A senior Moslem cleric in Saudi Arabia has said that during the next meeting of the top religious authorities of the country including the most influential interpreters of the Koran they will propose the banning of the death penalty and mutilation prescribed for several transgressions of the Koranic law such as adultery and theft.
These not only give Islam a bad name in a world which views such punitive methods as barbaric and belonging to a bygone age but they are also contrary to the more tolerant and forgiving spirit of our times. Less drastic penalties will be discussed as for example monetary compensation to the hurt parties. He stated "surely we can not be so bigotted so as to focus entirely on the letter of the law and ignore the spirit of mercy when Allah Himself is mercy and love."
A Vatican commentatator stated: The Moslems are today just like the Jews were in the days of our Lord, slaves of the letter of laws and regulations and unable to see the true spirit behind the moral laws of religion. I believe that they are doing this to attract more converts to a religion that most non Moslems feel is primitive and out of place in our modern world.