Iraqi Shia and Sunni clerics meeting in Mecca on Friday signed a text calling for a halt to sectarian bloodletting in war-torn Iraq.
At the meeting, organised by the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the 29 clerics from the two sides of the country's religious divide signed a document stipulating that "spilling Muslim blood is forbidden".
The 10-point text, drafted by four clerics from two communities under OIC auspices, draws on verses of the Quran and sayings of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
It also calls for the safeguarding of the two communities' holy places, defending the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq and the release of "all innocent detainees", according to a copy of the text seen by AFP.
After arriving on a special flight arranged by the Saudi authorities, the clerics gathered at a royal palace near Mecca's Great Mosque to issue their appeal on the last day of prayer of the Muslim holy month of Ramazan.
The text signed by the representatives of the two sects stressed the need for Sunnis and Shias to "join ranks with a view to the independence of Iraq and its territorial integrity".
The text includes calls to safeguard the "goods, blood and honour of the Muslim", to free innocent people who have been abducted, and "allow displaced people to return to their place of origin".
It also calls for suspected criminals to be judged "in a just manner".
The document is to be distributed throughout Iraq in Arabic and English.
"The ulemas have issued a fatwa that has obtained the support of the marjaya in Iraq and it should be implemented," said OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.
Speaking to journalists after the signing, Ekmeleddin acknowledged that the OIC did not have a "magic wand" to ensure its implementation. "It is a moral obligation. Neither the OIC, nor anyone else, has power over the consciences of men," he said.
However the leader of the Islamic bloc noted that the initiative had the support of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other government ministers.
The OIC had earlier acknowledged that the success of its initiative would largely depend on the level of participation by the spiritual leaders of the two communities.
Shia spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani was not represented at the gathering, but sent a letter of support that was read to participants, in which he expressed the view that "there has not been a confessional conflict between Shias and Sunnis in Iraq but a political crisis."
Shia radical leader Moqtada Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia US commanders blame for much of the killing on the Shia side in Iraq, did not send a representative to the gathering although he gave it his qualified support on Wednesday.
"I support all conferences that go in line with the interest of Iraq, though I would have preferred it to be held in Iraq," he said.
Maliki, who has seen the death toll from the communal bloodletting surge since he launched a national reconciliation plan in June, earlier said he hoped the gathering would boost his embattled government's efforts.
"A conference like that in Mecca, whereby Shia and Sunni clerics are to attend, is deemed to be a support to efforts at home to find common ground for dialogue," he said.