JEDDAH, 13 September - The Organization of the Islamic Conference yesterday strongly condemned as "brutal and criminal" the attacks on the United States that killed and wounded thousands of people.
OIC Secretary-General Abdelouhed Belkaziz, in a statement issued here, said he was "shocked and deeply saddened by the news of the attacks, which led to the death and injury of a large number of innocent Americans."
Extending condolences on behalf of Muslims all over the world to the US government and the American people, Belkaziz said the Islamic world as a whole was sharing their "pain and sorrow in this terrible and devastating ordeal." He went on to say that OIC, which groups 57 Muslim states, has always been firm in its condemnation of terrorist acts.
"All human values and norms and all divine religions - the foremost of which is Islam, which values human sanctity and forbids unjustified murder - have prohibited such brutal and criminal acts," Belkaziz said in the statement faxed to Arab News.
"Our tolerant Islamic religion highly values the sanctity of human life and treats the willful killing of a single soul as tantamount to killing humanity," the statement added.
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) also condemned yesterday Tuesday's attacks that targeted New York and Washington.
Secretary-General Jameel Al-Hujailan said in a statement in Riyadh that the GCC states have reaffirmed its condemnation of terrorism and all forms of extremism and violence, and expressed sympathy with the American people.
But Hujailan called on the US and European media to exercise restraint by not making accusations without proof. "This may incite enmity and provocation against states and peoples who have no relation with such criminal acts, and who have always condemned it," Hujailan said.
Major Muslim groups around the world also condemned the killing of innocent people as against their religion. "To kill innocent men, women and children is a horrible and hideous act of which no monotheistic religion approves," said the imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Muhammad Sayed Tantawi.
"Islam is a religion which rejects violence and bloodletting," Tantawi told Egypt's MENA news agency.
Kuwait collects blood
Kuwait yesterday launched a blood donation campaign for the victims of the attacks, the official KUNA news agency said.
The decision was taken at a meeting of Kuwait's National Security Council devoted to examining "all information pertaining to the terrorist attacks" and chaired by Crown Prince and Prime Minister Sheikh Saad Al-Abdallah Al-Sabah, KUNA said.
The campaign is designed to "help victims of these painful events and show sympathy with the friendly American people in this human catastrophe," the agency added.
Kuwait's parliament meanwhile condemned the attacks, calling them a "violation of humanity." Acting Speaker Mubarak Al-Khrainej said the Kuwaiti people were deeply sorry and offered their full sympathy to the families of those killed and injured.
