Friday, July 29, 2005
CAIR - And the Anti-Terror Fatwa.
The Council on American Islamic Relations endorsed a fatwa by an organization called the Fiqh Council of North America. I tried briefly, and intend to try more after Shabbat, to find out about this organization. The full text of the fatwa is at the below link, but I would like to address portions of this for my own peace of mind.
http://www.cair-net.org/downloads/fatwa.htm
The Qur’an, Islam’s revealed text, states: "Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind." (Qur’an, 5:32) I find this quote to be interesting, by adding the word unjustly in this quote, it actually changes the meaning. It actually, with the addition, allows the killing of a person. Why you may ask, well if I can 'justify' the killing of a person, then I have just removed the concept of what this quote from the fifth Sura says.
Prophet Muhammad said there is no excuse for committing unjust acts: "Do not be people without minds of your own, saying that if others treat you well you will treat them well, and that if they do wrong you will do wrong to them. Instead, accustom yourselves to do good if people do good and not to do wrong (even) if they do evil." (Al-Tirmidhi) I find that this quote actually is much closer to the type of prohibition that I would be looking for. Only one problem I see. It is not from the Qur'an, therefore would not have quite the same authority.
The fatwa goes on to condemn terrorism 'against civilians' I could not tell if this fatwa was to include 'only' North Americans or was intended to apply to 'all' Muslims. If it is the second one, the it would seem this is the way to 'stop world terrorism.'
I do have a question though, if this fatwa is legitimate and accurate on the face of it, why has it taken so long for someone, anyone, to issue this type of fatwa? I know that the leading Islamic scholar of Italy had come out sometime ago and made these types of statements, and not just about terror in the US or Europe, but in Israel and other part of the world. So I ask again. If this fatwa is both legitimate and accurate why did it take the Fiqh Council of North America almost 4 years from the 9/11 attacks and even longer since other attacks to issue this fatwa. And why is the FCNA the only group that seems to be doing this. (as noted on the 'fatwa link' above, it has been endorsed by 145 Islamic organizations and a long list of individual Muslims.)
I have to say, I do have problems with this. For one I live/work in a city where the Imam of the largest Mosque was arrest, stripped of his naturalized citizenship, and tried for ties to Palestinian terror groups and for help raise money for them.
As a trained prayer leader(Imam), should he not have been aware of this information and not gotten involved in this situation.
Hopefully someone can help me.
http://www.cair-net.org/downloads/fatwa.htm
The Qur’an, Islam’s revealed text, states: "Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind." (Qur’an, 5:32) I find this quote to be interesting, by adding the word unjustly in this quote, it actually changes the meaning. It actually, with the addition, allows the killing of a person. Why you may ask, well if I can 'justify' the killing of a person, then I have just removed the concept of what this quote from the fifth Sura says.
Prophet Muhammad said there is no excuse for committing unjust acts: "Do not be people without minds of your own, saying that if others treat you well you will treat them well, and that if they do wrong you will do wrong to them. Instead, accustom yourselves to do good if people do good and not to do wrong (even) if they do evil." (Al-Tirmidhi) I find that this quote actually is much closer to the type of prohibition that I would be looking for. Only one problem I see. It is not from the Qur'an, therefore would not have quite the same authority.
The fatwa goes on to condemn terrorism 'against civilians' I could not tell if this fatwa was to include 'only' North Americans or was intended to apply to 'all' Muslims. If it is the second one, the it would seem this is the way to 'stop world terrorism.'
I do have a question though, if this fatwa is legitimate and accurate on the face of it, why has it taken so long for someone, anyone, to issue this type of fatwa? I know that the leading Islamic scholar of Italy had come out sometime ago and made these types of statements, and not just about terror in the US or Europe, but in Israel and other part of the world. So I ask again. If this fatwa is both legitimate and accurate why did it take the Fiqh Council of North America almost 4 years from the 9/11 attacks and even longer since other attacks to issue this fatwa. And why is the FCNA the only group that seems to be doing this. (as noted on the 'fatwa link' above, it has been endorsed by 145 Islamic organizations and a long list of individual Muslims.)
I have to say, I do have problems with this. For one I live/work in a city where the Imam of the largest Mosque was arrest, stripped of his naturalized citizenship, and tried for ties to Palestinian terror groups and for help raise money for them.
As a trained prayer leader(Imam), should he not have been aware of this information and not gotten involved in this situation.
Hopefully someone can help me.
// posted by Little Wolf @ Friday, July 29, 2005 
