American Muslim Scholars Call Terrorism a Violation of Islamic Teaching

AP ^ | AP-ES-07-28-05 1024EDT

[TheOtherOne]

American Muslim Scholars Call Terrorism a Violation of Islamic Teaching

By Rachel Zoll The Associated Press
Published: Jul 28, 2005 American Muslim scholars who interpret religious law for their community issued an edict Thursday condemning terrorism against civilians in response to the wave of deadly attacks in Britain and other countries.

In the statement, called a fatwa, the 18-member Fiqh Council of North America wrote that people who commit terrorism in the name of Islam were "criminals, not 'martyrs.'"

"There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism," the scholars wrote. "Targeting civilians' life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram - or forbidden."

Many Muslim leaders overseas have issued similar condemnations in recent weeks, but some have left an opening for violence to be used. British Muslim leaders who denounced the July 7 attacks in London said suicide bombings could still be justified against an occupying power.

The U.S. fatwa did not specifically address suicide bombings in a war, but the scholars barred Muslims from helping anyone "involved in any act of terrorism or violence." The council also declared that Muslims were obligated to help law enforcement officials protect civilians.

"It is the civic and religious duty of Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement authorities," according to the Fiqh Council. The term "fiqh" refers to Islamic legal issues and understanding the faith's religious law.

Islam has no central authority and the council serves an advisory role for American Muslims, who could number as high as 6 million. But some question whether the panel's statements would sway extremists.

Leaders of major American Muslim organizations have taken pains since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to condemn terrorism and deny any religious justification for it. They have intensified their efforts following the July 7 bombings in London and the botched attacks two weeks later. Other terrorist attacks have occurred in Egypt and Israel in recent weeks, along with continued bombings in Iraq.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council, an advocacy group based in Los Angeles, started the "National Anti-Terrorism Campaign" last year, urging Muslims to monitor their own communities, speak out more boldly against violence and work with law enforcement officials.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights organization, is running a TV ad and a petition-drive called "Not in the Name of Islam," which repudiates terrorism. In New York and other cities, mosque leaders have joined advisory committees created by the FBI to build relations between law enforcement and their local communities.

"We pray for the defeat of extremism and terrorism," the scholars wrote. "We pray for the safety and security of our country, the United States, and its people. We pray for the safety and security of all inhabitants of our planet."

---

On the Net:

Council on American-Islamic Relations: http://www.cair-net.org.

AP-ES-07-28-05 1024EDT

[Coldwater Creek]

I hope that you are not be an apologist for the terrorist.

[xzins]

That is a chilling story.

You need to write it up and send it as a letter to the editor. Maybe there's a balanced newspaper in your area that will print it.

Maybe some blog will pick it up. Maybe it should be written as an editorial, placed on a blog, and then picked up for the editorial sidebar on FR.

[phasma proeliator]

I wish they would say this to my face....

the SOB would be picking his teeth up off the ground.

[texasbluebell]

"Did they define "civilian" in this fatwa?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Exactly. There's always wiggle room. Other moslems would not agree with these American moslem scholars.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1688184,00.html

"Asked what constituted a legitimate target, Omar Bakri Mohammed said: "We
don't make a distinction between civilians and non-civilians, innocents and
non-innocents. Only between Muslims and non-believers. And the life of an
unbeliever has no value. It has no sanctity.""

[TheDon]

Here's a timely example of what I'm talking about.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1453045/posts

[Blood of Tyrants]

Let's see, modern terrorism started during the 1972 Olympics so that means that it only took them 1/3 of a century to come up with this statement. At this rate, the Muslim community ought to be up to the 21st century around the year 7822.

[Jazzman1]

All who believe this BS, stand on your head!

[Jeff Head]

I am glad that the statement was made...but why now?

Why not in late September of 2001?

I will remain very guarded regarding these people's intentions until I see, over an extended period of time, much more than very lately phrased words.

[elfman2]

"Oops, what happened here? This can't be right. Everyone knows that no Muslim will condemn terrorims -- probably because they're all just lining up for the chance to kill someone."

Most Muslims condemn terrorism, a sentence or two before they start into why they understand the frustrations the West has imposed upon the terrorists. If and when Muslims aggressively call for some kind of excommunication or civil war on the terrorists, I’ll respect them.

[ppaul]

American Muslim Scholars Call Terrorism a Violation of Islamic Teaching...

Oh yeah?
Chapter and verse please.
Donchaknow it's okay to lie to dhimmis?

[P-Marlowe]

I wish I could remember the "conversation". It was a bit one sided with him rambling about how the "damn jews" wrote the bible (in this case his claim was that the story of Jesus' crucifixion was written by the "damn jews" and that in reality it was Judas that was crucified). He claimed that the "damn jews" ruled the country and that they were evil and then he went into a diatribe about Muhammed being the true prophet. In the end I left him by telling him that Jesus was the one true God and then he went into a fit screaming obscenities about how God would not come out of the ***** of a woman. I was tempted to say that Muhammed probably came out of the colon of a man, but thought better of it.

At any rate it is clear that the Islamic community has a hatred of jews that exceeds their love for their own families. It is also clear that if they ever succeed in exterminating the "damn jews" that their next target will be the "damned Christians".

[xzins]

They don't seem too fond of women given the "God wouldn't come out of....." comment.

All male, all dictatorial, all the time.

Coming to a nation near you.

[No Surrender No Retreat]

At the best, Islamic Lip Service for show only. NSNR

[wardaddy]

yes, isn't it wonderful how they've come around after 4 years...and the IRA disbanded yesterday ...sweet lads they are.....and I make Rocco Siffredi feel inadequate.

