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India-Pakistan
Suicide attacks are un-Islamic: clerics
2007-02-24
After the recent wave of suicide attacks in Pakistan, a Karachi-based Urdu daily newspaper conducted a survey seeking fatwas (religious decrees) on suicide attacks, SouthAsiaNet, an online academic magazine reported on Friday. In the survey, clerics from all schools of thought have declared suicide attacks un-Islamic and forbidden them under the Shariah. They said that killing a non-Muslim without a legitimate cause was against the Islamic way of life. Maulana Ameer Hamza of the Jamaatud Dawa said that a suicide attack was, beyond doubt, an act of terrorism. He said that someone who kills himself to kill others also “recounts for the sins of those who (he has) killed”.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-IslamÂ’s Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said that since Islam did not permit the killing of innocent people, it was necessary to figure out why suicide bombers went to such extremes. He said that since there was no way of effectively stopping a suicide bomber, the only solution was to eliminate the causes which gave rise to such resentment that people resorted to suicidal tactics.
He added that no final fatwa could be given on the issue, since a suicidal defence strategy was employed by the Pakistani Army to repel an Indian attack during the 1965 war. However, he said that an Islamic war by an Islamic state could not be compared to the recent wave of suicide attacks that targeted innocent civilians.
He added that no final fatwa could be given on the issue, since a suicidal defence strategy was employed by the Pakistani Army at Chawinda to repel an Indian attack during the 1965 war, a strategy that was approved by the religious scholars of the time. However, he said that an Islamic war by an Islamic state could not be compared to the recent wave of suicide attacks that targeted innocent civilians.

Former minister and Sunni cleric Dr Mehmood Ahmad Ghazi said, “a suicide attack was clearly murder and its legality was further called into question by the fact that they occurred in a Muslim state which was not occupied by infidels”.

The Jamaat-e-Islami’s Dr Anis Ahmed said that “the term suicide is very notorious in itself and we need to (establish) the (reasons behind) such acts of extremism.” Determining the moral status of such suicide attacks is far too complex an issue to be sorted out by a mere ‘yes’ or ‘no’, he said. “After all,” he said, “what can a Palestinian do when his parents and children have been killed, his house demolished he has no means of earning a living any more? Should he thank those who victimized him? He inevitably turns to extreme measures then. When he is pressed against the wall, he naturally uses his body as a tool of war. These are undoubtedly extraordinary circumstances.”

Allama Qamber Abbas Naqvi, president of the Shia Ulema Council, said that killing a non-Muslim without a legitimate cause was haraam (forbidden), so killing innocent Muslims would be illegal to the highest degree. He said that some elements were trying to mislead young Muslims by portraying suicide attacks as a service to Islam and bringing their country and their religion into disrepute. He said that Islam ensured that the life, property and honour of non-Muslims would be protected, so it could not sanction the killing of innocent Muslims.

Other clerics quoted in the report included Sunni scholars Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman and Allama Jamil Ahmed Naeemi and Shia clerics Allama Abass Hussain, Allama Sheryar Aabidi, Allama Shehnshah Naqvi and Allama Ather Mashhadi.
Posted by:Fred

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