Where are the Muslim voices?

1

• Where are the Muslim voices?
• The following is a partial listing of Muslim
  scholars and organizations who have issued fatwas
  against extremism and terrorism.
• Muslim voices are loud and clear, they are simply
  ignored.

2
FATWAS BY MUSLIM SCHOLARS Abdulkadir, Dr. Deina
FCNA (U.S.) Fatwa against terrorism 7/05
Abdullah, Sh. M. Nur, FCNA (U.S.) minority
rights apostasy 3/06 Abdullah, Shaikh Muhammad
Nur (U.S.) FCNA Fatwa against terrorism 7/05 al
Abidin, Ali Zain al Jifri Renowned Islamic
Scholar (Yemen) 2/06 Danish cartoons Al-Akiti,
Shaykh Muhammad Afifi against killing civilians
6/05 Amjad, Moiz Refutation of bin Ladens
defense of terrorism (Pakistan) al Alwani,
Shaykh Taha Jabir (U.S.) against 9/11 attack 9/01
Al Alwani, Dr. Taha Jabir (U.S.) FCNA Fatwa
against terrorism 7/05 Al Alwani, Shaikhah
Zainab (U.S.) FCNA Fatwa against terrorism 7/05
al Alwini, Muhammad Head of European Academy of
Islamic Culture Sciences, Brussels (Belgium)
2/06 Danish cartoons al Awda, Salman General
Supervisor of Islam Today Institution (Saudi
Arabia) 2/06 Danish cartoons Al-Awdah, Shaykh
Salman (Saudi Arabia) condemns terrorism 5/03 Al
Azhari, Muhammad Akhtar Rida Head of Barelwi
Ulama (India) 2/06 Danish cartoons Al Bouti,
Muhammad Saeed Ramadan Department Chair of
Theology, University of Damascus (Syria) 2/06
Danish cartoons Al Hanooti, Shaikh Muhammad
(U.S.) FCNA Fatwa against terrorism 7/05
al-Hanooti, Sheikh Muhammad Ali - against 9/11
(U.S.) 9/01 al-Hitar, Judge Hamoud (Yemen) he
and four other Islamic scholars used Quran to
challenge Al Qaedas views on terror 2/05 Al
Husary, Yasmin Mahmud Khalil Head of Husary
Islamic Foundation (Egypt) 2/06 Danish cartoons
al Jundi, Khalid Renowned Islamic Scholar
(Egypt) 2/06 Danish cartoons Al Kahlawi, Abla
Muhammad Dean of Islamic Arabic Studies College
at Azhar University, Port Said (Egypt) 2/06
Danish cartoons Al Khalili, Ahmad bin Hamad
General Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman (Oman)
2/06 Danish cartoons al Kubaysi, Ahmad Renowned
Islamic spokesperson (Iraq) 2/06 Danish cartoons
al Luheidan, Shaikh Saleh Chairman of the
Supreme Judicial Council (Saudi Arabia) against
9/11 9/01 Al Mansur, Muhammad bin Muhammad
Islamic Scholar of the Zaydi branch(Yemen) 2/06
Danish cartoons al Mazrui, Hamdan Muslim
Assistant Undersecretary for Islamic Affairs in
Ministry of Endowments (UAE) 2/06 Danish cartoons
Al Milibari, Abu Bakr Ahmad Secretary General of
Ahl al Sunna Association (India) 2/06 Danish
cartoons Al Mashur, Abu Bakr al Adani bin Ali
General Director of Islamic Tarbiya League
(Yemen) 2/06 Danish cartoons Al-Munajid, Shaykh
Muhammad, against violence Al Mutawwaa, Jasim
Head of Iqra Satellite Channel (Kuwait) 2/06
Danish cartoons Al Qadiri, Muhammad Tahir
Founder of Minhaj ul Quran International
Organization (Pakistan) 2/06 Danish cartoons al
Qaradawi, Shaykh Yusuf (Qatar) against 9/11
attack 9/01 Al-Qaradawi, Shaykh Yusuf condemns
Bali attacks 10/02 al-Qaradawi, Shaykh Yusuf -
against harming places of worship (specifically a
Jewish synagogue) 4/02 al Qarni, Aid Renowned
Islamic Scholar (Saudi Arabia) 2/06 Danish
cartoons Al Qudat, Nuh Ali Salman Renowned
scholar of Jordan, former Mufti of the Jordanian
Army (Jordan) 2/06 Danish cartoons al Sabil,
Shaykh Muhammad bin Abdallah member of the
Council of Senior Religious Scholars (Saudi
