Granted, the fatwa contains little that is original: the Learned Elders of Islam have issued decrees along similar lines several times. There has been, in particular, a general consensus among them against suicide kaboom -- even if it has not always been unequivocal -- in which they have also been targeted. For instance, in 2009, Mufti Sarfaraz Ahmed Naeemi paid with his life for his robust condemnation of suicide kaboom in precisely such an attack. More recently, the JUI-F’s Maulana Ghafoor Haideri was injured when a jacket wallah struck his convoy, killing 27 people. The stance pertaining to jihad in the recently issued fatwa, however, is comparatively unusual. It harks back to the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami
...
The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
, Maulana Maudoodi, not to mention other religious scholars of yore, who held that only a state can declare jihad and no individual or group has the right to wage a private jihad of its own.
The eminently sensible, if obvious, assertions in the decree have been met with disapproval by Maulana Samiul Haq
...
the Godfather of the Taliban,leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as
Mullah Sandwichfor his habit of having two young boys at a time...
, who heads his own faction of the JUI. Known as the ’father of the Taliban
...Arabic for
students...
’ because his madressah in Akora Khattak, KP, is the alma mater of several senior Afghan Taliban -- including their late leader Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title
Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
-- the maulana has long been among the most strident supporters of militancy. Expressing concern over the fatwa, he contended that the rulers of the Moslem world were puppets of the West and could not therefore declare jihad against their masters. This is a perverse argument that has never lost currency among the ultra right and has been used to advocate armed struggle against the state. Certainly, resistance against the excesses of undemocratic or dictatorial regimes is morally justifiable, but its objective must be clear and violence should never be used to achieve it. Now, more than ever at this juncture, when various purveyors of violent extremism are creating mayhem in Pakistain and the region, it is important once again for religious leaders to reiterate the principles of peaceful coexistence.