RELIGION BRIEFING

ISLAMIC COUNCIL

Fatwa Again Condemns Terrorism

A scholarly panel that advises North American Muslims on Islamic law has issued another edict condemning terrorism in the name of Islam.

The Fiqh Council of North America issued the fatwa as part of an interfaith peace-building effort with Christian and Jewish leaders called Bridges to Common Ground.

"This condemnation of violence is deeply rooted in true Islamic values based on the Quranic instructions which consider the unjust killing of a single person equivalent to the killing of all humanity," the panel said. "There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism."

The council issued a similar edict two years ago.

-- Associated Press

RECOGNITION PROJECT

Bosnians Who Aided Jews Sought

Leaders of Bosnia's Jewish community have appealed for help locating Bosnians who aided Jews during World War II and have not been recognized.

The search aims to document their stories. The effort is part of a broader project to record the lives of Bosnia's Muslim and Jewish communities over the centuries.

"This project is extremely important nowadays when Bosnia is full of negative examples of who hates whom. It sends a message of coexistence, and we want to show to all peoples in Bosnia that the life of one nation with another is sacred and has to be preserved," said Muhamed Mesic of Bosnia's Institute for the Research of Crimes Against Humanity, which is involved in the project.