Arabia) against terrorism, obligation to protect
non Muslims 12/01 Agence France Press al Saffar,
Hasan Shiite Islamic Spokesperson (Saudi Arabia)
2/06 Danish cartoons Al-Sudeis, Sheikh
Abdulrahman (Saudi Arabia) tells 2 million
pilgrims at Hajj that violence is not justified
by Islam 1/05 al Suweidan, Tariq Renowned
Islamic Spokesperson (Kuwait) 2/06 Danish
cartoons Al Tantawi, Shaykh Muhammed Sayyid Imam
of al Azhar Mosque (Egypt) against 9/11 attack
9/01 Al-Tantawi, Sheikh Muhammad Syed (Egypt)
Condemned suicide bombings against Israeli
civilians, and all terrorism 12/01 Alush Shaykh,
Shaykh Abdul Aziz Grand Mufti (Saudi Arabia)
against 9/11 attack 9/01 Alush Shaykh, Shaykh
Abdul AzizGrand Mufti (Saudi Arabia) against
suicide terrorism 5/01 al Zuhayli, Wahba
Department Chair of Islamic Jurisprudence,
College of Islamic Law, Damascus University
(Syria) 2/06 Danish cartoons Awwa, Muhammad S
(Egypt) against 9/11 attack 9/01 Badawi, Jamal
FCNA (U.S.) minority rights apostasy 3/06
Badawi, Dr. Jamal (U.S.) FCNA Fatwa against
terrorism 7/05 Bagby, Dr. Ihsan (U.S.) FCNA
Fatwa against terrorism 7/05 Bakri, Shaykh Omar
leader of al Muhajirun (a radical group)
(England) against 9/11 If Islamists did itand
most likely it is Islamists, because of the
nature of what happenedthen they have fully
misunderstood the teachings of Islam. ... Even
the most radical of us have condemned this. I am
always considered to be a radical in the Islamic
world and even I condemn it. 9/01 Bayyoumi,
Abdel Motei al Azhar Islamic Research Academy,
Cairo (Egypt) against 9/11 attack 9/01 Bayyah,
Abdullah bin Professor in King Abdalaziz
University Jeddah (Mauritania) 2/06 Danish
cartoons Belkaziz, Dr. AbdelaouahedSecretary
General of the OIC against 9/11 attack 9/01
Bishri, Tariq (Egypt) against 9/11 attack 9/01
Fadaq, Abdullah Renowned Islamic Spokesperson
(Saudi Arabia) 2/06 Danish cartoons Fadlallah,
Muhammad Husayn Renowned Shiite Scholar (Lebanon)
2/06 Danish cartoons Fadlallah, Muhammad Husayn
Renowned Shiite Scholar (Lebanon) against 9/11
9/01 Faqih, Kaya Hajji Abdullah Head of
Langitano Academy, Islamic Scholar, East
Java(Indonesia) 2/06 Danish cartoons French
Muslim Leaders Rioting, 11/05 Ghannoushi, Rashid
President, Nahda Renaissance Movement (Tunisia)
condemning 9/11 attack 9/01 signed by 46 scholars
leaders Hafeez, Umar bin Muhammad bin Salem
bin Dean of Dar al Mustafa Institute, Hadramawt
(Yemen) 2/06 Danish cartoons Hammad, Dr. Nazih
(U.S.) FCNA Fatwa against terrorism 7/05 Hassun,
Ahmad Badr al Din General Mufti of the Syrian
Arab Republic (Syria) 2/06 Danish cartoons
Hamada, Faruq Professor of Hadith Studies,
Muhammad V University(Morocco) 2/06 Danish
cartoons Hamza, Mustafa bin Professor of Islamic
Law, Muhammad I University,(Morocco) 2/06 Danish
cartoons Hijjawi, Saeed AbdalHafizGeneral Mufti
of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan(Jordan) 2/06
Danish cartoons Hindi, Shaikh Yahya (U.S.) FCNA
Fatwa against terrorism 7/05 Huwaydi, Fahmi
(Egypt) against 9/11 attack 9/01 Huzami, Haji
Muhammad ShafiRenowned Islamic Scholar of Jakarta
(Indonesia) 2/06 Danish cartoons Izzat, Hiba
RaoufLecturer in College of Economics and
Political Science, Cairo University (Egypt) 2/06
Danish cartoons Jackson, Dr. Abdul Hakim (U.S.)
FCNA Fatwa against terrorism 7/05 Jumua,
AliGrand Mufti of the Arab Republic of Egypt
