the fatwa

From the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) comes this email, written by Dr. Parvez Ahmad:

Why are some Muslims willing to kill in the name of their faith, despite clear Islamic injunctions against committing such heinous acts? The debate usually boils down to "they hate us" versus "they hate our policies."

Robert Pape in his new book, "Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism," suggests that that terrorism has little to do with the teachings of any religion but is rather a response, albeit a criminal one, to policies that condone occupations.

Here's the money shot:

This explanation, while credible, does not absolve the perpetrators of their crimes. Islam, like other faiths, allows for defensive war against combatants but unequivocally forbids the killing of civilians.  (Italics mine.)

In this spirit, a group of American imams has issued a fatwa forbidding terrorism as un-Islamic.  As the New York Times observes, this edict

reiterates previous anti-terrorism statements many American Muslim leaders and organizations have repeatedly issued in recent years.

CAIR provides this list of organizations endorsing the anti-terror fatwa (warning:  .pdf file may trigger Adobe Reader pestware.)   

Most American Muslim leaders have been firm and consistent in their condemnation of terrorism.  Contrast this with the reaction of two Christian leaders, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson - who, in case we need to remind you, approvingly spoke of the 9/11 attacks in this manner:

FALWELL:  ... what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact -- if, in fact -- God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.

ROBERTSON:  Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.

FALWELL:  The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this ... and, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."

ROBERTSON:  Well, I totally concur.

It's four years later, and I'm still waiting for that list of Fundamentalist Christian leaders condemning these statements. (So-called "liberal" Christians - that is, non-extremists - spoke up immediately.)  I'm still waiting for that list of Fundamentalist Christians who condemn the terror, violence, and murder at abortion clinics.   I'm waiting for that list of Fundamentalist Christians to condemn the implicit threats made against American judges, and to condemn the adulterer Randall Terry for trying to mail a dead fetus to the President of the United States.

Rather than condemn Islam as a "hate religion," they might find the humility the Bible implores them to have.  If so, they could learn from their Muslim colleagues how to have the guts, and the spirituality, to stand up for God and against terror.

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P. S.  CAIR is giving out free copies of the Quran.   I think every American home should have one, since our destiny is now so entwined with Islam.   Like the Bible, it contains much that sounds harsh to us, but reflects deep spirituality and nourishing beauty.  Here's an excerpt from the "Light Sura":

His light may be compared to a lamp held in a niche;
the lamp within a glass, the glass like a radiant star;
lit from a blessed tree,
an olive tree that is neither
of the east nor of the west.
Its oil would nearly give light
even without the touch of fire.

Light upon light! God guides to His light
him that wills (to be guided).
God propounds parables for men,
since God alone has full knowledge of all things.

Comments

[mondo]

Very well done, though I would add a few more choice quotes from Falwell, Dobson, Robeson, and Robertson.