JEDDAH, 19 September 2005 — Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, the Kingdom’s grand mufti, has spoken out against those seeking to sow civil war in neighboring Iraq.
“Adding to the bloodshed and murder of innocents by planes and bombs are attempts by suspicious parties to trigger sectarian tension between the people of Iraq,” Al-Asheikh said.
He said in remarks carried by a local newspaper that these unnamed parties were trying to stoke intra-religious clashes “to serve the aims of the enemies conspiring against Muslims.”
His comments followed a declaration of all-out war against Iraq’s majority Shiite population by Al-Qaeda front man Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.
Iraq’s main Sunni Arab religious authority, the Committee of Muslim Scholars, has also condemned Zarqawi’s call, made in an audio recording posted on the Internet last week.