Anyone can say anything.

[Conservative4Ever]

"There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism," the scholars wrote. "Targeting civilians' life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram - or forbidden."

Something just doesn't seem quite right here. Their lips say one thing, but their Koran teaches another. Suicide bombing or other method of attack is not OK..but all other methods including beheading is OK? Gives them some wiggle room, seems to me.

Red

[FreedomCalls]

Unfortunately, there's no central Muslim organization, unlike the Roman Catholic Church, so a ruling by one person doesn't apply to someone else.

There used to be. It was called the Caliphate and was based in Istanbul. However it was dissolved by Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and secularist who changed the Turkish language from being written with Arabic script to being written with Latin letters, forbidding Turkish men from wearing beards, and forbidding Turkish women from wearing head-scarves. It's similar to if Mussolini had dissolved the Papacy. The restoration of the Caliphate is one if the Islamic fundamentalists' goals.

[FreedomCalls]

Here's more:

The American Islamic Leaders' "Fatwa" is Bogus

Steven Emerson
The Investigative Project on Terrorism
Email: Stopterror@aol.com

This morning a group of American Islamic leaders held a press conference to announce a fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, against “terrorism and extremism.” An organization called the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) issued the fatwa, and the Council on American - Islamic Relations (CAIR) organized the press conference, stating that several major U.S. Muslim groups endorsed the fatwa.

In fact, the fatwa is bogus. Nowhere does it condemn the Islamic extremism ideology that has spawned Islamic terrorism. It does not renounce nor even acknowledge the existence of an Islamic jihadist culture that has permeated mosques and young Muslims around the world. It does not renounce Jihad let alone admit that it has been used to justify Islamic terrorist acts. It does not condemn by name any Islamic group or leader. In short, it is a fake fatwa designed merely to deceive the American public into believing that these groups are moderate. In fact, officials of both organizations have been directly linked to and associated with Islamic terrorist groups and Islamic extremist organizations. One of them is an unindicted co-conspirator in a current terrorist case; another previous member was a financier to Al-Qaeda.

I spoke with Judea Pearl, father of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl who told me that the fatwa was “vacuous because it does not name the perpetrators of Islamic terrorist theologies and leaders of Islamic movements like Yousef Al Qaradawi, Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Al Zawahari, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc.” Pearl told me that these groups are “trying to perpetrate a deception on the American public.”

Officials of both groups have been linked to various terrorist organizations:

The Chairman of the Fiqh Council, Taha Jaber Al-Alwani, is an unindicted co-conspirator in the case against Sami al-Arian, the alleged North American leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose trial began in June 2005 in Tampa, Florida. Mr. Alwani has been named in court documents as an official of several entities in northern Virginia suspected of being connected to terrorist financing. Documents released in the Al Arian trial show that Alwani funded the Islamic Jihad front groups in Tampa.

Another past trustee of the Fiqh Council, Abdurrahman Alamoudi, is serving a 23-year prison sentence for illegal financial dealings with Libya and immigration fraud, has admitted to his part in a plot to assassinate the Saudi Crown Prince, and has vocally announced his support for the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Additionally Alamoudi was just named by Treasury as having been a financier for Al Qaeda.

In 1998, Fiqh Council member Sheikh Muhammad al-Hanooti, gave a speech calling for jihad against the United States and the United Kingdom, saying that “Allah will curse the Americans and British” and “Allah, the curse of Allah will become true on the infidel Jews and on the tyrannical Americans.” Additionally, Hanooti is strongly linked to Hamas, having served on the board of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP). A 2002 INS memo extensively documented IAP’s support for HAMAS and noted that the “facts strongly suggest” that IAP is “part of HAMAS’ propaganda apparatus.”

On October 28, 2000, Muzammil Siddiqui, the President of FCNA, at a rally in Lafayette Park in Washington D.C., said, “America has to learn -- if you remain on the side of injustice, the wrath of God will come!"

In the past 4 years, several CAIR officials have been convicted of or charged with various terrorism-related offenses.

CAIR has championed and defended officials of Islamic terrorist groups including Hamas leader Musa Abu Marzook, Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami al-Arian, Palestinian Islamic Jihad fundraiser Fawaz Damra, and the radical Egyptian cleric Wagdy Ghoneim.

CAIR has repeatedly attacked the prosecutions of Islamic terrorists arrested and/or convicted since 9-11 and has attacked the government’s freezing of Islamic terrorist fronts as part of a “war against Islam” by the United States.

CAIR has led protests against the deportation of radical Islamic clerics who have called for Jihad or who have been fundraisers for Hamas.

CAIR has asserted that the indictment of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami al-Arian on conspiracy to murder more than 100 people was “politically motivated” and instigated by “the attack dogs of the pro-Israeli lobby."

CAIR has been named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of former FBI official John O’Neill, who was killed on 9-11.

One of the signatories to today’s fatwa is Fawaz Damra who was convicted of immigration fraud related to his ties to Palestinian Islamic Jihad and denaturalized. He is currently awaiting a deportation hearing.

Another signatory, the Muslim American Society, is a front for the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States and whose publications have repeatedly supported suicide bombings.

For a comprehensive background paper on the links to Islamic terrorist and extremist groups, please click here.

Posted by Steven Emerson at 06:07 PM

[muslims=borg]

What a crock. I guess I must be reading a different Koran.

[4.89] They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper.

[Eastbound]

""We pray for the defeat of extremism and terrorism," the scholars wrote."

Not to worry, shaky one. We are the answer to your prayers, not the false, schizoid 'god' you pray to, nor the perp prophet. We can handle this job without you summoning the demons from hell.