orthocuban.com : Fatwa pronounced against terrorists
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) — A fatwa, or religious ruling, issued this week is roiling theological waters after it took aim at those notorious for targeting others: terrorists.
The anti-terrorism fatwa by renowned Muslim scholar Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri pulled no punches, declaring that terrorism was “haraam,” or forbidden by the Quran, and that suicide bombers would be rewarded not by 72 virgins in heaven, as many terrorist recruiters promise, but with a suite in hell.
Qadri, the founder of the Minhaj-ul-Quran International, an Islamic movement with centers in 90 countries, told a news conference in London, England, on Tuesday that his decree categorically condemns terrorism and suicide bombings in the name of Islam.
“Until now, scholars who were condemning terrorism were conditional and qualified what they said,” Qadri said in a phone interview, noting that his 600-page ruling left no room for interpretation. “I didn’t leave a single, minor aspect that, in the mind of radicals or extremists, can take them to the direction of martyrdom.” . . .
Father Orthoduck was glad to see the action above. It should have a good effect among the non-jihadists, and make recruiting significantly harder for the terrorists. Please notice that this was issued by a leading scholar from Pakistan, a country full of jihadists. And, please do go and read the rest of the article on CNN. Father Orthoduck would like to echo another poster and say to the Iman:
To Muslim scholar Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri: Assalamu Alilkum Wa Rahmatulah Wa Barakatuh (meaning peace, mercy, and blessings be upon from Allah) And thank you!
Frankly, the terrorists have done it to themselves and helped us to redeem a mistaken act. We had and have significant world support for the invasion of Afghanistan. At the time of that invasion, there was no general Islamic support for the Taliban or the Al Qaeda. But, when President Bush (son) decided to invade Iraq, we lost some significant support from the Arab world. And we did not just lose support from outside the USA. I have cited in other posts the strong opposition of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to the invasion of Iraq. Both they and the Pope went on record saying that Iraq did not qualify as a just war. But that is not my point.
After the invasion of Iraq, Arab support was on the side of Al Qaeda. From terrorist in 2001, they quickly went to being almost heroes. Their opposition to what was unanimously seen in the Arab world as an illegal American invasion started looking like the underdog fighting an evil bully. Suicide bombing directed against USA troops was seen as a heroic self-sacrifice to permit the self-determination of an occupied people. IED’s were seen as the only way to fight an empire with overwhelming firepower. If you read the stories from back then, there were even places were Al Qaeda was providing food and infrastructure to villages in outer parts of Iraq. Had they kept on this course, the current situation in Iraq would be much more difficult.
But Al Qaeda made a major mistake. C.S. Lewis has pointed out that evil often makes the mistake of over-reaching itself, of getting greedy for more and more gain and power, thereby ruining their plans. Al Qaeda began to treat everyone who was not actively helping them as though they were enemies. They thoroughly applied the idea of, “he who is not with us is against us.” They began to suicide bomb fellow Muslims. It did not matter whether or not the persons killed had any involvement with the Americans. The idea was to sow such terror that the populace itself would rise up against the invader just to get relief from the bombers. But, it did not work that way. Instead, the people began to turn against Al Qaeda.
The fatwa above is a sign of what is slowly becoming a general rejection of Al Qaeda among your average Muslim. This is not to say that Muslims are now in agreement that the USA invasion was correct. You would be quite mistaken if you thought that was true. Rather, we are being seen more and more as the lesser of two evils. If we are fortunate, we may someday make it all the way to no longer being perceived as evil, but rather being perceived as good. Insha’Allah.
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