(Egypt) 2/06 Danish cartoons Kachat,
LarbiDirector of Dawah Mosque and Head of the
Islamic Cultural Center, Paris (France) 2/06
Danish cartoons Kashmiri, Anzar ShahHead of
Ulama of Deoband (India) 2/06 Danish cartoons
Khalid, Rashid, Maulana Darul Ifta Firangai
Mahal (Lucknow, India) attacking houses of
worship terrorism 3/06 Khamenei, Ayatollah
Ali supreme jurist ruler of (Iran) Killing of
people, in any place and with any kind of
weapons, including atomic bombs, long range
missiles, biological or chemical weapons,
passenger or war planes, carried out by any
organization, country or individuals is
condemned. ... It makes no difference whether
such massacres happen in Hiroshima, Nagasaki,
Qana, Sabra, Shatila, Deir Yassin, Bosnia,
Kosovo, Iraq or in New York and Washington.
Islamic Republic News Agency, September 16, 2001,
Khatami, Muhammad President (Iran) at U.N.
against 9/11 attack 9/01 Khayyat, Haytham
(Syria) against 9/11 attack 9/01 Maghraoui, Dr.
Mukhtar (U.S.) FCNA Fatwa against terrorism 7/05
Mustafa Mashhur General Guide, Muslim
Brotherhood (Egypt) condemning 9/11 attack 9/01
signed by 46 scholars leaders Mirzayev, Sultan
mufti of (Chechnya) declares Jihad on terrorism
8/05 Muhammad, Dr. Akbar (U.S.) FCNA Fatwa
against terrorism 7/05 Nasr, Seyyed Hossein
Islam and the question of violence Nizami, Mufti
Rahman, Ameer Jamaat e Islami (Bangladesh)
condemning 9/11 attack 9/01 signed by 46 scholars
leaders Nour, Fazil President, PAS Parti Islam
Se (Malaysia) condemning 9/11 attack 9/01 signed
by 46 scholars leaders Qabbani, Muhammad
Rashid General Mufti of Lebanon (Lebanon) 2/06
Danish cartoons Qadri, Tahirul head of the Awami
Tehrik Party (Pakistan) against 9/11 attack 10/01
Qazi Hussain Ahmed Ameer, Jamaat e Islami
(Pakistan) condemning 9/11 attack 9/01 signed by
46 scholars leaders Qazwini, Shaikh Hassan
(U.S.) FCNA Fatwa against terrorism 7/05
Rabbani, Shaykh Faraz on kidnapping and
terrorism Sabri, Ikrimah Mufti of Jerusalem
(Palestine) 2/06 Danish cartoons Sayf, Ahmad
NurDirector of Islamic Sciences Research
Institute (UAE) 2/06 Danish cartoons Al-Tantawi,
Shaykh M. Sayyid condemns bin Laden 11/01 Shah,
Dr. Zulfiqar Ali (U.S.) FCNA Fatwa against
terrorism 7/05 Shleibak, Dr. Ahmad (U.S.) FCNA
Fatwa against terrorism 7/05 Shaltoot, Sh.
Mahmood (Saudi Arabia) former head of Al Azhar
(Egypt) on permissibility of following Shia
schools of law 12/02 Sheikh, Dr. Muhammad Adam
(U.S.) FCNA Fatwa against terrorism 7/05
Shinwari, Fazli Hadi Council of Islamic Leaders
(Afghanistan) against kidnapping harming
foreigners 5/05 Siddiqi, Dr. Muzammil H (U.S.)
FCNA Fatwa against terrorism 7/05 Sultan, Dr.
Salah (U.S.) FCNA Fatwa against terrorism 7/05
Taskhiri, Muhammad AliSecretary General of the
International Assembly for Understanding between
the Islamic Sects (Iran) 2/06 Danish cartoons
Taisaruddin Mufti of Darul Ifta Majidia
(Varanasi, India) attacking houses of worship
terrorism Ul-Qadri, Tahir condemns bin Laden
(Pakistan) Usmani, Sh.Grand Mufti, Dar ul Uloom
(Punjab, India) terrorism 7/06 Yilmaz, Mehmed
Nuri Directorate of Religious Afairs (Turkey)
against 9/11 attack 9/01 Yusuf, Hamza Renowned
Islamic Scholar, Director of Zaytuna
Institute(USA) 2/06 Danish cartoons Yassin,
Shaykh Ahmad Founder, Islamic Resistance Movement
HAMAS (Palestine) condemning 9/11 attack 9/01
signed by 46 scholars leaders
3

