Muslim Scholars Opose the Harming of Civilians: CEN 9.14.07 p 8 September 13, 2007
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, Islam.trackback
Islam forbids the kidnapping of civilians, holding them hostage, harming or threatening them, Sunni leaders from the Al-Azhar in Cairo said last month.
In an Aug 9 article printed in the Arabic language London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, the six Al-Azhar sheiks stated Islamic law forbad actions taken by groups such as the Talaban and other Islamist terror cells against civilians.
Considered the premier Sunni Islamic center of scholarship, the leaders of the Al-Azhar guide the interpretation of religious law for Egypt and influence much of the regions’ religious jurisprudence.
Asked whether Islam permits the taking of civilian hostages, Dr. Ja’far ‘Abd Al-Salam, secretary-general of the Union of Islamic Universities and former vice-president of Al-Azhar University, said “Islam does not permit actions of this kind, which contradict the principles of justice and compassion.”
“It would be a profound offense to Islam and to the Muslims if Islam became associated with actions of this sort,” he said, according to a translation provided by MEMRI.
Dr. Ahmad ‘Abd Al-Rahim Al-Sayih, a professor at Al-Azhar and a member of the High Commission on Islamic Affairs in Cairo, said the Talaban’s kidnapping of foreigners was “contrary to the tenets of Islam and has no support in the Koran or the hadith.”
Citing the verse “We have honored the children of Adam”, Koran 17:7- Dr. Al-Sayih said that God had “honored all human beings and it is therefore forbidden to do anything that violates a person’s honor, including kidnapping and holding hostages.”
These “barbaric practices” were un-Islamic, he said.
The Muslim clerics’ condemnation of Islamist tactics in their war against the West, Western Muslim scholars note, highlights the argument that Islamist terrorists have turned religion to their own ends, perverting it into a political instrument, and are as great a threat to “moderate” Muslim leaders as they are to the West.
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