Clerical Errors

Shocking quotes from Islamic clerics

A clerical error is a harmless slip: a typo, a wrong date, a misplaced decimal point. The errors collected here are of another kind. They come from imams, muftis, ayatollahs and preachers, and they call for the death of apostates, the stoning of adulterous women, the sale of captives and the killing of Jews.

These are not words from the fringe. Alongside a few small-time preachers, you will find two Grand Muftis of Saudi Arabia, a Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, the imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the head of Turkey’s state religious authority and two Supreme Leaders of Iran. Each quote comes with its source. Check them: that is what they are for.

We do not target believers, who are often the first victims of these sermons. We target the men who speak in God’s name from a pulpit, a ministry or a television studio. Most of them are not misreading their scriptures: they quote them chapter and verse. Clerical errors usually get corrected. These ones get applause. Their critics have the floor in Unforgivable Sentences.

  1. The Germans know how to get rid of the Jews. That which brings us close to the Germans and sets us in their camp is that up to today, the Germans have never harmed any Moslem [...]. But most of all they have definitely solved the Jewish problem.
    Haj Amin al-Husseini Grand Mufti of Jerusalem · Berlin Speech, November 2, 1943 Source
  2. Arabs! Rise as one and fight for your sacred rights. Kill the Jews wherever you find them. This pleases God, history and religion. This serves your honor. God is with you.
    Haj Amin al-Husseini Grand Mufti of Jerusalem · Radio Berlin broadcast, March 1, 1944, March 1, 1944 Source
  3. Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon [the Jews] people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by Hitler. Thanks to everything he did to them — even though they have exaggerated this issue — he succeeded in putting them in their place. It was a divine punishment for them. If Allah wills it, next time it will be at the hands of the believers.
    Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi World-renowned Egyptian Islamic theologian and preacher · January 30, 2009 Source
  4. Nothing’s changed. And as we said and as we proved from the very first lesson, these are a people who used to kill their own prophets. A treacherous people. A vile people.”
    Wissam Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd Preacher of the Al Madina Dawah Center (Sydney, Australia) · November 2023 Source
  5. Any person or regime that threatens the Leader or Marja (May God forbid) is considered a “warlord” or a “mohareb”. […] It is necessary for all Muslims around the world to make these enemies regret their words and mistakes.
    Naser Makarem Shirazi Grand Ayatollah and Shia marja (Iran) · Fatwa against Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, June 29, 2025 Source
  6. Allah, take care of these Zionist aggressors. Allah, take care of the enemies of the people of Gaza. Allah, identify them all, then exterminate them. And don’t spare any of them.
    Adil Charkaoui Imam (Montreal, Canada) · Prayer at a pro-Palestinian rally, October 28, 2023 Source
  7. The Zionist regime is a deadly, cancerous growth and a detriment to this region. It will undoubtedly be uprooted and destroyed.
    Ali Khamenei Supreme Leader of Iran from 1989 to 2026 · Quds Day speech, May 22, 2020 Source
  8. They all three deserve to be killed. Either their security should kill them, their driver kill them, or their cook kill them. Whoever, who has got any access to them, kill them before the evening.
    Pir Muhammad Afzal Qadri Co-founder of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan · Rally in Lahore after Asia Bibi’s acquittal, October 31, 2018 Source
  9. Islam was never a religion of peace. Islam is the religion of fighting.
    Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State, PhD in Quranic studies · Audio message, May 14, 2015 Source
  10. Don’t consult with anybody in killing the Americans. Fighting the devil doesn’t require consultation or prayers seeking divine guidance. They are the party of the devils.
    Anwar al-Awlaki Imam (United States and Yemen) · Video message, November 8, 2010 Source
  11. Israel is a cancer spreading through the body of the Islamic nation, and […] the Jews are a virus resembling AIDS, from which the entire world suffers. […] The day will come when we will rule America. The day will come when we will rule Britain and the entire world, except for the Jews.
    Ibrahim Mudeiris Preacher on the Palestinian Authority payroll (Gaza) · Friday sermon on Palestinian Authority TV, May 13, 2005 Source
  12. If they [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.
    Hassan Nasrallah Secretary-General of Hezbollah (Lebanon) · Quoted by the Daily Star (Beirut), October 2002 Source
  13. [The Jews are] the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the violators of pacts and agreements, the murderers of the prophets, and the offspring of apes and pigs.
    Abdul Rahman al-Sudais Imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca (Saudi Arabia) · Sermon at the Grand Mosque, 2002 Source
  14. I am informing all brave Muslims of the world that the author of The Satanic Verses, a text written, edited, and published against Islam, the Prophet of Islam, and the Qur’an, along with all the editors and publishers aware of its contents, are condemned to death. I call on all valiant Muslims wherever they may be in the world to kill them without delay.
    Ruhollah Khomeini Supreme Leader of Iran · Fatwa against Salman Rushdie, February 14, 1989 Source
  15. If you can kill a disbelieving American or European, especially the spiteful and filthy French, or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be. […] We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women, by the permission of Allah, the Exalted.
    Abu Muhammad al-Adnani Spokesman for the Islamic State · Speech “Indeed Your Lord Is Ever Watchful”, September 22, 2014 Source
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