Terrorism in Cabo Delgado has nothing to do with Islam and its teachings – O País

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Terrorism in Cabo Delgado has nothing to do with Islam and its teachings – O País

4:03 CAT | 13 May 2021

Photo: O País

Muslims in Mozambique reaffirm that terrorism in Cabo Delgado is not about religion. Sheikh Saíde Habibo says that the actions are perpetrated by people who act on their own, and it is not known whether they are guided by unknown forces or if they are moved by a distorted faith.

Allahu Akbar, that is, God is the greatest, is an expression commonly used by the terrorists who, since October 2017, have terrorised the province of Cabo Delgado. The term is also used by Muslims. Despite the coincidence, Sheikh Saide Habibo reiterated, on the occasion of the celebration of the end of Ramadan, that religion has nothing to do with terrorist attacks.

“There is no religion in the world that says to kill innocents. As much as the person screams Allahu Akbar, even if he recites with a Koran, even if he performs Salah [prayer], to what extent does he understand religion? ” Sheikh Saíde Habibo asks.

The sheikh concluded, without reservation, that “what is happening in Cabo Delgado has nothing to do with Islam and its teachings. They are people who act on their own. We do not know whether, in reality, what motivates them is a distorted faith, distorted practice of religion, the instrumentalisation of religion, or their being used as instruments by other forces that we do not know. We can’t look at things from that religious angle”.

Sheikh Saíde Habibo also regrets the impact, on the international stage, of the association between Islam and terrorism. What believers of the Muslim religion experience in Palestine is the example that Saíde Habibo uses.

“It was sad to see that barbaric video in which an Israeli soldier catches a Muslim praying and kicks him. I thought, if it were a Muslim beating the soldier, we would have seen the whole world in uproar, accusing Islam of terrorism, but that man, no one accuses of terrorism. The least they will say is that he was not right in his head. What justice is this?” He asked. “The same forces that support those barbarities are the same ones who come heere to make noise among us about human rights. Now why don’t we talk about human rights [in that case]? How long will the world watch that barbarity?” .

Sheikh Saíde Habibo was speaking in Maputo this Thursday during the celebration of Eid-Ul-Fitr.

By Dario Cossa

Source: O País