More than 130 imams and Muslim religious leaders from the UK and other Western countries have said they will refuse to perform funeral prayers for the London and Manchester attackers who "defile" the name of their religion — and urged fellow imams to "withdraw such a privilege."
The leaders called the acts "cold-blooded murders", and said they were "deeply hurt" that a spate of terror attacks had been committed in Britain by "murderers who seek to gain religious legitimacy for their actions."
"We seek to clarify that their reprehensible actions have neither legitimacy nor our sympathy," they said, adding they refuse to "perform the traditional Islamic funeral prayer over the perpetrators."
It's considered an unprecedented response from Muslim faith leaders from diverse backgrounds – including both Sunni and Shia imams.
The faith leaders — including Dr Timothy Winter of University of Cambridge; Sheikha Selina Begum Ali, the director of the Beacon Institute; and Imam Qari Asim of Leeds mosque — said they will refuse to perform Salat al-Janazah due to "ethical principles which are quintessential to Islam."
"This is because such indefensible actions are completely at odds with the lofty teachings of Islam," the imams said.
The letter added that the imams mourned the attack and prayed that "the perpetrators be judged in accordance with the gravity of their crimes in the hereafter."
They added the "wilful dismissal" of religious principles had alienated the perpetrators of the attacks from "any association with our community for whom the inviolability of every human life is the founding principle."
"These vile murderers seek to divide our society and instill fear; we will ensure they fail. We implore everyone to unite: we are one community. In the face of such dastardly cowardice, unlike the terrorists, we must uphold love and compassion," the imams wrote.