Maybe this is why establishment dhimmi Islamic scholar John Esposito has praised Sheikh al-Qaradawi for engaging in a “reformist interpretation of Islam and its relationship to democracy, pluralism and human rights.” For here Qaradawi says: “Islam does not allow killing innocent people in war even if they are non-believers.” This places him in opposition to the thought of Anjem Chaudary and others, who say that non-Muslims cannot be innocent simply because they are unbelievers.
Here Qaradawi is actually condemning the jihad bombings in Russia because non-Muslim noncombatants were murdered. However, those who are still on that endless search for a Moderate Muslim who will magically transform the hearts and minds of untold millions of Muslims worldwide, and lead them to discard age-old and authoritative understandings of jihad and Islamic supremacism, should hold their hosannas. For Qaradawi has said of jihadist suicide bombings in Israel: “It’s not suicide, it is martyrdom in the name of God, Islamic theologians and jurisprudents have debated this issue. Referring to it as a form of jihad, under the title of jeopardising the life of the mujahideen. It is allowed to jeopardise your soul and cross the path of the enemy and be killed.”
Yes, he believes it to be jihad even if the “enemy” is comprised of noncombatants — because, you see, Israeli society is militarized and the Palestinians are weak: “Israeli women are not like women in our society because Israeli women are militarised. Secondly, I consider this type of martyrdom operation as indication of justice of Allah almighty. Allah is just. Through his infinite wisdom he has given the weak what the strong do not possess and that is the ability to turn their bodies into bombs like the Palestinians do.”
It is hard to see why he would so eagerly embrace such loopholes regarding suicide bombing in Israel, but not bother in regard to suicide bombing in Russia. Could it be because this time there are some Infidels around, listening to him and eager to be fooled? I don’t know, but in any case it would be interesting to hear how he would respond if Chechen jihadis approached him with an argument justifying the jihad/martyrdom bombings in Russia that ran along the same lines as his justification for them in Israel.
“Qaradawi wants militants to review convictions on jihad,” by Anwar Elshamy in Gulf Times, April 3 (thanks to Maxwell):
Qatar-based Islamic scholar Dr Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi yesterday condemned the recent Moscow subway bomb attacks, saying that militant groups targeting civilians should review their adopted convictions of jihad.
In his Friday sermon, Sheikh Qaradawi said that jihad should only be defensive and that non-military persons should not be targeted in such a war.
“The Holy Qur’an says that killing an innocent person is tantamount to killing the whole humanity. For this reason, Islam prohibited Muslim armies to kill women, children or old men in wartime,” Sheikh Qaradawi told a congregation at the Omar bin al-Khattab mosque.
Qaradawi, who is the chairman of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, urged the Islamic militant groups to review their convictions about Jihad, saying that their attacking of civilians led the detractors of Islam to brand Muslims as “terrorists”.
“Such atrocities only hurt Islam and our Qur’an. They were even used as a pretext for accusing Islam of being a religion of violence and terror,” he added.
Amazing that anyone would ever get such an idea.
Referring to the twin suicide bombings that rocked Moscow’s underground train system last week, the scholar rejected the attacks as “having nothing to do with jihad” rules.
“Islam does not allow killing innocent people in war even if they are non-believers. Those people who got embroiled while they were on their way to work were innocent and could not be held responsible for their political leaders’ mistakes,” the scholar added.
However, he urged the Russian leaders to start a political dialogue with the Caucasus militant groups and not to resort to armed force to solve the conflict.
“I hope that the Russian leaders would launch a constructive dialogue. They can even request some leaders of Muslim or Arab countries to mediate between Russia and the Caucasus militants,” he added….
Yes, that will solve everything.