L
Lance
Guest
To considerable press fanfare, the Fiqh Council of North America issued a fatwa, denouncing terrorism. The religious edict decreed that “targeting civilians’ life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is forbidden, and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not martyrs.”
What religious authority does the FCNA possess? Does its authority supersede that of say, the imam of the Mosque of Mecca, Sheik Abd-al-Rahman al-Sudays? If so, does the fatwa extend to those the eminent (but unoriginal) imam dubbed “pigs and monkeys” (a synonym for Jews among many Islamic scholars)? This foremost Islamic authority had hateful – and hate-inspiring – words for Hindus and Christians as well. Is that all in the past now that the FCNA has spoken?
The Council on American-Islamic Relations participated in the canned performance. CAIR’s executive director promised that this was “the strongest statement that can be made by the Islamic community.” The Muslim Council of Britain made similar sounds after July 7. We know they were not exactly channeling the British “Islamic community,” of which 6 percent justified the murders, 24 percent sympathized with the murderers, and 14 percent would not rat them out. (Since surveyed subjects tend to give answers that depict them favorably, these results are likely overoptimistic).
And did that Council’s fatwa nullify the opinions of the mayor of London’s favorite “progressive” theologian, Yusuf al-Qaradawi? As Civitas’ David Conway recently reported, the mayor galvanized Qaradawi’s compendious knowledge to draw a sharp “moral distinction” between suicide-bombings against ordinary Londoners (not good) and those against ordinary Israelis (perfectly good).
What religious authority does the FCNA possess? Does its authority supersede that of say, the imam of the Mosque of Mecca, Sheik Abd-al-Rahman al-Sudays? If so, does the fatwa extend to those the eminent (but unoriginal) imam dubbed “pigs and monkeys” (a synonym for Jews among many Islamic scholars)? This foremost Islamic authority had hateful – and hate-inspiring – words for Hindus and Christians as well. Is that all in the past now that the FCNA has spoken?
The Council on American-Islamic Relations participated in the canned performance. CAIR’s executive director promised that this was “the strongest statement that can be made by the Islamic community.” The Muslim Council of Britain made similar sounds after July 7. We know they were not exactly channeling the British “Islamic community,” of which 6 percent justified the murders, 24 percent sympathized with the murderers, and 14 percent would not rat them out. (Since surveyed subjects tend to give answers that depict them favorably, these results are likely overoptimistic).
And did that Council’s fatwa nullify the opinions of the mayor of London’s favorite “progressive” theologian, Yusuf al-Qaradawi? As Civitas’ David Conway recently reported, the mayor galvanized Qaradawi’s compendious knowledge to draw a sharp “moral distinction” between suicide-bombings against ordinary Londoners (not good) and those against ordinary Israelis (perfectly good).
