Newark, Delaware

  On March 2nd, 2010 Dr. Muhammed Tahir ul-Qadri, a very prominent religious scholar from Pakistan has issued a Fatwa, which he himself described as historic, against terrorism and terrorists. This is neither the first, and may not be the last Fatwa against terrorism. But it certainly might be the longest and most comprehensive one. There have been several prominent Fatawah (plural) issued by Muslim scholars and institutions against terrorism in the past and Dr. Qadri summarizes many of the medieval and classical ones. The Fatwa of India’s most prominent Islamic madrasah Darul-Ulloom Deoband in 2008 and the Fatwa by the highest Islamic legal body of American Muslims in 2005 were similar initiatives but they did not garner the media attention Dr. Qadri has received.

Dr. Qadri is a prominent mega-Imam who enjoys a large popular following. He also happens to be well ensconced in the traditional Islamic heritage. His is clearly a loud voice of the hitherto silent majority. Dr. Qadri and his large following constitute the mainstream of Muslims in Pakistan and in the Pakistani diaspora. Those who are engaged in extremist violence and those who sympathize with them belong to a more recent salafi trend. This trend is a recent transplant in South Asia and does not have deep roots in the region. In principle the traditionalists given their overwhelming majority and deep historical and institutional roots, should be able to prevail easily over the extremist voices now causing such turmoil in that land.

Dr. Qadri’s long 600 pages Fatwa is essentially an encyclopedic compilation of the fiqh of the use of force. It basically accumulates all the various jurisprudential positions advanced by Muslim scholars and jurists of different schools and provides a comprehensive overview of the various normative and ethical limitations that derivatives from Islamic sources have placed on the legitimate use of force.

There is nothing new in Dr. Qadri’s tome and that is a good thing. He is not advancing new interpretations of Islamic sources, nor is he trying to reinvent the wheel. His contribution is to show that not only does Islam prohibit terrorism it condemns the terrorist to hell. He also shows how Muslims have long held suicide as a forbidden act. Islam has always done this from the beginning. The collection of the various opinions of classical scholars too demonstrates the extent and depth of Islam’s prohibition of the use of force against civilians, against women, and against children.

The extremists and their sympathetic scholars, I am confident, will not be able to produce a document that could trump Dr. Qadri’s Fatwa. The extremist scholars in the Muslim World have relied basically on two elements to advance their radical agenda. One, they have exploited the widespread theological illiteracy of Muslims to advance out of context and unprecedented new interpretations and justifications for the principle of Jihad to legitimize their crusade against the West and its allies. Two, they have benefitted from the anger that Muslims have been feeling against the various military attacks and occupations by Western armies of Muslim lands in the past two centuries. Add to this the endless suffering of the Palestinians, Iraqis, Afpak civilians at the hands of Western forces and you begin to comprehend why so many of the Muslim youth embraced the un-Islamic interpretations of Islamic sources by radicals clerics.

Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri’s Fatwa against terrorism might actually have an impact. It is comprehensive, direct, does not dodge any issue. It has come at a time when there is very strong abhorrence for terrorism, specially in Pakistan and it will strip terrorists of what little legitimacy they might be still enjoying in the eyes of Muslims who fear that Islam is under attack by Western powers.

Is Dr. Qadri’s Fatwa a magic bullet that will erode all anger, frustration and resentment; certainly not. Will it engender a widespread loathing for the use of terrorism as a tactics, most certainly yes, if it is given sustained attention by the media. In Pakistan, Dr. Qadri’s reputation, the growing anger against terrorists for their indiscriminate violence against mosques and against Muslims, will all combine to give the Fatwa a chance to marginalize the extremists. Hopefully their supporters will either rethink their politics or at least abstain from openly and actively supporting the culture of violence.

The author and his institution also hope that the perception held by some in the West that Islam is the cause of terrorism will be corrected. I am however less sanguine about this. Those in the West who argue that moderate Muslims are not opposing terrorism or those who insist that terrorism is a consequence of Islamic values are motivated by political interests and are clearly Islamophobic. They will not change their mind. However those who are still unaware that most Muslims condemn terrorists and that there is nothing in Islam that supports terrorism may perhaps become enlightened as a result of this Fatwa.

