The UK's Muslim Youth League has declared jihad against Isis saying terrorist groups have "no links with Islam or the Muslim community".
The league (MYL) represents young Muslims from across the UK and actively promotes unity and tolerance. Now, it wants to encourage other Muslim organisations to follow suit and issue similar declarations condemning extremism.
See Also:A Day In The Life Of A Muslim Student
The 'Segregation' Debate and Muslim Female Empowerment
A Muslim's Guide to Starting University: Top Tips
Muslim Students Break Their Ramadan Fast With The Homeless
'We Should Not Have To Constantly Reaffirm Our Distance From Terrorism'
MYL has issued a seven point declaration to defend the Muslim community, which feels their religion has been "hijacked", the group's president Shaykh Rehan Ahmed Raza said.
The MYL president Rehan Ahmed Raza, discussing online radicalisation at a Glasgow event
In its declaration, MYL states:
1. We declare their killing of human beings, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, to be un-Islamic.
2. Supporters of these groups have deviated from the teachings of Prophet Muhammad and the Quran.
3. The emergence of the terrorists, who would use the name of Islam to justify their atrocious activities, was prophesied by Prophet Muhammad. He declared them as being out of the ambit of Islam.
4. We challenge ISIS, similar groups and their supporters ideologically and intellectually.
5. We reject all generalised Islamophobic labelling of Muslims as extremists or terrorists by the media, politicians and the general public.
bczxz
6. We ask Muslims from all walks of life, regardless of the school of thought to which they belong, to stand united against extremists who have hijacked the true teachings of Islam.
7. We call upon scholars and community leaders to raise a united and unwavering voice against extremism.
Speaking to HuffPost UK, Hifzul Chowdhury, an executive member of MYL, said: "ISIS and other fanatical terrorist organisations do not represent Islam, or Muslims. This ideology is similar to that of a plague and a cancer which must be cut off from its root and isolated from the society.
"Following the peaceful essence of Islam, MYL UK considers it as a moral and religious obligation to lead an ideological war against the proponents of such a cancerous and fanatical ideology to ensure that vulnerable and unsuspecting school children are prevented from travelling from the UK to Syria to join such organisations."