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Attention, fatwa shoppers: Bomb-belt special on Aisle 6! "Muslim students seek clerics' jihad advice," by Richard Kerbaj for The Australian:
AUSTRALIAN Muslim university students eager to become jihadis are regularly seeking advice from Islamic spiritual leaders in the hope of winning religious approval to travel overseas and fight.
Leaders have warned that the obsession among some young Muslims to become holy warriors was also driving them to "shop around" for fatwas - religious rulings - should their initial request be turned down.
Moderate Sydney-based Islamic cleric Khalil Shami said young Muslims, "predominantly university students", frequently asked his advice on travelling to war-torn countries to fight in the name of Islam.
[...]
Sheik Shami said he always warned aspiring Islamists against fighting because he believed Muslim countries were being run by corrupt leaders who were more interested in making money and advancing their political profiles than liberating their people.
"There are some people who would like to go and perform jihad," he told The Australian in an Arabic and English interview.
"I say don't go. Because those fighting aren't truly fighting in the path of God. I've been asked numerous times and I've advised against going," added Sheik Shami, an imam at Penshurst Mosque in Sydney's southwest.
It's good that there are clerics advising against traveling abroad to wage jihad, but what is the broader Muslim community doing to address what is generating "demand" among the fatwa-shoppers? And for good measure, what methods and goals constitute "fighting in the path of God" for Sheik Shami?
He said young Muslims interested in jihad either called him anonymously to ask his advice or approached him at the mosque.
Sheik Shami, who is also an Australian Federal Police chaplain, said he had not notified authorities about Muslims interested in jihad because he did not want to betray the trust of people making the inquiries.
"If you come to me and tell me about something, it's not nice for me to go and tell the authorities about you because you trust me and I have to just keep your secret," he said.
"I know I have enough faith in myself. I'm not going to hurt the person or hurt the authorities."
The federal Attorney-General's department last night said clerics were not obligated under common law to pass on national security information.
"A Muslim cleric would have the same obligations as any other member of the community," a department spokesman said. "The Government would expect that any person in receipt of such information, whatever their religious beliefs, would have a duty to prevent terrorist activity and pass the information on."
Sheik Shami's comments follow revelations in The Australian last week that Muslims were refusing to give national security authorities counter-terrorism tip-offs, fearing they might implicate themselves or be labelled traitors by fellow community members.
Sheik Shami said young men often became more enthused about seeking advice on jihad after seeing horrific images of fellow Muslims caught up in conflict.
Islamic Friendship Association of Australia president Keysar Trad admitted hearing young Muslims asking their cleric for advice on going to fight jihad overseas. He said some even went to more than one imam in the hope of getting a green light for joining the battle.
"Some people will shop around, what you might term as fatwa shopping, and I am yet to meet an imam who would say yes, go," Mr Trad said. "My personal assessment of these kind of people is they want the imam to reassure them that staying here in luxury and comfort is OK, that's all they're doing. But then they go (and say), 'I would've gone only if the imam let me'."
Some may be looking to deflect personal responsibility for their actions: If the imam said to go fight, a jihadist who finds himself in trouble might claim he was "only following orders."
Posted by Marisol at June 5, 2007 7:27 AM
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'seeing horrific images of fellow Muslims caught up in conflict.'
Rather vaguely phrased. Is this referring to the infidel beheading videos, notoriously used as recruiting tools for the global jihad?
Anyway, this 'fatwa-shopping' points to the essential infantilism of Islam, as with all totalitarian ideologies. If Mummy says you can't do it, but you really want to do it, go ask Daddy.
Finally, 'Australian Federal Police chaplain'? Really? How many Muslims are in the Australian Federal Police? It would be astounding if there were more than a handful. More likely that long-suffering Australian taxpayers yet again are subsidizing worthless attempts at placating permanently outraged Muslim sensibilities. Then again, perhaps this 'chaplain' is giving that execrable dhimmi, Mick Kielty, the low-down on the Religion of Peace.
Posted by: Dane![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 5, 2007 7:42 AM
This is a grim variant on the forum-shopping by litigants, or rather by their lawyers, in this country.
