Good. Now let's see some action commensurate with this -- particularly, energetic efforts to root out jihadists from among Muslims in Britain, and to turn them over to the authorities. Oh, and while you're at it, a definitive renunciation of any intention, now or in the future, to turn Britain into a Sharia state would also be welcome -- along with a fatwa denouncing those who wish to do so as non-Muslims, unworthy of help from Muslims.
From AP, with thanks to Judea Pearl:
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) - Ten days after Islamic radicals carried out deadly attacks on the London transport system, Britain's largest Sunni Muslim group on Sunday issued a binding religious edict, a fatwa, condemning the July 7 suicide bombings as the work of a ``perverted ideology.''The Sunni Council denounced the bombings as anti-Islamic and said the Quran, the Muslim holy book, forbade suicide attacks.
``Who has given anyone the right to kill others? It is a sin. Anyone who commits suicide will be sent to Hell,'' said Mufti Muhammad Gul Rehman Qadri, the council chairman. ``What happened in London can be seen as a sacrilege. It is a sin to take your life or the life of others.''
The council said Muslims should not use ``atrocities being committed in Palestine and Iraq'' to justify attacks such as those in London that killed 55 when suicide bombers struck in three Underground trains and a double-decker bus, the fatwa declared.
``We equally condemn those who may have been behind the masterminding of these acts, those who incited these youths in order to further their own perverted ideology,'' Qadri said.
Well, aint that just mighty big of them. Does this mean that terrorism is real now and not just an illusion?
``Who has given anyone the right to kill others? It is a sin. Anyone who commits suicide will be sent to Hell,'' said Mufti Muhammad Gul Rehman Qadri, the council chairman.
-- This is insufficient, because all the terrorists and their supporters have to do is show that they did not kill innocent people, but rather they killed an Enemy who is directly threatening Islam. Then, in this context, those "suicides" are not suicides per se, but merely the martyr's death in battle -- which is a good thing for all Muslims as long as the battle is deemed justified.
The crucial hinge on which this issue revolves is not whether Islam condemns murder of innocents and condemns suicide -- it is whether particular acts of killing perpetrated by what we call Muslim terrorists are in fact justified acts of killing and dying in battle against enemies of Islam.
This semantic hinge is all that matters, logically. And this Sunni council did nothing to tackle it head-on. As a consequence, it will have little or no effect on the terrorists and their sympathizers.
guess who posted this
True Muslims are Lions of God, we fear nothing. We have no fear of death, in my life if I am destined to be shaeed in any way (death due to certain illnesses, accidents, die defending what/who I love) then I am content with that. That is worth more to me than all the riches in the World
guess who posted this
True Muslims are Lions of God, we fear nothing. We have no fear of death, in my life if I am destined to be shaeed in any way (death due to certain illnesses, accidents, die defending what/who I love) then I am content with that. That is worth more to me than all the riches in the World
Shiva:
Sounds rather like Zarqawi.
"The council said Muslims should not use ``atrocities being committed in Palestine and Iraq''",
Errr... am I missing something here, but isn't it the Muslims who are commiting atrocities in Iraq??
Shiva, I guess: one of our trolls.
Longshot but why not.
Geoff