Sheikh issues fatwa against all terrorists

[Gordon Nore]

British imams must do more to condemn terrorism without any "ifs or buts" and should pronounce suicide bombers as "unbelievers" who are destined for hell, a leading Islamic scholar declared yesterday.



The comments were made during a remarkable assault on the ideology of violent Islamist extremists by Pakistani-born Sheikh Tahir ul-Qadri, a prominent theologian who launched a seminal fatwa in London yesterday condemning terrorism in all its forms.


The 59-year-old scholar, who has written more than 400 books on Islamic jurisprudence, told fellow Muslims: "Terrorism is terrorism, violence is violence and it has no place in Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it, or any kind of excuses of ifs and buts. The world needs an absolute, unconditional, unqualified and total condemnation of terrorism".

Full story: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ues-fatwa-against-all-terrorists-1915000.html

 

[grydth]

A very useful and brave act by this learned scholar. Every faith could use somebody like this.

 

[xJOHNx]

Even after this Fatwa, there will be idiots who use religion as an excuse for power.

The guy has written a library of books, with lots of them about human rights and Soefism. I back it.

 

[CoryKS]

It's the strongest denunciation I've seen yet, and once it has been confirmed by a third party that the Arabic version matches the English text, then I believe this will be a watershed moment. A number of Muslim authorities have in the past given the appearance of criticizing terrorists, but they used weasel words to avoid actually denouncing the action. Things like saying that it's wrong to kill innocent people (without defining who they consider innocent), or that the terrorists are evil only because retaliation for their actions led to the deaths of Muslims. If a prominent leader is categorically saying that terrorism is wrong, and is saying it in Arabic, this is a huge deal.

 

[MA-Caver]

It's the strongest denunciation I've seen yet, and once it has been confirmed by a third party that the Arabic version matches the English text, then I believe this will be a watershed moment. A number of Muslim authorities have in the past given the appearance of criticizing terrorists, but they used weasel words to avoid actually denouncing the action. Things like saying that it's wrong to kill innocent people (without defining who they consider innocent), or that the terrorists are evil only because retaliation for their actions led to the deaths of Muslims. If a prominent leader is categorically saying that terrorism is wrong, and is saying it in Arabic, this is a huge deal.

Indeed. Yet one would find a large percentage of the suicide bombers are misplaced youth who have been brainwashed by those who would not strap a bomb onto themselves. Saying that their problems in life are caused by those who are supporting the change that is happening in their countries and so on, when it really is just a way to exact petty revenge against those who taken away the power they once had.

What the Islamic world could/should do IMO is head off the recruitment process of these suicide bombers. Find the ones who are likely to be called to serve the warped will of Allah and get them to understand that what they are doing is just a one way ticket to the hell they believe in. This is a better counter-terrorism than all the guards and black-ops put together. Cut it off at the source. When there are no more recruits willing to blow themselves up in the name of Allah then the violence is reduced. Getting the rest of the Islamic world to go with the concept may reduce it even further.

 

[theletch1]

There will always be recruits. As long as there has been religion there have been folks willing to kill and die for it. I certainly hope that this statement proves to be a straight forward denounciation of terrorism and that it gets the coverage that it deserves. Sometimes folks just need one voice of reason to get them moving in the right direction and his sounds as solid as any other I've heard.

 

[David43515]

Indeed. Yet one would find a large percentage of the suicide bombers are misplaced youth who have been brainwashed by those who would not strap a bomb onto themselves. Saying that their problems in life are caused by those who are supporting the change that is happening in their countries and so on, when it really is just a way to exact petty revenge against those who taken away the power they once had.

What the Islamic world could/should do IMO is head off the recruitment process of these suicide bombers. Find the ones who are likely to be called to serve the warped will of Allah and get them to understand that what they are doing is just a one way ticket to the hell they believe in. This is a better counter-terrorism than all the guards and black-ops put together. Cut it off at the source. When there are no more recruits willing to blow themselves up in the name of Allah then the violence is reduced. Getting the rest of the Islamic world to go with the concept may reduce it even further.

I think you`re right in your goal, but there doesn`t seem to be a "typical terrorist". Sure many are from poor families, but just as many are from the educated middle class or even the insanely wealthy upper class. Most are male, but many suicide bombers have been women as well.

The imams have to begin preaching what this man is preaching, namely that terrorism isn`t some noble road to a martyr`s paradise or an act of heroic vengance but an evil and cowardly act ending in more suffering for everyone and eternal suffering for the terrorist.

 

[David43515]

There will always be recruits. As long as there has been religion there have been folks willing to kill and die for it. I certainly hope that this statement proves to be a straight forward denounciation of terrorism and that it gets the coverage that it deserves. Sometimes folks just need one voice of reason to get them moving in the right direction and his sounds as solid as any other I've heard.

I`m afraid you`re right. I`m deeply religious myself, it influences every choice I make during every day of my life, so I sometimes think I can understand what makes terrorists tick even though it`s a different religion. When you believe in absolutes, it`s easy to 'justify' almost anything, so none of these guys see what they`re doing as wrong per say. They think they`re on the side of the greater good.

I once heard someone define a zealot as "someone who does what they`re sure God would do if he knew all the facts". Sad isn`t it? No matter if you`re Christian , Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, or you think your cat tells you what to do....I think the best definiton of what religion aught to be is in the first chapter of James in the New Testiment. It doesn`t bother with doctrine at all. It says "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this,To visit the fatherless and widows in thier afliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world". In other words, try to help those around you who need it and don`t join in the things that you know better than to do. (If I offended anyone by hijacking what started out as a political thread and turning it into 'the gospel according to Dave' I`m sorry for steering it this way.)

 

[MA-Caver]

The imams have to begin preaching what this man is preaching, namely that terrorism isn`t some noble road to a martyr`s paradise or an act of heroic vengance but an evil and cowardly act ending in more suffering for everyone and eternal suffering for the terrorist.

True... as WE see it. But of course many of them that are strapping the explosives to their bodies and walking into the middle of a crowd think the opposite don't they?

Agreed there isn't a stereotypical figure and I was mistaken about that yet these are apparently disillusioned young men easily swayed by a powerful and charismatic religious figure head who would have their own agendas to fill some sincere such as following the will of their God and others personal vendettas against real or imagined threats or wrong-doers against them and/or their faith.
That defiled people have been allowed to be within their holy lands and the lands of their fathers must irk them something terrible. Kinda like how folks would've felt in the 50's and 60's had heavily armed communist soldiers been walking down main street U.S.A. setting up bases and breaking into homes looking for resistance fighters (insurgents as they're called over there).

Basically I think they just want us to leave. But as the comedian Carlos Mencia has said... "... you'd better learn how to say SUPERSIZE."

 

[CanuckMA]

Just leaving is not the answer.