• THE FOLLOWING ARE QUOTES FROM VARIOUS MUSLIM
  COMMUNITY LEADERS, SCHOLARS, AND ACTIVISTS.

4

• Abdullah, Aslam U.S. You say that the word of God
  is the highest. Yes, it is. But you are not
  worthy of it. You have abandoned God and you have
  started worshipping your own satanic egos that
  rejoice at the killing of innocent people. You
  dont represent Muslims or, for that matter, any
  decent human being who believes in the sanctity
  of life. Many among us American Muslims have
  differences with our administration on domestic
  and foreign issues, just like many other
  Americans do. But the plurality of opinions does
  not mean that we deprive ourselves of the
  civility that God demands from us. America is our
  home and will always be our home. Its interests
  are ours, and its people are ours. When you talk
  of killing of Americans, you first have to kill 6
  million or so Muslims who will stand for every
  Americans right to live and enjoy the life as
  commanded by God. Letter to Al Qaeda in Iraq
  Kill Us Too, We Are Also Americans

5

• Abdullah, Aslam U.S. Respecting and protecting
  human life are acts of submission and worshipping
  to God. Submission has many great lessons for all
  of us that hear and watch on TV the scenes of a
  place after suicide bombing. The bomb does not
  know the difference between a soldier, a child, a
  mother, a grandfather or a grandmother. It is an
  awful and horrendous scene that we all wish to
  never see or witness.  Islam totally disagrees
  with this kind of behavior and condemns the
  action that causes this. Sometimes some people
  try to argue that their enemy is killing children
  and mothers as well and that is why they justify
  actions that result in their destruction. But
  according to the divine faith, evil must be not
  repaid with evil and animosity must not be
  returned with animosity.  Those who claim to the
  follow the final divine scripture must live up to
  highest moral standards, not to evil choices, and
  respect human life regardless of the label that
  it carries. The Divine demands from the follower
  of His message to work for peace and justice
  through peaceful means, not through violence or
  anger. The Divine demands that His followers
  should never lower their moral standards to the
  standard of the people who fight them. Following
  Gods law guarantees peace and victory while
  breaking it only guarantees more misery to all
  those involved.

