Posted by
Gabrielle Cusumano on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 4:22:47 PM
"By these Fatwas all terrorists have died, or will die, fully convinced that they will immediately enter Paradise… [These] Fatwas remain the pivotal cause of terrorist acts, which clothe such terrorist acts with legitimacy as being one of the sacred tenets of Muslim faith."
Fatwa to Kill: When Arab liberals take the matter into their own hands
By Abu Khawla (*)
A Fatwa (religious edict) has always been a serious matter for Muslims. Once issued by a noted cleric, it becomes binding for the gullible faithful. And things get particularly scary when it comes to Fatwas that ask people to kill.
During the liberation of Kuwait war, as an example, some clerics called for Jihad against the mainly infidel international alliance force, while some others justified the foreign help on the basis of self defense. Both camps referred to religious texts to justify their edicts. The confusion was taken one step further on September 3, 2004 when Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi -a leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and founding member of Al-Jazeera TV channel- issued a Fatwa which called for the abduction and killing of U.S. citizens in Iraq, military and civilians alike.
This drew a strong reaction, including from clerics in Iraq. And under pressure, Al-Quaradhawi backed off from his earlier statement pretending that he was just calling for resistance against occupation.
Arab Liberals’ counter-attack came on October 24, when a group of intellectuals composed of the Jordanian writer Dr. Shaker Al-Nabulsi, the Tunisian secularist thinker Al-'Afif Al-Akhdhar, and former Iraqi Minister of Planning Dr. Jawad Hashem, published a petition on the Internet, to be sent to the Secretary General of the UN calling for the establishment of an international tribunal which would prosecute religious clerics that issue Fatwas calling for murder. The call is consistent with the UN Security Council Resolution 1566, which called for “practical measures to be imposed upon individuals, groups, or entities involved in or associated with terrorist activities."
The petition went on to say: "we, the signatories of this letter, a group of Arab and Muslim liberals, would like to draw your attention to an extremely dangerous source of terrorism. This source is the purported religious pronouncements Fatwas issued by some psychotic members of dogmatic Muslims encouraging the commission of terrorist acts in the name of and under the banner of Islam…It is not enough for the Security Council to adopt resolutions 'condemning' terrorism. What will be more effective is the establishment of an International Tribunal affiliated to the UN organization for the prosecution of individuals, groups, or entities involved, directly or indirectly, with terrorist activities including, but not limited to Fatwas issued by religious clerics in the name of Islam calling upon Muslims to commit terrorist acts. By these Fatwas all terrorists have died, or will die, fully convinced that they will immediately enter Paradise… [These] Fatwas remain the pivotal cause of terrorist acts, which clothe such terrorist acts with legitimacy as being one of the sacred tenets of Muslim faith."
So far the petition was signed by more than three thousand Arabs from all walks of life. But what is more important is its psychological impact on Arab public opinion. A debate has already started on the Arab liberals Web site Elaph.com. Few opponents, mostly of Islamist background, argued that it is the lack of democracy that has been responsible for breeding terror, hence the urgent need is to establish democracy. The counter-argument was, however, that (1) in many countries in Asia, Africa and South America there is (or was) lack of democracy, but without leading to the type of terror we are witnessing in this part of the world, and (2) there is no harm in claiming for both the prosecution of clerics inciting for murder and for the establishment of democracy and human rights.
As things stand at the writing of this article, opponents of the petition seem to have lost both the debate and the audience. This may herald for a better future for the Arab/secularist movement, which was marginalized and for so long.
(*) The author is a human rights activist and former Chair of the Tunisian section of Amnesty International. His current research focus is on Islamist terror and how to defeat it (E-mail: Abu451@hotmail,.com).
http://www.metransparent.com/texts/abu_khawla_fatwa_to_kill.htm