U.S. MUSLIM RELIGIOUS COUNCIL ISSUES FATWA AGAINST TERRORISM

[Akil Todd Harvey]

I recently heard that a Muslim religious council in America had put out a formal condemnation of terrorism.

http://www.cair-net.org/downloads/fatwa.htm

The Fiqh Council of North America wishes to reaffirm Islam's absolute condemnation of terrorism and religious extremism.


Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent lives. There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilians’ life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram – or forbidden - and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not “martyrs.”


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)


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)


God mandates moderation in faith and in all aspects of life when He states in the Qur’an: “We made you to be a community of the middle way, so that (with the example of your lives) you might bear witness to the truth before all mankind.” (Qur’an, 2:143)[b/]


In another verse, God explains our duties as human beings when he says: “Let there arise from among you a band of people who invite to righteousness, and enjoin good and forbid evil.” (Qur’an, 3:104)


Islam teaches us to act in a caring manner to all of God's creation. The Prophet Muhammad, who is described in the Qur’an as “a mercy to the worlds” said: “All creation is the family of God, and the person most beloved by God (is the one) who is kind and caring toward His family."


In the light of the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah we clearly and strongly state:


1. All acts of terrorism targeting civilians are haram (forbidden) in Islam.

2. It is haram for a Muslim to cooperate with any individual or group that is involved in any act of terrorism or violence.

3. It is the civic and religious duty of Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement authorities to protect the lives of all civilians.



We issue this fatwa following the guidance of our scripture, the Qur’an, and the teachings of our Prophet Muhammad – peace be upon him. We urge all people to resolve all conflicts in just and peaceful manners.


We pray for the defeat of extremism and terrorism. We pray for the safety and security of our country, the United States, and its people. We pray for the safety and security of all inhabitants of our planet. We pray that interfaith harmony and cooperation prevail both in the United States and all around the globe.

FIQH COUNCIL OF NORTH AMERICA

Members

1. Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi
2. Dr. Abdul Hakim Jackson
3. Dr. Ahmad Shleibak
4. Dr. Akbar Muhammad
5. Dr. Deina Abdulkadir
6. Shaikh Hassan Qazwini
7. Dr. Ihsan Bagby
8. Dr. Jamal Badawi
9. Dr. Muhammad Adam Sheikh
10. Shaikh Muhammad Al-Hanooti
11. Shaikh Muhammad Nur Abdallah
12. Dr. Salah Soltan
13. Dr. Taha Jabir Alalwani
14. Shaikh Yahya Hindi
15. Shaikhah Zainab Alwani
16. Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah
17. Dr. Mukhtar Maghraoui
18. Dr. Nazih Hammad


ENDORSED BY:

145 Muslim organizations, mosques and imams have endorsed the preceding fatwa as of July 28, 2005 (see below). More signatory organizations are to be added in the following days. To add your American Muslim organization to the list, please email your name, title, and affiliation to cair@cair-net.org.


Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
Muslim American Society (MAS)
Muslim Student Association of the US & Canada (MSA)
Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations
American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin
American Muslim Alliance
Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations
Council of Shia Muslim Scholars of North America
Islamic Networks Group & Affiliates
Muslim Public Affairs Council
Muslim Student Association of the US & Canada
USA Halal Chamber of Commerce, Inc & The Islamic Center for Halal Certification

