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Sunni Iraqi cleric Sheikh Khaled Al-Mulla, Head of the Iraqi Scholars Association, criticized the ISIS practice of taking Yazidi and Christian women captive, saying that the organization had "'hijacked' texts that were disputable to begin with" and that "the biggest mistake of the religious institution is not being able to get rid of these texts." Interviewed by the Iraqi Al-Mada TV channel, Sheikh Al-Mulla said: "The times of taking captives are over, and the times of slavery are over."
Khaled Al-Mulla: "Why do we always blame others for our problems? One says 'America,' another says 'Iran,' yet another says 'Zionist plan,' and so on... We constantly hear it in the media. But who are the ones carrying out these [so-called foreign] agendas? It is unacceptable to blame others for our problems. The pawns on the ground are us. We are killing one another ourselves.
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"If you asked me about alcohol from the point of view of the shari'a, I would tell you that it is forbidden. But if you asked me if it is permitted to attack a place that sells alcohol, I would tell you that the shari'a forbids it. The shari'a forbids it. What did the ulema say about this? They said that if a Muslim... Look what our religion tells us... If a Muslim attacks a liquor store that belongs to a fellow citizen - a Christian, a Sabean, or anybody - he should pay a fine for the damage he caused. What does this show you? It shows that true Islam, the Islam I am talking about, is a religion that puts life in proper order, a religion that respects human beings."
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Program host: "How do you view the taking of Yazidi women as slave girls by ISIS? Are there religious texts that permit this action? Some people who wish to aggravate the situation say that what ISIS brought with them to Mosul is the same as what the Prophet Muhammad brought with him to the places that he conquered, liberated, and declared as the Islamic state."
Khaled Al-Mulla: "This issue is one of the most complicated issues. Why is that? First of all, because not all the things that happened back then can be implemented in our days. Secondly, ISIS has 'hijacked' the controversial texts. Today, we cannot take a Yazidi woman, a Christian woman, or any other woman belonging to another religion... The shari'a does not allow us to capture women as [slave girls]. The times of taking captives, the times of slavery, are over."
Host: "But there are religious texts that permit all these things."
Khaled Al-Mulla: "That's correct. It exists in the texts of jurisprudence. Therefore, the biggest mistake of the religious institution is not being able to get rid of these texts. The religious institution does not have the courage to say, at the very least, that these texts are unsuitable for the world today.
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"Nothing is more sacred than life. If you asked me: 'Whose life?' I would say: 'The life of any human being.' Even the life of that human being who some people look down upon... That alcohol seller, who some people look down upon - his life is sacred and it is forbidden to kill him. This is the only way for us to build our lives."
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