Muslim Scholars Find Their Voice Against Terror

Stung by the stereotyping of Muslims as "terrorists", traditional Islamic scholars have started asserting themselves to emphasize that Islam is a religion of peace, not of violence. Kuldeep Kumar reports

photo: dpa
"Anti-Islamic assault": A shoe lies strewn at the site of the bomb explosion outside a Hindu temple in Varanasi last week

​​Indian Muslims are no longer willing to remain mute spectators of terrorism unleashed on innocent people by indigenous or foreign-based militant organizations in the name of Islam. This development has come about following the blast at Sankatmochan Mandir, one of the three most revered Hindu temples of Varanasi, on March 7, 2006.

Fatwa decries terrorism

On the night of March 13, 2006 Maulana Khalid Rashid of Dar-ul-Ifta Farangi Mahall of Lucknow issued a fatwa (edict) decreeing that those who launch attacks on places of worship be treated as enemies of Islam.

Maulana Khalid Rashid is a highly regarded cleric and scholar of Islam. His institution enjoys a formidable reputation of being a seat of Islamic learning and has been actively involved in spreading education over the past three centuries.

Well-known scholar Francis Robinson writes in his book 'The Ulama of Farangi Mahall and Islamic Culture in South Asia' that the Maulana's family traces its ancestry through the great scholar and mystic, Khwaja Abd Allah Ansari of Heart, to Ayyub Ansari, Prophet Muhammad's host at Medina.

Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb assigned a European merchant's house in Lucknow to his ancestors and also made grants to support their scholarly work. Around 1695 the family moved to the house which was known as Farangi Mahall.

Two days after three blasts shattered the peace of the holiest Hindu pilgrimage centre Varanasi killing at least 20 persons while leaving many times more injured, a 32-year old Lucknow-based businessman Sajid Umar contacted Maulana Rashid for a fatwa to know what Islam had to say about people attacking places of worship and killing innocent people in cold blood in the name of Islam.

Islam does not support terrorism

In response, the Maulana issued a fatwa categorically stating that there was absolutely no room for terrorism in Islam and murder of one innocent person amounted to murder of the entire humanity. He quoted the 32nd Ayat of Sura-i-Maidah of the Quran in this regard:

"If anyone slays a human being unless it be for murder or for spreading corruption on earth – it shall be as though he had slain all mankind; whereas, if anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he had saved the lives of all mankind."

Giving the example of Prophet Muhammad and his immediate successors, Maulana Khalid Rashid said: "It is notable that the Prophet never reacted violently even against those who attacked him. He tried not to cause physical harm to anyone and was also totally against causing the slightest harm to any place of worship, belonging to any faith."

While emphasizing that "Islam has always laid stress on peace and harmony," the Maulana's fatwa added, "if any Muslim causes harm to any place of worship or indulges in killing of innocent people, Islam would regard it as the worst possible crime and the Shariat would consider it absolutely unlawful."

Women demonstration as the trigger

Following this fatwa, Mufti Taisaruddin of Darul Ifta Majidia, another religious institute, also declared the assaults as anti-Islamic. The Mufti said terrorism was considered a crime in Islam and could not be condoned.

The move came after Muslim women in Varanasi staged a demonstration against the attack and mounted pressure on local clerics to issue an edict.

Syed Shah Badruddin Qadri al-Jeelani, president of the Jamiat Mushaiqal-Hind and the All-India Sunni Ulema Board opines that using holy names against peace is disrespectful to Islam. The religion, which does not even allow harming a tree or animal, cannot condone killing innocent people in the name of jihad (holy war).

"If the terrorists can't shun the path of violence, they must at least leave their names so that the entire Muslim community is not blamed," says Maulana Mastan Ali somewhat dubiously. Mastan Ali is the director of Jamait-ul Mominath, one of the oldest Islamic institutions for women in southern India based in Hyderabad.

Mastan Ali issued a fatwa on Sunday against militant groups using Prophet Muhammad's name. A militant group calling itself Lashkar-e-Qahar had claimed responsibility for the Varanasi blasts. Qahar is one of the many different names used for addressing the Prophet.

Kuldeep Kumar

© Southasia.de 2006

Qantara.de

Pakistan
Two Sisters' Courageous Struggle
For 25 years, sisters Asma Jahangir and Hina Jilani have fought to uphold human rights, especially women's rights, in Pakistan. Today their Lahore law firm is known throughout the country. By Bernard Imhasly

Gujarat Turmoil
Victims Are Taunted, Perpetrators Go Free
After an arson attack on a train carrying Hindu pilgrims last year, an estimated 2,200 Muslims died in the anti-Islamic pogroms that followed. The court cases that followed did not bring the perpetrators to justice. Bernhard Imhasly reports