Islamic Center of America
Islamic Sharia Advisory Institute of North America
Islamic Resource Group
Islamic Schools League of America
Kashmiri American Council
Minaret of Freedom Institute
Project Islamic HOPE
United Muslims of America
Muslim Ummah of North America
Islamic Shura Council of Southern California
Islamic Center of Northeast Florida
Islamic Center of South Florida
Islamic Foundation of South Florida
Islamic Movement of Florida
Islamic Society of Central Florida
Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area
The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago
Islamic Center of New England
Islamic Center of Maryland
Islamic Society of Washington Area
Muslim Federation of New Jersey
Islamic Council of Ohio
Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio
Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee
Islamic Association of West Virginia
Islamic Center of Little Rock
Greenway Islamic Center
Afghan Cultural Center
Al Nur Islamic Center
American Muslim Voice
Blossom Valley Muslim Community Center
Dar As-Salaam, Islamic Society of San Francisco
Elmhurst Islamic Center
Hidaya Foundation
Indian Muslim Relief & Charities
Islamic Center Of Fremont
Islamic Center of Pleasanton/Dublin
Islamic Center Of Reseda
Islamic Education Center
Islamic Learning and Practicing
Islamic Society of Orange County
Long Beach Islamic Center
Masjid Al-Rasul
Masjid Al-Taqwa
Muslim Community Association of the Peninsula
Muslim Community Association of the San Francisco Bay Area
Muslim Community Center of San Francisco
Muslim Community Services, Inc.
South Bay Islamic Association
South Valley Islamic Center
Yaseen Foundation and the Muslim Community Center
Masjid Al-Kauthar
Assadiq Islamic Educational Foundation
Bay County Islamic Society Inc
Islamic Center of Boca Raton
Islamic Center of Tampa
Islamic Jaffaria Association
Islamic Society of Pinellas County
Masjid Al-Ansar
Masjid Al-Faizal
Masjid Al-Hijrah
Masjid Al-Ihsan
Masjid Al-Nahl
Masjid An-Noor
Masjid Jama Al Mumineen
Masjid Miami
Masjid Muttaqeen
Masjid Sahmsuddin
Miami Gardens Masjid
Muslim Community of Palm Beach County
Nur Ul Islam
Palm Beach Mosque
Dalton Islamic Center
Islamic Center of Marietta
Masjid Al Muminun
Islamic Center of Des Moines
Masjid Dar-ul-Argum
Belleville Mosque and Islamic Education Center
Masjid Centralia
The Mosque Foundation
The Muslim Community Center
Islamic Society of Michiana
Islamic Center of Somerset
Islamic Association of Greater Shreveport
Masjid Abu Bakr Al Siddique

Islamic Society of Boston

Howard County Muslim Council
Islamic Society of Annapolis
Islamic Society of Baltimore
Mecca Learning Center
Muslim Community Center
Islamic House of Wisdom
Kalamazoo Islamic Center
Al-Mu'minun Islamic Center
Daar-ul-Islam Masjid
Islamic Center of Cape Girardeau
Islamic Society of Greater Kansas City
Masjid Al Heyder
Masjid Mohammed
Islamic Association of Cary
Islamic Association of Raleigh
Islamic Center of Raleigh
American Islamic Academy
Islamic Center Passaic County
Islamic Center Old Bridge
Islamic Educational Center North Hudson
Islamic Society Essex County
Muslim Center of Middlesex County
Siddiquia Jamia Masjid
Umar Mosque
Islamic Center of New Mexico
First Cleveland Mosque
Islamic Center of Cleveland
Islamic Society of Greater Columbus
Masjid Saad Foundation
Uqbah Mosque Foundation
Islamic Center of Portland, Masjid As-Saber
Foundation for Islamic Education
Muslim Community of Knoxville
Muslim Community of North East Tennessee
Masjid Al-Noor
Islamic Society of Greater Houston
Muslim Children Education & Civic Center
Islamic Society of Salt Lake City
All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS)
Darassalam
Islamic Center of Virginia
Masjid Darul Huda
Muslim Association of Virginia
Mustafa Center
Islamic Center of Blacksburg VA


Rashid Lamptey
Rizwan Jaka
Islam Mossaad
Didmar Faja
Rashid Ahmed
Souleiman Ghani
Riaz Ahmad
Mubashir Ahmed
Ali Shakoor
Ahmad Sakr
Misbah Eldereiny
Muzammil Siddiqi
Shakeel Syed
Ismail Majoo
Tarek Mohamed
Mujahid Abdul-Karim
Abdul Karim Salih
M. Rezar Rahman
Tahir Anwar
Ilyas Anwar
Ziyad Dahbour
Rudolph Ali
Sayed Mohammad Jawad Qazwini
Hashem Mubrak
Jalal Khan
Zaid Malik
Hassan Sabri
Ziad Taha
Rashid Ahmad
Mohamed Banglori
Moneer Khan
Ziah Sheikh
Mohammed al Masri
Haitham Barazangi
Muhammad Sultan
Nasir Ahmed
Roshan Ali
Kamruz Hosein
Tarik Chebbi
Rashad Mujahid
Mohamed Zakaria Badat
Khalil Hussain
Hamid Samra
Usman Rahaman
Foad Farahi
Abdul Hamid Samra
Murtaza Kakli
Roshan Ali
Osman Chowdhury
Hammad El-Ameen
Amjad Taufique
Furqan Muhammad
Ibrahim Dremali
Abdul W. Kazi
Zahir Ansari
Abdul Malik Mujahid
Kifah Mustapha
Elkheir Elkheir
Mohammed Sirajuddin
Husein Turki
Sayed Jumaa Salam
Abdur Rahman Bashir
Talal Eid
Shaykh Besyouni
Anwer Hasan
Amin Ezzeddine
Mohammad Arrafa
Abid Husain
Faizul Khan
Azad Ejaz
Habib Diab Ghanim
Hasan Al-Qazwini
Mohammad Ali Elahi
Tariq Jameel
Samuel Ansari
Muhammad Nur Abdallah
Shafiq Malik
Shahir Safi
Hafiz Inayadullah
Said Mohammed
Maha El-Genaidi
Salam Al-Marayti
Mohamed Sheibani
Shakil Ahmed
Mohammed Bainonie
Shaykh Al-Tayyab
Mohammad Qatanani
Alvi Fakhruddin
Mohamed Alhayek
Ismail Elshikh
Abubakr Nadwi
Saif Ul-Nabi
Tariq Khawaja
Nimer Judeh
Isam Rajab
Abu Nuruzzaman
Abbas Ahmad
Zahid Siddiqi
Fawaz Damra
Sohail Khan
Siraj Haji
M. N. Tarazi
Ziad Abu Hummos
Ramez Islambouli
Samir Horani
Sheikh Mustafa Ahmad
Mohammad Islam
Taneem Aziz
Danish Siddiqui
Abdul Wahid
Ali Mohammed
Mohamed Magid
Mohammed M. Safa
Shaheed Coovadia
Abdul Hameed
Rafi Uddin Ahmed
Mohammad Zia
Mohamad Jamal Daoudi
Syed Samee
Agha Saeed
Sayed Moustafa Al-Qazwini
Anwar N Haddam
Zafar Siddiqui
Karen Keyworth
Ghulam Nabi Fai
Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad
Najee Ali

[MikeK]

Excellent!

But I still have to ask why it took 4 years to happen? Or did this happen awhile back and is only hitting the news now?

[Akil Todd Harvey]

Hey Mike,

But I still have to ask why it took 4 years to happen?

Very Reasonable question.

Very few fatwa, if any, have origniated in America. Most fatwa or religious edicts come from Muslim homelands where Islamic jurisprudence has its home.

Of course, to understand the answer (not that we could get everyone to agree to a single answer-but if we could), we would need to understand the people, their aspirations, their journeys, their difficulties and their failures.


America, withouth its history of Islamic universities and Islamic scholars lacked for quite some time both the experience, education and in some cases, the initiative, to make any type of religious ruling.


In other words (and this is to the best of my knowledge-i could be wrong), the folks who put out this condemnation of terorism by way of religious edict have never produced any prior edicts regarding any subject.

In the case of religious edicts from the catholic church. You will find, i would think, that very few come out of this country. and is that cuz they are bad christians here? or is it cuz the vatican is in rome? that is where the religious scholars (world renowned ones anyway) tend to hang out in chrstianity

[Guest]

Akil do you think these statements will make these people and places targets for terror as well?

[Mark Weitz]

Akil do you think these statements will make these people and places targets for terror as well?

It is possible. A lot of Muslim against Muslim terrorism has already taken place for a variety of reasons, usually because of perceived allegiance with infidels, supporting US aggression and percieved violations of Muslim law. But I don't think these statments make the people who made them vulnerable in the US. I think it's more likely in Muslim countries.

Mark

[Randy Pelletier]

Hi Akil,

This is great news. I went through your list and found only one reference to Canada.

That was the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations. Is this the only representation from Canada?

Judging by the names of the groups, I could not determine whether some were American or Canadian but assume that they are American. Are the Canadians represented sererately or did I just miss some of them?

Thanks for sharing this.

[AAAhmed46]

Yeah, those mosques are now targets.

Randy, i think most of the mosques in edmonton and canada issued statements.

Although this one imam in ontario didnt sign the fatwa.

[jorvik]

I'm a bit unclear on what a fatwah is ....I know that salman Rushdie had one placed upon him ....basically because of his book "The Satanic Verses").....and that meant that he could be killed by any Muslim, though I don't know what the reward was ( maybe the obligatory 24 virgins..personnally I'd prefer a woman of experience Jay-Lo perhaps)

but basically he was under threat of death.......does that mean that if a North American Muslim kills an alqaeda he goes to heaven??

[Guest]

Jorvik, it doesn't mean anything, it's just a bunch of eyewash. The people who signed this Fatwah secretly perform whirling dervish dances whenever westerners gets killed even though they are "westerners" themselves.

[jorvik]

Yeah and some of your 9/11ers were hard drinking playboys ........I'd like to see how much clout these guys have though.....d'ya think they would kill bin laden ( coz we bin waitin too long )

[Guest]

d'ya think they would kill bin laden ( coz we bin waitin too long )

No way man... fatwah or not, they are all enjoying the show. They are waiting to see which side will clearly win. That is the Arab way, get on the "winning" team.

[wes tasker]

Jorvik-

A Fatwa is a published opinion or decision regarding a religious doctorine or law by a recognized authority or group. These can often be grouped together in collections to form precedent when deciding matters of religious law or jurisprudence.

Tony-

I guess it's the limitations of the internet and not knowing you personally - but your comments about those signing the fatwa being "eyewash" and that they "dance around when a westerner gets killed" along with the whole "Arab way" statement of your last post were pretty out of line. I believe you served in the Middle East, if I can remember that correctly from some of your previous posts. I realize that, if that is so, you have been through stuff I can't conceive - but, the wholesale characterizing of an entire race is really innapropriate........

-wes tasker

[Bill Glasheen]

Well said, Wes.

We will, however, need to see what it all means. It only makes sense that American citizens who happen to be Muslim would prefer not to see violence in their homeland, and violence ordered upon their land from outside.

Not to be crass but... It's about time some of these leaders grew some cahones. Not to act or to speak up for fear of reprisal is inexcuseable. It's that kind of intimidation that allowed The Third Reich to march most of the way across Europe. In my book, the threat of reprisal is all the more reason to act just to establish that intimidation won't be tolerated.

Bill

[Rick Wilson]

I am glad it has begun. Only the Islamic community will be able to truly stop the terrorism.

Excellent.

[AAAhmed46]

No way man... fatwah or not, they are all enjoying the show. They are waiting to see which side will clearly win. That is the Arab way, get on the "winning" team.

You mean what italy did during world war one?
I think your talking more the saudi's and kuwait and pakistan, who's corrupted governments want continueing relations with. The other countries have corrupted leaders that dont have the same sense of survival.

Tony, how many muslims do you know? How many arabs do you know?
I know this palistinian girl, she has light skin, brown hair,Hazel eyes, but she is born and raised arab(Lots of arabs look White, particularly syrians and some palistinians). She is also a WWE fan(what the hell is wrong with her?) and a WWE show was in edmonton. She told me she once met an american man at the WWE and he easily befriended her(with respect, i have to say she tends to catch the eye. ). Some sikh guys walked by. The american guy said 'Wow those guys look like terrorists hahahaha' She then said "You know, im muslim, and i am an arab'' He was instantly shocked and apologized.

Hey tony, do you know the differences between sikh turbans and muslim turbans?
Do you remember reading a few days after 9/11 how some sikh's were beaten near death in new york?
Or about a sikh temple getting burn down by some drunken teenagers who though the gurduwara was a mosque?
Or what about
Why? Because some people got EMOTIONAL and could not tell they were attacking a group of people who had nothing to do with terrorism.
If (hopefully not) but if another terrorist attack were to happen in the states, and you feel really pissed off, and cant control it and end up reaching for a gun or or want to start busting heads, make sure you hit the right ethnic group, arabs wear thier turbans differently from sikhs.
Because remember: DIRT NIGGERS are the terrorists not DOT-HEADS.

But, dispite my huge rant, your kind of right.

Sad fact is, i have met SOME arabs i talk to seem to hold strange views toward this conflict. Although they do not condone the 9/11 attacks, they believe that it was not muslims who did it. They think it was a set up, they dont want to take responsibility for this, because they dont believe muslims are capable of such brutality.

Most however do not agree with terrorism, but are horribly frusterated with generalizations of most people and foriegn policy.
a few months ago, there was a survey done world wide asking whether or not muslims supported Osama bin laden.

In most countries, support of Osama was very low. The only country that held a majority supporting him was pakistan, and even there his popularity is falling greatly.
But at the same time, many muslims are dissatified with once again, foreign policy.

Not everything is black and white.

And i tell you, the terrorists have harmed muslims far more then americans. But i dont want to get into that.


And Akil, couldnt you post that in ''TOUGH ISSUES" Because I promised myself i wouldnt talk about politics because its pointless, so i decided to stick to Van canna's forum and bill glasheens round table and ricks forum, But not tough issues, since it is about politics. But whats this doing HERE?