Fatwa on Terrorism - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Fatwa on Terrorism is a 600-page (Urdu version), 512-page (English version) Islamic decree by scholar Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri which demonstrates from the Quran and Sunnah that terrorism and suicide bombings are so unjust that their evil is un-Islamic. The English edition was published in the UK by Minhaj-ul-Quran Publications. Qadri released the fatwa on 2 March 2010. This fatwa

Fatwa

A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...

is a direct refutation of the ideology of Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...

and the Taliban. It is one of the most extensive Islamic anti-terrorism rulings, an "absolute" condemnation of terrorism without "any excuses or pretexts" which goes further than ever and declares that terrorism

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

is kufr

KUFR

KUFR is a radio station broadcasting a Christian radio format. Licensed to Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, the station serves the Salt Lake City area. The station is currently owned by Family Stations, Inc....

under Islamic law

Sharia

Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...

. The launch was organised by Minhaj-ul-Quran UK

Minhaj-ul-Quran UK

Minhaj-ul-Quran UK is the UK branch of the moderate and inclusive Minhaj-ul-Quran International education and welfare organisation based in London. MQI started its work in the United Kingdom in 1986 and held its first international conference at Wembley Arena, London. Its first official centre was...

. Qadri said during the launch that "Terrorism is terrorism, violence is violence and it has no place in Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it, or any kind of excuses or ifs or buts."
The fatwa received widespread media attention and was positively covered by the international press.

According to CNN, experts see the fatwa as a significant blow to terrorist recruiting. CNN's Amanpour

Amanpour

Amanpour was a news program hosted by Christiane Amanpour. It last aired on April 30, 2010 as Ms Amanpour resigned her position as CNN's chief international correspondent to work for rival network ABC's This Week. The show featured interviews with top news makers on current events...

show added the fatwa summary to its website and declared it to be fatwa for peace. while the US State Department declares the fatwa to be significant step in taking Islam back from terrorists.

Douglas Murray

Douglas Murray (author)

Douglas Murray is a British writer and commentator who was the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion from 2007 until 2011 and is currently an associate director of the Henry Jackson Society. Murray appears regularly in the British broadcast media, commentating on issues from a conservative...

has also supported the Fatwa on Terrorism in an article published by the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...

.

ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

news channel questioned the credibility of the fatwa and asks if it was not by the British government because senior counter-terrorism

Counter-terrorism

Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...

officials from Scotland Yard

Scotland Yard

Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...

and MI5

MI5

The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...

were present at the launch.

The 512-page English book version of the fatwa — Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings — (London: Minhaj-ul-Quran, 2011. ISBN: 13-978-0-95518-889-3) has a foreword by John Esposito

John Esposito

John Louis Esposito is a professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University...

and an introduction by Joel Hayward

Joel Hayward

Joel S.A. Hayward , is a New Zealand-born "noted scholar of war and strategy" who has worked in the United Kingdom since 2004.He is best known for his published books and articles on military matters, including the use of air power, his 2003 biography of Horatio Lord Nelson, and his writing and...

, both of whom share Qadri's scholarly assessment that, regardless of any intention, the evil of terrorism remains evil and must be exposed, opposed and condemned.

The Fatwa on Terrorism has been officially endorsed by Al-Azhar University

Al-Azhar University

Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...

in Cairo, Egypt. In January 2011, the fatwa was discussed at the World Economic Forum

World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....

Annual Meeting 2011. In June 2011, Pope Benedict XVI received a copy of the fatwa from representatives of Minhaj Interfaith Relations. The Pope reportedly appreciated that it promoted peace, harmony and interfaith dialogue.

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