Regardless of its impact on Western perceptions; if this Fatwa raises even an iota of doubt in the hearts of those who see no other way but egregious violence as a means to alter the condition of the Muslim Ummah, it should be considered a success. We must remember that the battle against extremism is not limited to the arena of discourse. For extremism to disappear a change of discourse about Islam must be accompanied by changes in political opportunities and economic realities. A Fatwa can influence perceptions directly, but its impact on reality is only indirect.

Nevertheless this Fatwa is a good thing. It will advance the cause against terrorism.

A great article and a courageous and necessary act on the part of this cleric. However, paragraph five outlines some very legitimate grievances that drive many to extremism. Without these issues being equally recognized and addressed by the west, this situation can be nothing more than a stalemate. If the policies of the west continue as they have, then the fatwa just sounds like .... Let the west do what it wants and shut up and be good little slaves.

Aken: Two centuries? How long does it take to decide to let bygones be bygones?

Well maybe it's a matter of, I'll forgive you for sticking your finger in my eye ... as soon as you get it OUT of my damn eye!

In related news, currently in Nigeria the victims of an apparent massacre by Muslim herdsman have been buried in mass graves. Some reports have the death toll reaching as high as 500. Most were hacked to death after being incapacitated in laid out traps and nets. Of course this sounds like an act of premeditated murder rather than a case of random, spontaneous violence. One detail from the event caught my attention: There are many bodies of murdered toddlers (that are currently awaiting identification or burial) in local morgues. Their frail bodies and hacked off limbs were initially found literally tangled together.

One can only guess how this "tragedy" will be classified in the coming days. These are probably the kinds of questions people will be asking (esp. in Nigeria).

"Is it sectarian violence?"
"Is it a war crime?"
"Is this an act of genocide?"
"Is this a campaign of terrorism against the non-muslim populations in Nigeria?

The only comment I can think to say in the face of this horror is this... it is a shame the suspected killers didn't get Muhammed Tahir ul-Qadri's memo.

Currently the Nigerian government says it will pursue and prosecute the responsible parties. Unfortunately I think this act will remain largely unsolved and un-avenged like so many acts of violence in Pakistan. But at least in Pakistan they have a healthy president...

Details on the ailing Nigerian President:
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Nigerian-Minister-Fears-Instability-Over-Presidents-Ill-Health-85956462.html

Details on the mass murder story can be found here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-nigeria-violence9-2010mar09,0,1624783.story

Does anyone know if there's a full English text of the fatwa or a detailed summary online?

Akena >>> Well maybe it's a matter of, I'll forgive you for sticking your finger in my eye ... as soon as you get it OUT of my damn eye!

lol ... so true ... so hard for some to accept.

Crow >>> The only comment I can think to say in the face of this horror is this... it is a shame the suspected killers didn't get Muhammed Tahir ul-Qadri's memo.

Without a doubt, the situation in Nigeria is terrible. But what you've done is yet again personalize one set of deaths and unwittingly spat on another set because you do not consider Muslim life equal to Christian life. They call it ethnic violence because ehtnicity is the prime distinguisher of the sides of conflict. I know its probably hard for you to think of different ethnicities of blacks. Even in a tiny country of 150 million people.

Because I know you're fair-minded, I suggest you google "Muslims killed in Nigeria" and start trolling the Christian sites with equal veracity. Maybe Voice of America didn't cover other events, but I assure you you can depend on other news sources just as much. You have to love when people with a selective conscience suddenly start moralizing.

http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Muslims+killed+Nigeria/2479178/story.html

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/africa/view/20100123group_150_muslims_killed_in_nigerian_town/

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/01/201012314018187505.html

http://newsone.com/world/associated-press/rights-worker-claims-civilians-being-killed-in-nigeria/

http://english.islamstory.com/news.php?id=834

To Ghulam:

Gee, where do I begin?

First off I want to assure you I have known for years that Africa (genetically speaking) is one of the most ethnically diverse places on the planet.

Second, I have a small confession. Not to get too personal but it would be fair to say I am at least a few shades darker than a celebrity like Tiger Woods (a good visual example, not a good moral one). So I have the capability of imagining many ethnic groups in Nigeria... I even sometimes read about them!

