Iranian President Hasan Rouhani called on Muslims across the world to break their silence and voice their opposition to extremism, violence and terrorism.

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani called on Muslims across the world to break their silence and voice their opposition to extremism, violence and terrorism.

“All Muslims should break their silence against terrorist groups, which have caused the greatest harm to Islam,” said President Rouhani in a meeting with intellectuals and Muslim scholars in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Thursday.

He said that the creation of terrorist groups is a part of a plot to depict Islam as a religion of violence. 

Such groups have inflicted the worst damage on the global image of Islam, which he praised as the religion of logic and compassion, the Iranian leader said.

He asked Muslims to form a united front to introduce the true Islam.

Islam is the religion of moderation, logic and rationality,” Rouhani stressed, inviting Muslims to unite in countering “violence, extremism, and terror.”

“Protecting people’s lives and security all over the world is Muslims’ first priority,” he stressed.

“How can one tolerate and remain tight-lipped about the killing of innocent people in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Libya or elsewhere in the world?” Rouhani asked.

“We Muslims value people’s lives as our religious duty, and thus, the killing of every innocent person, regardless of his religion or nationality, is condemned in our viewpoint,” the Iranian president said.

The Iranian president traveled to the Indonesian capital on Tuesday to attend the Asian-African Conference (AAC).