Posted by: Hugh at June 5, 2007 8:09 AM
Fatwa shopping must be becoming more and more popular hence this story.
It sounds like a demand-driven market just waiting for Australian law enforcement to exploit it and clean up the underground fatwa economy.
Entrap, deport or incarcerate.
Posted by: BurkasforHitlery at June 5, 2007 8:19 AM
""I know I have enough faith in myself. I'm not going to hurt the person or hurt the authorities."
....of course not, he is the cleric......he will leave the violence up to the jihadists....just like all the other Islamic clerics...
""Some people will shop around, what you might term as fatwa shopping, and I am yet to meet an imam who would say yes, go,"
.....i smell a lie.....
Posted by: exsgtbrown at June 5, 2007 8:20 AM
'Islam is a Religion of Peace!'
'They aren't muslims!' (if they committed violence)
'He's just mentally ill!'
And the list goes on... but funny how they always manage to find an excuse to get the bombing, or the raping, or the shooting done, anyway. And that is all this is: another way Out, to have their cake and eat it.
Posted by: Gary at June 5, 2007 8:23 AM
I sense a potential commercial business opportunity here!
FATWAS 4 U!
'Scuse me while I go check out the availability of that web address.....
at June 5, 2007 10:04 AM
we had "Church Lady" , can we see "Mosque Dude" soon?...
Posted by: exsgtbrown at June 5, 2007 11:01 AM
Uh....
Pakistani PM: Attempts to equate Islam with terrorism must be rejected
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Monday said attempts to equate Islam with terrorism must be rejected, as Islam offers the message of humanity, egalitarianism, moderation, tolerance and coexistence. "There are perverse attempts to equate Islam with terrorism. We must reject this travesty" he said in a video address at the opening of the 'Islam in the World Today' conference at Lancaster House, central London.Posted by: joeblough
at June 5, 2007 1:21 PM
LMAO...and I thought ambulance-chasing lawyers were the scum of the earth!
Good Lord!
at June 5, 2007 1:39 PM
FATWAS2GO!
Sounds like a soul rib joint in an Eastern city.
Gimme me a greasy fatwa, with all the trimmins.
I want an imam to issue this fatwa:
Anyone who issues another fatwa should have their tongue cut out.
This freelance formalized cursing is a recipe for chaos and madness.
Didn't work in the Dark Ages, doesn't work now.
(Islam's motto?)
Posted by: profitsbeard at June 5, 2007 7:30 PM
"I know I have enough faith in myself. I'm not going to hurt the person or hurt the authorities."
No, of course not. I'm only going to hurt people I have never met in a country I have never been. But I'm definitely not going to hurt "the person" who told me what he wanted to do "in the name of Allah".
"Muslims were refusing to give national security authorities counter-terrorism tip-offs, fearing they might implicate themselves or be labelled traitors by fellow community members."
Same with the ummah in Australia. They have just admitted that in any terrorist act carried out by an Australian they are all accessories before the fact. But they will be the loudest complainers if they or their relatives are hurt if authorities fail to stop a terrorist and they will be first in line to collect whatever damages are paid out.
at June 5, 2007 8:10 PM
I never realy looked at Aussies in jihabs and headress. I remember them (the men) in realy sexy hats, wrestling crocks, doing the outback things, and slamming.
Posted by: mustang65 at June 5, 2007 11:21 PM
Oh mustang...you're thinking of REAL Aussies.
lol
at June 6, 2007 1:28 AM
He said young Muslims interested in jihad either called him anonymously to ask his advice or approached him at the mosque.
Sheik Shami, who is also an Australian Federal Police chaplain, said he had not notified authorities about Muslims interested in jihad because he did not want to betray the trust of people making the inquiries...................
My gosh where does this guy come from.. One minute he says that they come to him anonymously then next minute he said the didnt want to betray the trust of people... did he or didnt he know who came to him??
Surely he could tell authorities that there is a risk, or didnt he want us to know..perhaps they are not ready yet for a war jihad against us..
at June 6, 2007 2:23 AM
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