WASHINGTON, July 29: Leading Muslim scholars across the world are condemning those who use their religion to commit acts of terror and violence, says the US State Department. The department’s spokesman Sean McCormack made this observation while commenting on a fatwa issued here on Thursday that condemned extremist attacks on innocent people as un-Islamic.

Eighteen leading jurists, who issued the fatwa, and representatives of more than 120 Muslim groups representing all sects and schools of thoughts, also said that Muslims in general abhorred the behaviour of people like Osama bin Laden, Zarqawi and others belonging to terrorist groups.

Mr McCormack recalled that King Abdullah of Jordan recently hosted a meeting of Sunni and Shia clerics in Amman, who declared that those who used the Islamic faith as a justification for acts of terror did not represent Islam and Muslims.

The fatwa, issued in Washington, ‘is a noteworthy effort and development,’ he said but made it clear that it was ‘a private effort’ and had nothing to do with any government. Meanwhile, at mosques across the US prayer leaders read out the fatwa in their Friday sermons. They said violence against innocent people was forbidden and it was the duty of Muslim leaders to dissuade, speak out against such events.