Unequivocally condemning the Mumbai carnage, Muslim clerics today said bodies of terrorists who carried out deadly attacks in the vibrant city should be thrown into the sea.
These merchants of death deserved to be killed according to Islamic tenets, they said asserting there was no place for terrorist violence in Islam, which preaches peace and universal brotherhood.
Attending a conference at Samana in Patiala district of Punjab, the clerics and other prominent Muslims said bodies of those who spilled blood in Mumbai should be thrown into the sea.
"There is no place for violence and terrorism in Islam," Syed Hyder Raza, hailing from Bijnour in Uttar Pradesh, said.
He welcomed the decision of some Muslim outfit, which refused to give land to bury bodies of the terrorists killed in commando operation in Mumbai.
"Just throw them into the sea for providing food to the fish," the cleric said.
Echoing similar views, Gulam Rassol Noor from Jammu and Kashmir said terrorists were not true Muslims and let their bodies be thrown into the sea.
Alama Hasan Zafar Naqvi, who hailed from Pakistan, said the Mumbai terror assault was the handiwork of a third agency which did not want both India and Pakistan to flourish.
Presiding over the conference held at the shrine of 8th descendant of Prophet Mohammad, Haryana Governor A. R. Kidwai underlined the need for cementing ties between India and Pakistan.
Condemning the Mumbai mayhem, he heaped praise on Muslim organizations, which did not provide land to bury bodies of the terrorists.
In Lucknow, cleric Abul Irfan Firangi Mahali condemned the Mumbai rampage and said those killing innocents deserved to be killed as per tenets of Islam.
In a statement, he said terrorists could not be called followers of any religion, Islam in particular which preaches peace and universal brotherhood.
Terrorism is an act of cowardice and anti-Islamic, he said.
Idgah's Naib Imam Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali said going soft on terrorism would not earn politicians any support from Muslims.
The politicians must realise that terrorists did not discriminate on religious lines, he said.