Issues and Questions

Terrorism: A Crime against Allah and Humanity

By Dr Muzammil H. Siddiqi

On account of that we prescribed to the Children of Israel that anyone who kills any person without another soul being involved or for causing mischief in the land, acts as if he had killed all mankind. Any one who spares life acts as if he had granted life to all mankind. Our Messengers have brought them explanations; then later on many of them committed excesses on earth.
(Al-Ma’idah 5:32)
There cannot be any stronger statement condemning violence and wanton killing of the innocent civilians than this verse of the Qur’an. Allah says that He gave this message to the Children of Israel long time ago and then through the Qur’an He reminded Muslims and all humanity that each and every human life is precious and must be protected. Killing of any innocent person is a sin against all humanity. Protecting the life of any person is like saving the life of all mankind. Allah says that He sent many Prophets and Messengers to human beings with clear signs to remind them and warn them; but many people after receiving guidance became corrupt and began committing excesses on earth.
Last week there were two major international conferences: one in Doha, Qatar and the other in Amman, Jordan. I attended the Doha conference which was attended by about 90 Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars and leaders. The theme of the conference was interfaith dialogue and building relations among the people of faith, especially among Muslims, Christians and Jews.
For two days the scholars emphasized the need for dialogue, understanding and building of good relations. Many important resolutions were adopted to continue this work. A permanent center for Interfaith Dialogue is now established in Qatar.
Few days later in Amman, Jordan another conference was held. It brought together 170 Muslim scholars of various Islamic schools and Madhahib to emphasize unity and harmony among all Muslims and to take a unified stand against all forms of extremism, hate and violence.
While we were happy with this positive work and were looking forward that more and more progress will be made in the direction of peace, dialogue and understanding, our hopes were dashed with the sudden and tragic news of the terrorist attack in London on the morning of July 7, 2005. About 37 innocent people died and several hundred were reported injured. It is claimed that some hereto unknown Muslim group on a website took responsibility of this horrible crime. Now this news has overshadowed all positive efforts and works. The evil has a way to make us all sad and unhappy; but I am confident that the evil will not succeed and will not deter us from continuing our efforts to bring peace and better understanding among all people.
I want to emphasize that we condemn absolutely and forcefully this crime of terrorism that occurred in London as we have condemned before all other crimes of terrorism. We say to us and to every one else that aggression, violence and terrorism have no place in our faith. Those who commit such acts of evil and use the name of Islam are rejected by us. We do not consider them true representatives of our religion. We condemn them and we condemn their evil acts. We do not tolerate such behavior for any reason and cannot accept any justification for the killing of the innocent. This is against all norms and human values and this is indeed against the teachings of Islam.
All major Muslim organizations in England, Europe and here in United States have condemned those who committed this act of terrorism. I as the Chairman of the Shura Council of Southern California issued a press-release on behalf of all the Islamic centers, mosques and organizations in Southern California. We gave statements to the press, sent our condolences to the British people through their Consulate in Los Angeles. We joined a press conference with MPAC in Los Angeles and here at the Islamic Society of Orange County we held a Press Conference. This Press Conference was organized by the Shura Council, CAIR, some interfaith leaders and law enforcement Officials, including the FBI, to reiterate our condemnation of the London terrorist attack of July 7.
We express our deepest sympathies for the victims and their families. Our prayers are with them. May God bless them and bless all those who are victims of aggression and violence anywhere in the world. We pray that God expose the real faces of the criminals and help the authorities to apprehend them and bring them to justice. We pray that God bless us all to live with justice, peace, goodwill and understanding among all people of our global village. We urge all people to show understanding, not to overreact and not to resort to any generalization.
We pray to Allah to bless us all, bless our families and keep us all on the path of faith, loving kindness and virtues. Ameen.
(Khutbah at ISOC – Jumada al-Thani 1, 1426/ July 8, 2005)

- DrSiddiqi@aol.com

Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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