Al-Azhar calls for ‘killing, crucifixion of ISIS terrorists’

Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s most prestigious center of learning, has called for the killing and crucifixion of militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), expressing outrage over their murder of a Jordanian pilot.

In a statement after the burning alive of Moaz al-Kassasbeh, the Cairo-based authority called for the “killing, crucifixion and chopping of the limbs of ISIS terrorists.”

Head of al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayib, expressed his "strong dismay at this cowardly act".

This "requires the punishment mentioned in the Koran for these corrupt oppressors who fight against God and his prophet: killing, crucifixion or chopping of the limbs."

"Islam forbids killing of the innocent human soul... It forbids mutilating the human soul by burning or in any other way even during wars against an enemy that attacks you," Tayib added in a statement.

ISIS itself has implemented such punishments against its own members for robbery at checkpoints or stealing funds from religious endowments in territories controlled by the group in Iraq and Syria.

[with Agence France-Presse]