More than 130 imams and religious leaders in the United Kingdom condemned the recent terror attack in London and refused to perform the last rites for the assailants, PTI reported on Tuesday. The clerics asked other imams to do the same and said that the attackers’ actions were against the teachings of Islam, reported NDTV.
“Consequently, and in light of other such ethical principles which are quintessential to Islam, we will not perform the traditional Islamic funeral prayer over the perpetrators and we also urge fellow imams and religious authorities to withdraw such a privilege,” read the statement issued by the imams and religious leaders from all across the UK.
The clerics condemned the terror attacks and conveyed their pain at the suffering of the victims and families. They said the “indefensible actions” of the attackers were completely at odds with the teachings of Islam.
The terrorists had driven a van into people on London Bridge before stabbing people in nearby Borough Market on Saturday night. Seven people were killed in the attack.
The attackers’ identities
The third terrorist behind the London Bridge attack was named on Tuesday. Moroccan-Italian Youssef Zaghba had been stopped at Bologna airport in 2016 for trying to get into Syria via Turkey, reported Reuters. He, however, still managed get into the UK. The report said his mother is Italian and still lives there, reported The Telegraph.
On Monday, the British Police had identified two of the three deceased. The leader of the three is believed to be Khuram Butt, 27, from east London. He was born in Pakistan in 1990, but was a British citizen, BBC reported. He was married with two children. The other attacker was identified as 30-year-old Moroccan-Libyan Rachid Redouane, who also used the name Rachid Elkhdar. He is believed to have been living a block away from Butt in Barking, London.
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