As the U.S. geared up for military action in Afghanistan, Army Chaplain Capt. Abd Al-Rasheed Muhammad began questioning the permissibility of a fight against fellow Muslims. Muhammad, the imam of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, sent an inquiry on the matter to the North American Fiqh Council, which deals with matters of Islamic jurisprudence. In turn, according to reports published in the Arabic-language press, the matter was referred to clerics in the Arab world. At first, the clerics issued a Fatwa, or edict, permitting Muslim soldiers to take part in the fighting if there was no alternative. The...