Muslim clerics rally in Dhaka against Islamist extremism ‎

About 100,000 Muslim clerics and preachers rallied in the Bangladeshi capital on Thursday denouncing the growing threat of Islamic terrorism in the country.  The rally at Dhaka’s national memorial was marking the 42nd anniversary of the Islamic Foundation, an organization associated with the Ministry of Religious Affairs.   Organizers said the April 6 rally was staged to protest a violent "power grab" in the name of Islam in Muslim majority Bangladesh, where a rise in Islamist extremism has sparked international concern. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and  senior clerics from Saudi Arabia addressed the gathering urging Muslims to fight extremism.  The rally followed recent attacks by terrorists in the northeastern city of Sylhet and near Dhaka.  Many, including last year’s attack on an upmarket cafe in Dhaka in which 22 people including 18 ‎foreign hostages were killed, have been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.‎

Hasina urged all Islamic countries to join hands to launch a concerted campaign to eliminate terrorism, saying, “Islam has nothing to do with terrorism.” “Islam is a religion of peace and does not support the killing of people.” She reiterated her solidarity with Saudi Arabia, saying " We will work together so that no one can undermine our holy religion.”  She went on to bemoan that “Muslims are being killed by Muslims,” noting that arms manufacturers are the first to benefit from terrorism at the cost of Muslim blood.  “Bangladesh is a Muslim majority nation, but people of other religions are living here in peace and harmony, which is the true spirit of the Islam,” she said.

“The killing of innocent people is a terrible sin in Islam,” said Saudi cleric Mohammad Bin Nasser Bin Mohammad Al Khuzaim of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque. “Islam never allows a Muslim to kill another Muslim, or an innocent person of any other religion. In Islam, it is the duty of a Muslim to protect the lives and property of the people of other religion in his country,” he said.  Abdulmehsin bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Qasim of the Prophet’s Mosque stressed that “Islam is a religion of peace.”  “It teaches us to respect others,” he said.