The terror sown by belligerent groups in northern Cabo Delgado province has nothing to do with Islam and its teachings, according to Sheikh Saide, who was quoted by the local O Pais newspaper.

Allahu Akbar, that is, God is great, is an expression commonly used by the members of armed groups that, since October 2017, have been operating in that territory. The term is common among Muslims, but ‘religion has nothing to do with those attacks,’ Saide Habido pointed out in Maputo, during the celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan.

There is no religion in the world, he said, that orders killing innocents; ‘we do not know if, really, what motivates them is a distorted faith, a distorted practice of religion, an instrumentation of religion or they are instruments used by other forces that we do not know,’ he said.

According to the newspaper, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi highlighted the principles of Islam, such as forgiveness, tolerance, dialogue and solidarity, which, he said, contribute to a large extent to strengthen peace and national unity, amid diversity.

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