Islamic Cleric in Yemen Is Kidnapped Outside Mosque, Tortured and Killed After Denouncing Extremist Groups

President Barack Obama and other leaders have stressed that the greatest victims of Islamic extremism are not Christians and Jews but Muslims. This week produced another tragic example. Yemen’s top Salafi cleric Samahan Abdel-Aziz, also known as Sheikh Rawi, was found in the southern port city of Aden, Sudan after he gave a sermon denouncing the Islamic State and Islamic extremism. He had been tortured before he was killed.

Aden was liberated by government forces in July but the city remains volatile and dangerous. Affiliates of extremist groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State groups are active in the city.

Abdel-Aziz was kidnapped by gunmen outside his mosque late Saturday after he gave a sermon denouncing al qaeda and the Islamic state. He appears to have died for his effort to protect his faith from the extremism of these terrorist organizations. I do not know much about the views of this cleric, but the fact that he was murdered after a sermon shows the grotesque view of these extremists. They are unwilling to tolerate even clerics who hold opposing views. The murderers appear to believe that Allah will reward them to not just torture but the murdering of people who hold opposing views on the meaning of Islam.