Author: Aamer Ahmed Khan
Publication: BBC News
Date: July 23, 2005
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4711003.stm
[Note from the Hindu Vivek Kendra:
So, in the end, the responsibility for the Islamic terrorism lies
entirely with the West. Please see the last two paragraphs
of this 'explanation'.]
Pakistan's top Muslim clerics have
said it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to preach the real
concept of jihad, or holy war, to young Muslims.
"The situation in Iraq, Afghanistan
and Palestine is radicalising young people," says Mufti Rafi Usmani, one
of Pakistan's highest-ranking clerics.
"And an angry young man is in no-one's
control," he said.
Other high-ranking Islamic scholars
have also endorsed these views.
Circumstances for jihad
Mufti Rafi Usmani heads Darul Uloom
Karachi, one of Pakistan's most respected religious schools, or madrassas.
"Islam does not allow killing of
innocent civilians and non-combatants under any circumstances," he said
in an interview with the BBC News website.
Asked to explain the concept of
jihad as expounded in mainstream Islamic thought, Mufti Usmani said it
had been laid down in great detail precisely to avoid any confusion.
"To begin with, jihad is not incumbent
on all Muslims and a call for jihad can be given only under special circumstances,"
he said.
Islamic scholars - or ulema - agree
that injunctions explaining the circumstances for jihad and the people's
conduct during jihad constitute the core principles of the doctrine.
According to three top scholars
interviewed by the BBC News website, jihad can only be called in the following
circumstances:
* If a Muslim community comes under
attack, then jihad becomes an obligation for all Muslims, male and female,
in that community
* If that particular community feels
it cannot fight off attackers on its own, then jihad becomes incumbent
on Muslims living in nearby communities
* If a Muslim ruler of a country
calls for jihad, then it is incumbent upon the Muslims living under that
ruler to join the jihad.
Jihad 'not obligatory'
Mufti Usmani says that even in such
circumstances, jihad is obligatory only on as many Muslims as are required
to defend the community under attack.
"If Pakistan is attacked but its
army is sufficient to deal with the threat, then Pakistani civilians are
under no obligation to join jihad," he said.
The second principle relates to
the conduct of the jihadis. Under no circumstances are Muslims allowed
to attack women, children, the old and the meek, the sick, those that are
praying and civilians, say these ulema.
Muslim militants argue that if innocent
Muslims are killed in enemy action then Muslims are allowed to kill innocent
people in retaliation.
But clerics strongly disagree with
this line of thinking, arguing that Islam does not allow Muslims to respond
to "a mistake" by another mistake.
"Islam is absolutely clear on this
issue. Two wrongs do not make a right," Mufti Usmani said.
"If they feel that the US or the
UK are killing innocent civilians in Iraq or Afghanistan, it does not give
them the right to kill innocent citizens in London or New York," he said.
Honouring commitments
Dr Sikander, who heads Jamia Binoria
in Karachi, says the Muslims have their options clearly cut out under Islam
if they do not agree with the foreign policy of those countries where they
are living.
Jamia Binoria is credited with producing
several students who later took to militancy. The founder of the now banned
Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, Maulana Masood Azhar, is also said to
have attended this seminary.
Dr Sikander says that should Muslims
feel that their country of residence is doing something terribly wrong,
then all they can do is to leave the country.
"If an Iraqi living in London is
outraged over Britain's role in what is happening in Iraq, then he should
go to Iraq and fight the coalition forces there," he said.
"Nothing gives him the right to
hit back at innocent civilians living in the UK."
Pakistani clerics say that the doctrine
evolves from the fundamental Islamic principle of honouring commitments.
"When a Muslim visits a Western
country or if he is living there, then he is under a kind of a contractual
obligation to abide by the law of that land," explains Mufti Usmani.
"Islam is so strict about honouring
commitments that a commitment cannot be revoked unilaterally even in times
of battle."
Mufti Akram Kashmiri, the head of
Jamia Ashrafia in Lahore - another top madrassa whose students have risen
to top posts in various Islamic countries - says that the existing circumstances
are making it extremely difficult for the ulema to preach this message
to disaffected Muslim youth.
"Angry young Muslims are no longer
satisfied with this doctrine," he says.
"That is why they go around to all
kinds of ulema with dubious credentials to seek religious sanctions to
deal with the rising tide of anger inside them," he says.
These ulema are convinced that the
solution to terrorism no longer lies in the hands of the Muslim world or
the clerics.
The West, they say, must seek a
resolution of all the conflicts involving the Muslim world and hit at the
root causes that have spawned terrorism all over the world.
