Religious edicts forbidding the declaration of any Muslim

According to PETRA, leading Muslim clerics on Wednesday endorsed religious edicts forbidding the declaration of any Muslim an apostate and limiting the issuance of religious edicts to qualified Muslim clerics in the eight schools of Islamic jurisprudence.
The endorsement of the edicts was part of a final statement issued at the closing session of the International Islamic Conference on Wednesday.
The joint statement, collecting signatures from scholars and clergies of the eight schools, is the first of its kind.
The statement, issued in the presence of His Majesty King Abdullah II, forbids declaring any adherent to any one of the eight schools of jurisprudence or to Sufism, an apostate, acknowledges the agreement among the eight schools on the fundamental principles of Islamic belief and practice, instructs the eight schools to establish a mechanism by which only qualified clergy could issue
religious edicts and forbade the issuance of edicts by unqualified clergy, affirms the necessity and benefit of dialogue among the eight schools and urges Muslims to eschew discord and instead unite and fortify affinity among Muslim people and states.
The statement's terms of reference included religious edicts issued by ten of the most preeminent members of the global Islamic clergy ahead of the conference, which condemned the doctrine of takfir, among other things. The edicts were issued by Their Eminences Grand Imam Sheikh Al Azhar Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi, Grand Ayatollah Al Sayyid Ali Al Sistani, Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Jumaa, a compendium of Shi'i clerics (both Ja'fari and Zeidi), Grand Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman Ahmad Bin Hamad Al Khalili, the Islamic Fiqh Academy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Grand Council for Religious Affairs, Turkey, Grand Mufti of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Sheikh Izzeddine Al Khateeb Al Tamimi, and the members of its National Fatwa Committee, and Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Al Qaradawi. Other elements of the statement were drawn from King Abdullah's address to the conference, which urged more than 170 scholars and clerics from the different schools of Islamic thought to unify the global Muslim community against threats to its integrity from both Muslims and non-Muslims. The King said that
divisions within the global Islamic community, acts of violence and
terrorism and accusations of apostasy and the killing of Muslims in
the name of Islam violate the spirit of Islam and generate global
turmoil because they give justification to non-Muslims to judge
Islam according to acts that Islam disavows, and subsequently
interfere in Muslims' affairs. The King said it was unacceptable to
call an adherent to any one of the eight schools of jurisprudence an
apostate. All schools recognize the fundamental principles of
Islamic belief and uphold the five pillars of Islam, he said, and
therefore practice true Islam.
The mutual acknowledgement of all schools of Islamic jurisprudence
would permit the emergence of a fundamental methodology in the
issuance of religious edicts in order that those issuing edicts
would be "qualified for this undertaking," the King said. "This," he
said, "would end the practice of defaming others as apostates and
close the door on ignorant people who practice killing and terrorism
- of which Islam is innocent - in the name of Islam."
The joint statement, read out by Jordan Minister of Awqaf
and Islamic Affairs/ Spokesman of the conference and in presence of
the King's Personal Envoy and Private Advisor and President of the
Board of Trustees of the Al Al Bayet Foundation for Islamic Thought,
said the essence of the Amman Message, which was issued on the
Blessed Night of Power in the year 1425 H. and which was read aloud
in Masjid al-Hashimiyyin, is adherence to the Schools of
Jurisprudence and their fundamental methodology and acknowledging
the Schools of Jurisprudence and affirming discussion and engagement
between them ensures fairness, moderation, mutual forgiveness,
compassion, and engaging in dialogue with others.