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One of the world's most influential Islamic leaders has condemned all attacks by suicide bombers at an international conference for Islamic scholars.

Grand Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi of the Al-Azhar mosque of Cairo - which is seen as the highest authority in Sunni Islam - said groups which carried out suicide bombings were the enemies of Islam.

Speaking at the conference in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, Sheikh Tantawi said extremist Islamic groups had appropriated Islam and its notion of jihad, or holy struggle, for their own ends.

He called on Muslim nations to open themselves to dialogue with the West saying Islamic nations should "wholeheartedly open our arms to the people who want peace with us".

One of the world's most influential Islamic leaders has condemned all attacks by suicide bombers at an international conference for Islamic scholars.
Grand Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi of the Al-Azhar mosque of Cairo - which is seen as the highest authority in Sunni Islam - said groups which carried out suicide bombings were the enemies of Islam.

"The difference between jihad in Islam and extremism is like the earth and the sky."
Sheikh Tantawi

"I do not subscribe to the idea of a clash among civilizations. People of different beliefs should co-operate and not get into senseless conflicts and animosity," he added.

Sheikh Tantawi was addressing a gathering of nearly 800 scholars and representatives from various non-governmental organisations.

"Extremism is the enemy of Islam. Whereas, jihad is allowed in Islam to defend one's land, to help the oppressed. The difference between jihad in Islam and extremism is like the earth and the sky," Sheikh Tantawi said.

Sheikh Tantawi said Muslim suicide attacks, including those against Israelis, were wrong and could not be justified.

His comments echoed those by Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammed who said, at the opening of the conference on Thursday, that salvation could not be achieved through the killing of innocent people.

Worried that Islam's image is being damaged by terrorists who have hijacked the religion for their own ends, delegates also considered banning books which fuel extremism.

"We have to block them from channels that are meant to spread Islam," Sheik Husam Qaraqirah, head of an Islamic charity association in Lebanon, said.

"Their books must be banned and lifted off the shelves of mosques, schools, universities and libraries," he added.

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Warwick University this weekend is the venue for what is billed as the UK's first anti-terrorism camp and the BBC has been along to find out why so many Muslims turned up.

Inside the lecture hall, you could hear a pin drop.

Row upon row of earnest-looking young men and women were scribbling notes into a classily-bound journal handed out with their welcome pack.

The 1,300 delegates were listening to Dr Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, an Islamic scholar with a gift for rhetorical flourishes and what he describes as a message of love for mankind.

Talking in simple, slowly delivered sentences, the revivalist Pakistani-born cleric takes his audience of predominantly young British and European Muslims through what love means.

Dr Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri has issued a fatwa against terrorism Love is purity, he tells them. The Arabic word for love used in the Koran is related to the word for seed. No plant can grow without a seed - and so no pious act can grow without love. If love is the seed of every act of piety, then how can an act of hate like terrorism please God?

The full argument takes him 15 minutes, but he holds the audience's attention.

"Extremists and terrorists are in the minority in the Muslim ummah [brotherhood]. But they have always been vocal", he says.

"The majority have always been against extremism and terrorism, but unfortunately they have always been silent.

"The Islamic solution is integration. Get integrated into British society.

"It's not against your religion. Has the word Pakistan been revealed in the Koran? If you can be Pakistani and Muslim, why can you not be Muslim and British?"

That anti-extremism message is at the heart of Dr Qadri's worldwide movement and its efforts to rapidly expand in the UK.

Earlier this year, he arrived in London to launch a launch a 600-page fatwa, or religious ruling against terrorism.

It is not the first such fatwa but Dr Qadri's followers say it is the first to have "no ifs or buts".

The weekend camp, called "The Guidance", was organised to back up that fatwa and has recruited participants from cities across the country.

Zakia Yusuf, 18, from Manchester, has given up her weekend to come and hear the message.

"I've heard a lot of different things from different people but they don't give me clear guidance about what Islam says. But I think that what the Sheikh [cleric] says is all true.

"Terrorism isn't right - how can it be? But I think that a lot of people are a bit confused about what is right and why.

"It's all there in the Koran, but people don't understand it, which is why I think we need something like this so you can come along and take away the knowledge.

"I'm actually quite scared of what would happen if we don't get this right."

Adam, who is in his 30s and from Birmingham, has experienced first-hand what happens when moderate voices are drowned out.

"I was at university in London when [radical cleric] Abu Hamza was preaching at Finsbury Park Mosque."

"When you listen to people like them, you are alone and away from home and you are seeking answers and comfort.

"They're very passionate in the way they talk. Someone can quote something and convince you."

Adam said it took him some time to work out that the likes of Abu Hamza, who is currently in jail awaiting extradition to the United States, were preaching hatred.

That personal journey is familiar to Muhammad Sadiq Qureshi, an imam from east London.

"The young people I work with ask three questions," he says.

"What's the Islamic definition of terrorism? Should Muslims seek revenge for conflicts around the world, such as Afghanistan or Iraq?

"And they ask about suicide bombers; why these people sacrifice their lives."

But he says that he can only achieve so much.

"I see people who are brainwashed already and they don't listen to the arguments", he said.

"They are hypnotised and believe that extremism is the way to paradise.

"They still turn up and stand outside the mosque handing out their leaflets. I want to know why the prime minister doesn't ban these people."

In his lectures this weekend, Dr Qadri is talking about the cancer of terrorism that develops from an infection. He sees the infection as the various strands of hardline Islamist thinking that subscribe to belief in a clash of civilisations.

Governments have tried banning some of the groups, as the imam Sadiq Qureshi suggests.

But the problem for policymakers is that they find it hard to prove that hardline organisations are part of a "conveyor belt" towards terrorism.

Meanwhile, various Muslim groups squabble over who is best placed to provide the solutions.

The Muslim Council of Britain, which is the largest umbrella group in the UK, says its annual youth conference, coincidentally scheduled for Sunday, offers real solutions to social issues.

he has a new weapon in this street battle for hearts and minds: a mobile library, launched with some fanfare at the weekend camp.

Mohammed and his colleagues have stacked it with copies of Dr Qadri's lectures and tapes and every Friday they go from location to location, encouraging young people to hop on board.

He says it gives them a chance to influence what young minds are exposed to.

"The internet plays a big part in what is going on", he says.

"If you type "jihad" into Google you'll get hundreds of results. You don't know when you click whether they're right or wrong.

"But I feel that this fatwa on terrorism is a real step forward because it puts something in my hands that I can show to people.

"Our teacher has done his work. It's now our job to take it forward."

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