Third, here is a short list of news organizations/publications/blogs that I often read (I don't even read Voice of America that much)

New York Times, Washington Times, Washington Post, National Review, Slate, Salon, Christian Science Monitor, The Nation, The Independent (UK), The Guardian (UK), DAWN (Pakistan), The Daily Times (Pakistan), Newsweek, Time, Huffington Post, Politico, The Boston Globe, The U.S. News and World Report, Antiwar.com, Weekly Standard, CNN, Globe and Mail (Canada), Sydney Morning Herald, BBC, Asian Times and allAfrica.com.

I just want everyone to be clear that I am not someone who only finds out about world events and history from Glenn Beck and Human Events.

Fourth: I can't deny that ethnicity is not a major component of the ongoing "troubles" in Nigeria, but I did manage to find this article which does detail the strong sectarian aspect of the violence. The article is very interesting in that some of the interviewed subjects are suspected participants in the most recent killings (or were members of the victimized communities). The article is an illuminating/diverse portrait of a night of premeditated murder.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/world/africa/11nigeria.html

Admittedly as an avowed secularist who does not practice a specific faith, I still struggle to understand the irrational animosity between religious sects (esp. ones with similar belief systems). Here are a few excerpts from the article.

"The man, Dahiru Adamu, 25, was crouching on the floor in the sprawling police headquarters here, summoned to give an accounting of the terrible night of March 7, when, he said, he and dozens of other herdsmen descended on a slumbering village just south of here and slaughtered hundreds with machetes, knives and cutlasses in a brutal act of sectarian retribution."

"On Wednesday, the mood in Jos was tense among Muslim traders, who complained of a sharp drop in business, and it was anything but forgiving among Christians. They complained that Muslims wanted to supplant “indigenes” — Christians long native to the region.

"Some people want to be rulers everywhere,” said Yohanna Yatou, a businessman. “It’s the Muslims. They said they are born to rule.”

P.S. Ghulam: I have already read some of the articles you have listed. And I don't spit on the deaths of victims of violence (neither literally or metaphorically). I am well aware of similar outrages by suspected Christian killers in Nigeria. I think its a given that hacking up hundreds of women and the kids tugging on their dresses is a horrible, unforgivable thing to do... regardless of a person's religious affiliation.

But getting back to the original subject of the posting about the anti-terrorism fatwa there is one question I would like to pose:

Does anyone have an idea on how Dr. Muhammed Tahir ul-Qadri message can be effectively distributed/spread in a country like Nigeria for maximum effect? I personally think it may have the potential of mitigating the scale of the carnage in that troubled nation.

>>> P.S. Ghulam: I have already read some of the articles you have listed. And I don't spit on the deaths of victims of violence

Rather unironically, you still can't stop putting false baggage of terrorism or religion on another unrelated event. Where you could have just as easily pointed out that the issue was economic, environmental and socio-political (i.e. non-ideological and objective basis of judgement ~ yes your secularism is ideology).

Your racial profile means little when you claim to be a devout secularist. Your preference for the broad brush of terrorism and anti-muslimism is not actually a sincere consideration for the issue at hand in Nigeria. Just more anti-Islamic propoganda and bigotry looking for every half-baked intellectual platform to materialise.

So NO, I don't expect you correct misinformation or balance bias from the side of the New York times. I don't think you post similar messages against Christianity on Christian discussion sites. I don't think that for all your internet readings, that you appreciate the food security situation in the region or human rights abuses by the state, sectarian divisions in institutions of government or even the presence of international crime cartels in Nigeria that prostitute young girls to paedophiles from Europe and the US. Because you're just on an anti-religion trip.

“This is a Christian, an indigene,” said Moussa Ismail, pointing to his friend sitting next to him on a downtown stoop, Jacob Ayuba. “We have done business for more than 20 years. How would I attack him?”

Tahir ul-Qadri's message against terrorism does not apply in Nigeria because the incident in Jos is NOT terrorism. You can NOT seem to bring yourself to be objective. You're a victim of your own religious issues. You could have also objectively looked at the actions of all these prestigious institutions and Muslims scholars, and went to American institutions and pressed for the same commitment to non-violence and human rights. But I don't think your heart would be in that!