MILF chair Murad Ebrahim. AP FILE PHOTO
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Murad Ebrahim on Tuesday announced his group’s support to the fatwa against violent radicalism in any part of the Bangsamoro region.
An MILF statement received by the Inquirer on Tuesday morning said that the Bangsamoro mufti, Sheik Abehuraira Abdulrahman Udasan, declared the fatwa “against the entry and spread of violent radicalism or extremism in any part of the Bangsamoro Homeland.”
“The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fully endorses and supports such edict without fear and reservation,” the statement said.
“The fatwa also states that there is an urgent need to fight violent extremism or radicalism, in compliance with the injunction of the Qur’an and the Prophetic Tradition (Al-Hadith),” it said.
This is the strongest condemnation yet from the MILF against the radicalism being spread by the Islamic State (IS)-inspired Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups in the Bangsamoro region.
The MILF, with which the government has forged a peace pact, has been leading efforts to rescue civilians trapped in Marawi City.
READ: MILF willing to help end Marawi crisis
The terrorists continue to put up a fight against the military in Marawi City. The bloody battle to liberate the besieged city has entered its seventh week Tuesday. Nearly 100 soldiers have died and thousands of residents have evacuated from Marawi City.
The MILF urged both its political and military wings to pursue the fatwa “vigorously to ensure that this violent extremism or radicalism shall not take root in any part of our communities, because it has no basis whatsoever in any of the teachings of Islam.”
“They are creating intrigues and are sowing terror. They are also thriving on the sufferings and hardships of people,” the MILF said.
READ: Brothers who brought death and ruin to Marawi City
Muslim clerics all over the world have declared fatwas against radicalism and extremism, in an effort to push back against the terrorist attacks by the Islamic State. IDL