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On Friday, around 2,000 mosques in Germany were called on by top Muslim clerics in the country to use the Friday’s rituals to rally support against extremist group Islamic State (IS) and speak out against the beheadings in Iraq and Syria.
Aiman Mazyek, the chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, urged the nation’s Muslim population to speak out against the misuse of their faith by the IS, and described the group as “in truth terrorists and murderers” who have dragged Islam “through the mud”. He also pointed out that “Islam is a peaceful religion”, and said that the Council wants “to make it clear that the majority of Muslims here in this country and worldwide think and act differently”.
The “Day of Action” involved nine rallies in cities all over Germany, including Mölln, Hannover, Stuttgart and Berlin.
Only the previous day, Germany had banned all support to IS extremists in Iraq and Syria, and had announced that they will send weapons to Kurdish fighters who are currently battling IS extremists.
Dieter Graumann, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, welcomed the campaign.
“It is good that Muslim associations are putting up a fight against the terrorism of fanatical Islamists”, he said.
Thomas de Maiziere, the German Federal Interior Minister, spoke at a mosque in Hannover on Friday, and called on everyone to “exchange information on the travel movements of jihadists” and co-operate in order to “detect the danger of young people becoming radicalized”. He also called for closer contact between Turkey and Germany on the issue of radicalization of young people.
“Muslims have demonstrated that hatred and violence can never be legitimized in the name of Islam”, he said.
According to authorities, around 400 Germans have joined the IS in Syria and Iraq; the federal prosecutor is currently conducting an investigation into more than 30 young people who have been suspected of joining the IS.