Muslim fatwa against terrorism

Published: 2:39PM Friday July 29, 2005 Source: Reuters

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North America's premier council of Islamic scholars have issued a fatwa against terrorism, telling young Muslims they would be committing a sin against God if they indulged in extremism.
  
The religious edict, issued by the Fiqh Council of North America, ruled that suicide bombings were "haram" (forbidden) and said anyone guilty of such "barbaric acts are criminals, not 'matyrs'".
  
The fatwa was the latest bid by the US Islamic community to distance itself from extremism, and to quell fears of a repeat in the United States of the London bomb attacks in which Muslims turned on the country of their birth.
  
"There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism," said the fatwa, issued in Washington in English, Arabic and Urdu.
  
"All acts of terrorism targeting civilians are 'haram' (forbidden) in Islam," the edict, endorsed by more than 120 Muslim groups and leaders, went on.
  
"It is haram for a Muslim to cooperate with any individual or group that is involved in any act of terrorism or violence.
  
"It is the civic and religious duty of Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement authorities to protect the lives of all civilians."
  
The fatwa contained a prayer for "our country" the United States, and inter-faith harmony across the world, but did not specifically mention Osama bin Laden or the al-Qaeda network.
  
Its release follows signs of frustration from US Muslim leaders that past condemnations of terrorism after the London attacks, and the September 11, 2001, terrorist strikes on America, failed to filter through to the non-Muslim community.
  
Community and religious leaders said the fatwa targeted young Muslims to ensure they would not be lured into violence.
  
"When the scholars say something is haram, anybody that will do that is committing a sin against God," said FCNA President Muzammil Siddiqi.
  
Salan Al-Maryati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said the fatwa, the first such edict ever issued in North America, was purely an act of faith.
  
"We do this not out of political expediency, but out of Islamic obligation."
  
The fatwa was partly inspired by a similar act by British Muslim religious groups in the wake of bombings in London on July 7 which killed 56 people including the four bombers, said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director with the Council on American Islamic Relations.
  
US Muslim groups have issued a flurry of condemnations on the attacks and denunciations of violence in the weeks following the London attacks.
  
Prominent US Muslim leader directly addressed suicide bombers, saying they were doing a great disservice to
Islam.
  
"For the love of God, stop this madness," Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation said during a news conference in Washington.
  
CAIR this month urged television stations to show its public service announcement, in which Muslim speakers argue that terror attacks defile their peaceful religion.
  
CAIR also said yesterday the number of hate-related incidents reported against Muslims in the US state of California alone, jumped by 39 percent last year.
  
A top US senator has urged Muslim leaders across the world to issue a slew of religious edicts denouncing terrorism.
  
Senator Dianne Feinstein spoke in the wake of the bombings in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where 88 people were killed, according to hospital officials.

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