks.