WAR: UK Muslims Issue Fatwa on Bombers

Britain's largest Sunni Muslim group, the Sunni Council, issued a fatwa against the perpetrators of London's July 7th suicide bombings. The fatwa, an irrevocable religious edict, was issued on July 17th. The group denounced the bombings as entirely contrary to the spirit of Islam and the teachings of the Quran.



Here is the moral outrage, which is felt by the vast majority of Muslims in equal measure as any other human being, being expressed at the London attacks. I think the Muslim community in the UK, which is far greater than in the US, is feeling the pressure which resulted from those attacks, as well as the indignation and outrage against them. This is certainly a laudable and necessary step taken by the UK's Muslims, IMHO. I lived in London for more than 15 years and during that time made many Muslim friends, and I can say that the majority of them do not condone of these bombings in any shape or form.

-koji K.

Related News Links:
en.wikipedia.org

[edit on 17-7-2005 by koji_K]

Glad you found this, I've not seen the news today but this will show a lot of those bigots that not all Muslims agree with this and these are very strong words said by the leaders of this Council.



Hopefully, these words might help destory the ideas that are in the heads of some of the other muslims who think these attacks in the U.K. are fine.

Here are some ATS links I should have linked to in the original post:

Why It Makes "Sense" for the Resistance to Target Innoncent Iraqis (not nessecarily the thread in general, but Seekerof has a good collection of links to other threads on point in this thread...)

10 Myths About Islam (Was on ATS, now on BTS.. some good info and (mostly) good discussion...)

Thanks Seekerof and Odium!

EDIT: Also, I should point out that I included a link to the wikipedia article on "fatwa" which provides an overview of what exactly a fatwa is, for those unfamiliar with the term.

-koji K.

[edit on 17-7-2005 by koji_K]

I'm glad to see the Council's declaration, too, but am very puzzled by the reference to atrocities in Palestine and Iraq. What is the connection?

Why are they saying that the English bombers were justifying their action by the atrocities being carried out by the Iraqi insurgents and Hamas? This doesn't seem to make sense.

Objectively, this is very positive for the Muslim Islamic UK community.
People need to realize that Islam does not condone such acts of terrorism.
The bashing of the Islamic religion and Muslims, in general, needs to cease.
Typically, it is easy to think that the actions of a few represent the actions of the majority. That is not true, and this fatwa having been issued proves such, being they are not issued lightly or on a whim.




seekerof

[edit on 17-7-2005 by Seekerof]

AlexofSkye- I think they were referring to such atrocities as Abu Ghraib and various actions of Israeli soldiers, which are used to "justify" extremist actions. This isn't to say that Hamas and suicide bombers in Iraq aren't committing atrocities either, I'm just saying that that is what they were probably referring to.

-koji K.

In my opinion, too little, too late. Should have done it when the British counterterrorism units have been busting al Qaeda or radical cells in Britain since 2001 and discovered plans or actual weapons to commit terrorist acts in the country. Anyone remember the bust on an Islamist Algerian cell trying to produce ricin as a chemical WMD a couple years back? Where was the outrage from the Muslim community upon learning that few of their own people were involved in the ricin-as-weapon production in Manchester?

See the article.

Hello?! What is this?!

London-based Islamic radical called London attacks 'a great victory'

D'oh!

Cleric who defends suicide bombings coming to Britain

HELLOOOO?! Contradictory City!

Koji_K: I know. I was being sarcastic. Although I appreciate the meat of their message, its so sad that they just can't issue an unequivocal, unqualified condemnation, but instead have to make this dubious linkage.

the_oleneo: it's not contradictory... you are looking at the responses of extremists and lumping them in the same category as the bulk of muslims. if a radical christian was caught doing the same sort of stuff, i wouldn't expect the church leaders of whatever denomination he was to speak out on it. why? because it should be blatantly obvious that his actions don't represent the majority. people should be smart enough to make the distinction between radicals and ordinary muslims, and most muslims should be able to take this for granted. it's only when the situation becomes large, as it has in london due to the recent bombings, that some sort of 'official' statement should be expected.

i mean, look at it this way: what is the logical conclusion of your argument.. that the majority of muslims condone terrorism and the killing of innocents? the majority of 1.2 billion of them? the idea is absurd.

-koji K.

Originally posted by AlexofSkye
Koji_K: I know. I was being sarcastic. Although I appreciate the meat of their message, its so sad that they just can't issue an unequivocal, unqualified condemnation, but instead have to make this dubious linkage.

perhaps, but you have to consider the audience.. they were speaking to other muslims, many of whom are outraged at what they percieve as atrocities being committed against them in places like Israel and Iraq. it was "a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down." i think when you look at any religious or political speech, you'll find at least some pandering to the audience... not saying i disagree with you, just that it's quite an extreme thing they've done as it is, and i don't think the non-muslim world should complain..

-koji K.

[edit on 17-7-2005 by koji_K]

Koji_K, you may be right. At least they issued the message. And I think you have a good point with your previous post. Why should all Muslims have to apologize for the criminal few? Its like expecting Christians to apologize for Hitler - when in fact most of us were fighting him.

Originally posted by koji_K
people should be smart enough to make the distinction between radicals and ordinary muslims, and most muslims should be able to take this for granted. it's only when the situation becomes large, as it has in london due to the recent bombings, that some sort of 'official' statement should be expected.

That is fine when you have regular people who doesn't condone the actions of the few who claimed it for Islam (or any other great cause or faith). But when you have "respected" scholars, leaders or clerics coming out praising or applauding such attacks and getting all the media's attention, it's a dang shame that the regular people are not getting their own views to counter them before the media. I've yet to see the regular Muslim folks speaking out individually on terrorist actions but we're getting all the yak-yaks from "respected" scholars, leaders or clerics in the news.

Well what do you know, something positive. It's about time muslims spoke up against this crap in a Fatwa. I bet it never happens here in the USA for whatever reason IMO.

okay guys that fatwa only valid in england and it depend to which sect of ISLAM you are follow with to me it just nonse that ULAMA is just a doll,let say i m sunnah wal jamaah from shafie branch of ISLAM if i want to carry my mission in london or anywhere else not only london sussex,essex maybe then there will be no problem to me

About Freaking time!

Though the sad thing is, if this is more than lip service, these councilmen just made themselves targets as well.

The thugs and gangsters who profit and gain secular power through their wrongly justified evil won't like this.

Actually, ity's more like all Germans having to apologize for Hitler, even generations not yet born. Or of german descent. We are expected to bow down and scrape, or not be proud of our heritage thanks to one madman. All servicemen are expected to apologize for the activites at Abu Gharaib (sp?), and are condemned as a whole. All Americans for the actions of politicians, and in the minds of radical Islam, all Englishmen as well are held accountable.

The Muslim world condemns us as a whole and demands our apologies whenever there's an allegation of an "abuse". They should then expect nothing less than a whole condmenation for the actions of their few as well.

There is nothing the rest of the world can do to fix the poison within Islam, but Islam itself. It must exorcise the poison with the same violence and protest it uses whenver there's a story of a Koran flushing or a prisoner being maltreated. If they choose to remain silent, then they are as responsible, to a man, as they repeatedly claim *we* are.

The double standards stuff has got to end, or western society is doomed.

Originally posted by AlexofSkye
Koji_K, you may be right. At least they issued the message. And I think you have a good point with your previous post. Why should all Muslims have to apologize for the criminal few? Its like expecting Christians to apologize for Hitler - when in fact most of us were fighting him.