AMMAN -- Over 170 Muslim scholars, thinkers and historians agreed on Wednesday to forbid takfeer, or accusing other Muslims of apostasy, and decided to work out a criteria for issuing fatwas - religious edicts - in an attempt to unify the eight schools of Islamic thought and put an end to violence done in the name of the religion.
The decision came in an unprecedented fatwa issued by leading clerics from the eight schools of Islamic jurisprudence following three days of deliberations in the Jordanian capital, Amman, where scholars from over 40 countries gathered in the first International Islamic Conference.
Dubbed "True Islam and its role in modern society", the conference was a Jordanian attempt to repair the image of Islam amid growing violence being carried out in the name of the religion and the US-led counterattack in its war against terror - where Islam and terrorism have almost become synonymous.
