---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Office of Ayatullah Hadi Almodarresi and the religious authority in the holy city of Karbala, Iraq

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In The Name of God The Compassionate The Merciful Once again, the forces of evil have demonstrated the destructive power of hate, this time in Norway. The violent nature of the attacks prompted biased news outlets and many misinformed members of the general public to rush to conclusions and accuse so-called "Islamic extremism" for the deadly attacks. However, to everyone's disbelief it was revealed that the perpetrator is, in fact, a right-wing Christian extremist. The crime's mastermind who caused the abhorrent carnage and tragically caused the death of almost 100 young Norwegians was, in fact, a blue-eyed, blonde-haired, 32 year old man who despised Muslims in particular. While We condemn in the strongest possible terms these cowardly acts of terror and offer condolences to the Norwegian nation, we wish to stress the following points to prevent such atrocities from occurring in the future: 1. Terrorism has no color, no religion, and creates no distinctions. It is carried out by people of all faiths and ethnicities, so Muslims should not be singled out, and Islam must certainly not be put on trial because of the acts of a vile few just as Christianity is not blamed for the crimes of Anders Breivik. 2. The viscous act carried out by Anders vindicates Islam from any link to terrorism, and shows that a wicked man firmly believing in Christianity, a religion built on love and tolerance, can turn into a cruel beast just like other terrorists who claim to subscribe to the peaceful religion of Islam. 3. The tranquility and openness of Norway must be maintained and any attempt to build walls around society would be a direct surrender to the wishes of the terrorists behind the atrocious acts of violence, who have intended to create an intolerant and closed society. We must never give in to their twisted demands. 4. It was disposable to see the world's media rushing to judgment and

accusing Islam and Muslims of perpetrating the violence in Norway. Such prejudices, especially by mass media outlets, are precisely why people like Breivik are driven to the extreme fringes of society and manifest this sort of hate. 5. Governments need to rethink their approaches and how they address Muslims to prevent Islamophobia. Laws and statement which fuel dear of Muslims or their marginalization are evidently causing extremists in Christian circles and right-wing political persuasions to develop violent tendencies towards Muslims as well as non-Muslims. A wide-ranging paradigm shift is needed to address the issue of anti-Muslims prejudice and intolerance towards the "other" in European society and the only way to do that is to engage with Muslims and invite all sides to a debate on community cohesion which addresses extremism and intolerance on the non-Muslim side as well. Thank you and we shall pray for the prosperity of all peaceful nations, and end to violence worldwide.

Signed Ayatullah Hadi Almodarresi