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Violence is not part of Islamic teachings
Islam is a religion full of love and mercy,
not a religion that teaches violence, let alone hurting and killing. This means
that acts of terrorism which have been claimed to have been carried out by
Muslims are wrong because they are not in accordance with the goals and ideals
of Islam.
British Muslim clerics have issued a strong
fatwa condemning global terrorism and suicide bombings. In Islamic circles,
this is not the first fatwa like this.
Terrorism remains terrorism, violence is
still violence and has no place in Islamic teachings and there is no
justification for it, nor promulgation, or anything like that,” said
Britain’s leading Muslim cleric, Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, founder of the Sunni
movement. Minhaj ul-Quran”.
Terrorism is an act that excludes the
perpetrators from the pure followers of Islam. That’s the message I want to
emphasize. So said Dr. Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri in the UK, after issuing an
anti-terrorism fatwa. According to him, the fatwa was issued after increasing
violence in Pakistan and the radicalization of followers of Islam in British
and Pakistani universities. However, he emphasized that this fatwa is generally
aimed at acts of terror committed in the name of Islam.
“I condemn every act and form of
terrorism in the last decade, which appears as a manifestation of radicalism or
whatever, and abuses the name of Islam,” said Tahir ul-Qadri.
Read : Islamic Prayer Teaching
This statement caused a stir among those
who often criticize that Islamic leaders and clerics are not sufficiently
distanced from acts of terror. In fact, although the 600-page fatwa issued by
Tahir ul-Qadri is the most widely covered, it is still not the first fatwa
against terrorism.
After the terror attacks in London,
Britain’s leading imams issued a strong condemnation of terrorism. In Vienna,
Austria, a similar fatwa was also issued. Meanwhile in Germany, the head of the
Shia community in Hamburg and the head of the German Muslim Association made a
similar statement. Even in Arab countries, there are more and more fatwas
against terrorism and suicide bombings.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is close
to Islamic clerics, condemns terrorism and organizes programs for former
Islamic terrorists who want to break out of the cycle of violence. In
particular, Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi of Al Azhar University in Cairo,
Egypt, who, after a long silence, appeared to criticize Islamic terrorism. Like
a number of other Islamic figures, after the attacks in London and
Sharm-el-Sheik, Al Azhar’s supreme imam stressed that there is no reason or
justification for carrying out acts of violence against innocent civilians.
“If a terrorist admits that his
actions are Islamic teachings, then he is a liar and a fraud. Then the
followers of Islam will disengage from him,” said Sheik Mohammed Sayed
Tantawi.
The Minhaj-ul-Quran movement formed in 1980
in Pakistan promotes peace and interfaith dialogue. According to Dr. Muhammad
Tahir ul Taqri, he has addressed every question relevant to terrorism. Even so,
the fatwa issued in London will not end acts of terror. The problem is, even though
a fatwa is a binding order, it doesn’t specify who must obey it.
