Islamic clerics in Austria have produced a 9-point declaration, calling ISIS terrorists “black sheep” and urging fellow believers to play a greater role in society, days after Austria introduced a burqa ban and compulsory integration courses.
More:
A controversial law was passed by the centrist coalition last month, banning the burqa and niqab – full-face Islamic veils – from October this year, and forcing migrants to attend integration courses in exchange for receiving benefits.
But the declaration says that there is no deeper integration issue presented by Islam, insisting that “terrorism cannot be attributed to a religion, an ethnicity or a culture” and stating that “terrorists misuse our peaceful religion of Islam to reach their political goals.”