North American Muslim clerics issued a fatwa against Islamic terrorism here Friday, hoping to build on the just-completed Mideast peace talks and a Vatican invitation to meet with Muslim leaders.
The Fiqh Council of North America, an affiliate of the Islamic Society of North America, counts support from some 500 Muslim leaders and organizations for its condemnation of violence, chairman Muzammil H. Siddiqi said.
“Targeting civilians’ life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is prohibited in Islam–haram–and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not `martyrs,”‘ the fatwa reads.
The fatwa also says Muslims have a duty to alert law enforcement about any threats to human life and must not cooperate with any group or individual involved in terrorism.
Friday’s fatwa follows similar attempts by moderate Muslims, including the Fiqh Council, to denounce violence, Siddiqi said. But both Siddiqi and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, on hand Friday to promote the fatwa, said previous calls were “widely ignored.”
Its about time.
I quote a part of a saying from an old friend of mine. “..it’s hard if not impossible to reason with an idealistic idiot…” It’s easier to sit and talk quietly with an intelligent person that can recognize the differences but can still move forward on the ground of agreement.
I found that the above line from the article was interesting.
By the way, does anyone know whether Islam has a concept akin to “just war?”
Even a pessimist such as I will become hopeful, if I see similar pronouncements from sources such as these, about, oh, eight million more times.
Well done, FCNA. More, please.
::looks at watch:: Hmmm, only took them over six years and almost three months…
#3…A year or so back I read the Qur’an (a critically annotated version) by a Muslim scholar. One of the problems is in interpretation. Considering the parallel between Dominion theology and pacifist theology in regard to the Christian holy book (the same book) it is possible to see how their can be diverse interpretations of Islam (including a war-like version or a peaceful version). However, the problem occurs when the radical forms of Islam become intermingled with the state. Then radicalized interpretations seem to come to the forefront. In state with either a powerful ruler (such as in Egypt), a secular society (Turkey), or a democracy (US, Britain) the radicalized form doesn’t have quite the foothold, although when the state doesn’t instill its values in its people, radicalization can occur (i.e. Britain).
A volume of the Qur’an I would recommend is The Holy Qur’an with English Translation and Commentary, by Maulana Muhammad Ali.
Good for them.
As long as there is no catch, I am very pleased with this. Better late than never, and I’m happy this has happened.
According to numerous sources, Islamic and not, the Qur’an cannot be properly interpreted without the hadiths, that is, the traditions concerning the prophet’s sayings and doings. In Egypt an edict just last month declared the “Qur’an only” movement as unIslamic and heretical. Any Qur’an book which does not deal with the hadiths as well cannot be considered complete. Virgil, I hope the one you recommend does deal with the full package.
As it stands, this fatwa is encouraging. Moderate Muslims must begin to stand against the violence publicly if any progress is to be made.