Turkish religious official in Maryland Mosque: Islam rejects terrorism, American Muslims should not apologize for terrorists

AhlulBayt News Agency - American Muslims should not apologize for terrorists who claim affiliation with Islam, Turkey’s head of Religious Affairs said Friday.

Mehmet Gormez's remarks came at a sermon in the newly built Diyanet Center of America which will be officially launched Saturday.

"My message to you is that you should continue to hold your head high, with honor and dignity, and don’t be defensive or apologetic for the horrible acts that have been committed overseas by criminals who claim affiliation with your faith,” Gormez told Muslims gathered at the mosque for Friday prayers.

Gormez was apparently sending a strong message to the anti-Muslim rhetoric orchestrated by some Republican presidential candidates in the wake of Daesh attacks in Paris and Brussels.

"We all know that all the crimes that are committed against humanity can never find any justification in Islam, nor can they find any basis in the Holy Quran, or the Sunnah of the prophet of mercy,” he added.

Turkey’s top religious official also recommended Muslims not "deviate from the middle path of Islam,” which requires peace and understanding toward other will and beliefs.

He said that distorted ideologies propagated by terrorists have no place in the hearts and minds of pious Muslims.

"The region of this world that is the birthplace of the Abrahamic religions is now suffering from a severe hardship. The ideologies and the theologies that have ravaged the heart of that sacred land have no place in Islam and should be rejected by every Muslim,” he said.

More than one thousand people came to the Diyanet Center of America located in Maryland, some 21 kilometers (13 miles) from Washington DC, to listen to the sermon by Gormez before the Friday prayer.