On Saturday, a senior Muslim leader in Canada ordered an end to honor killings and domestic abuse, saying the Koran does not endorse such violence. Imam Syed Soharwardy, founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, issued the fatwa following the convictions in Ontario, this week in the deaths of four Muslim women killed by relatives.
Soharwardy said, "Those who think honor killing is OK are dead wrong.| In contrast with their victims, who are just dead. |
There is no place for violence in Islam."
He added that "a very small minority" of Muslims adhere to the concept and "need to be corrected."
Soharwardy said he had been researching the issue for a while but it was the recent murder trial that led him to act. The imam said he and other scholars also want infidels non-Muslims to understand that mysogyny is not sanctioned by Islam.
Soharwardy noted while a fatwa is "not legally binding" it is "morally binding."
It is just the third fatwa Canadian organization has issued in the past decade. The most recent one was in January 2010 when the council said Muslims were not to commit acts of terrorism against Canada or the United States. |