Mohammad Jamil
Thirty one religious scholars/ulema representing all the sects of Pakistan have unanimously issued fatwa against suicide bombings, extremism, terrorism, armed insurgency against the state, and declared that the use of force in the name of enforcing Shariah as haram or forbidden in Islam. The decree, signed by 31 well-known religious scholars, was issued at a national seminar titled ‘Reconstruction of Pakistani society in the light of ‘Misaq-e-Madina’ (Charter of Madina) and announcement of ‘Paigham-e-Pakistan’ (Message of Pakistan), held at the International Islamic University, Islamabad. Addressing the concluding session of the seminar organised by the Islamic Research Institute of International Islamic University, President Mamnoon Hussain said that Charter of Madina for resolution of the issues had guaranteed the fundamental rights of all citizens. In 2015, at least 200 religious scholars in Pakistan had issued a fatwa terming suicide attacks as “un-Islamic”.
In Islamic faith, fatwa is interpretation from a qualified jurist or mufti with regard to issues pertaining to the Islamic law. It is based on Islamic jurisprudence and religious scriptures in response to a particular case, and is considered binding for all Muslims. Thus fatwa contains interpretation of sharia and becomes a religious ruling for the followers. Those violating the fatwa certainly fall in the category of extravagance or act of infidelity. Violent acts of terrorism especially the suicide bombing are denounced by the entire Muslim world. Non-combatant causalities at the hands of terrorists, ruthless beheading of tribesmen/security personnel, exploitation of ignorant Pakistani youth for suicide attacks and showing disrespect to women were the glaring examples of banned TTP’s un-Islamic practices. Moreover, such acts as denying education to girls, attacking on worshippers in mosques, attacking funerals and mass killing in market places were despicable.
It is an irrefutable fact that Islam is the religion of peace and harmony, and stands for love and affection, moderation and enlightenment and respect for humanity. But the fraternity’s extremist strands have given a handle to the compulsive detractors of our noble religion to depict it as a creed of violence and bloodletting. Terrorists, who claim as true followers of Islamic teachings in fact negate the Islamic teachings of peace, love, humanity and kindness. It is because of those misguided elements that Islam is one of the most misunderstood religions of the world whose real spirit is being intentionally concealed and distorted. It is deplorable fact that some Muslims are also contributing to the flawed perception of Islam due to their ignorance and limited knowledge.
One need not be a religious scholar to know the very simple fact that suicide bombers negate three important perspectives of Islam: One, suicide bombing, as its name suggests, involves suicide of the person to fulfill his agenda, whereas Holy Quran proclaims: “O ye who believe! do not kill yourselves, for truly Allah has been to you Most Merciful.” (Qur’an 4:29). As suicide is forbidden in Islam, so is suicide bombing. Second, suicide bombing mostly involves the murder of many innocent lives while Islam upholds the sanctity of human life and gives the message that killing a person unjustly is the same as killing all of humanity, and saving a person is the same as saving all humanity. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had forbidden his followers to harm innocent women, children, elder persons, noncombatant bystanders, and even trees and crops during war time.
Contrary to the teachings of Islam, terrorists always attempt to exploit the ideological differences of various sects of Muslims. They carry out atrocious activities and resort to repellent rhetoric to hurt the sentiments of divergent sects in the country. To disrupt inter-sect harmony and to ignite sectarian clashes, terrorists targeted congregations and processions of Shia and Sunni community. Taking advantage of the indecisiveness of the political parties for years, their strikes had increased across the country. Unfortunately, some brotherly Muslim countries were involved in funding their respective sects to fight their proxy war on the soil of Pakistan; and enemies of Pakistan saw this turmoil as an opportunity to stir crisis and destabilize Pakistan.