6

• Adi, Imam Tammam, Ph.D. Director of the Islamic
  Cultural Center of Eugene, Oregon, U.S..
• Americas fight against terrorism is justified
  by the Quran, in an article Fanatics and
  Terrorists are Misguided

7

• Afsaruddin, Asma U.S. To deny these lived
  realities of the Islamic past, which point to
  what we would term in todays jargon a respect
  for pluralism and religious diversity, is to
  practice a kind of intellectual violence against
  Islam. Muslim extremists who insist that the
  Quran calls for relentless warfare against
  non-Muslims without just cause or provocation
  merely to propagate Islam and certain Western
  opinion makers who unthinkingly accept and report
  their rhetoric as authentically Islamic are both
  doing history a great disservice. Muslim
  extremist fringe groups with their desperate cult
  of martyrdom are overreacting to current
  political contingencies and disregarding any
  scriptural imperative. It is worthy of note that
  the Quran does not even have a word for martyr
  the word shahid, now commonly understood to
  mean a martyr, refers only to an eyewitness or
  a legal witness in Quranic usage. Only in later
  extra Quranic tradition, as a result of
  extraneous influence, did the term shahid come
  to mean bearing witness for the faith,
  particularly by laying down ones life, much like
  the Greek derived English word martyr.

8

• Ahmad, Dr. Imad ad Deen U.S., President, Minaret
  of Freedom Institute. it is the moral duty of
  Muslims to not merely condemn the attacks on
  noncombatant Americans (including hundreds of
  Muslims) that took place on September 11, 2001,
  but to engage in a positive effort to identify
  the planners and material supporters of the
  attacks, to confront them with the fact that
  their actions have violated the shariah in a
  most egregious manner, to urge them to repent,
  and to punish them if the families of the victims
  are unwilling to be merciful and accept
  compensation.

9

• Parvez Ahmed, U.S. To contain terrorism, if not
  eliminate it, the way forward is to engage in
  common-sense methods of intelligence gathering
  without criminalizing entire groups of people,
  military strategies without resorting to
  indiscriminate bombings and enabling the
  emergence of democratic and civic societies by
  eliminating foreign occupations. Addressing
  grievances cannot automatically be dismissed as
  appeasement. Britain succeeded in disarming the
  IRA by engaging them, not ignoring its demands.
  In fact, the conversion of terrorist groups into
  peaceful political movements has often occurred
  when their rationale for violence ceased to
  exist.

10

• Al-Luheidan, Shaikh Saleh , Chairman of the
  Supreme Judicial Council, SAUDI ARABIA
• As a human community we must be vigilant and
  careful to oppose these pernicious and shameless
  evils, which are not justified by any sane logic,
  nor by the religion of Islam.

11

• Al-Qaradawi, Shaykh Yusuf, QATAR Tariq Bishri,
  EGYPT Muhammad S. Awwa, EGYPT Fahmi Huwaydi,
  EGYPT Haytham Khayyat, SYRIA Shaykh Taha Jabir
  al-Alwani, U.S.
• All Muslims ought to be united against all those
  who terrorize the innocents, and those who permit
  the killing of non-combatants without a
  justifiable reason. Islam has declared the
  spilling of blood and the destruction of property
  as absolute prohibitions until the Day of
  Judgment. ... It is necessary to apprehend the
  true perpetrators of these crimes, as well as
  those who aid and abet them through incitement,
  financing or other support. They must be brought
  to justice in an impartial court of law and
  punished appropriately. ... It is a duty of
  Muslims to participate in this effort with all
  possible means. Our hearts bleed for the
  attacks that has targeted the World Trade Center
  WTC, as well as other institutions in the
  United States despite our strong oppositions to
  the American biased policy towards Israel on the
  military, political and economic fronts.

12

• Al-Qaradawi, Shaykh Yusuf, QATAR Islam, the
  religion of tolerance, holds the human soul in
  high esteem, and considers the attack against
  innocent human beings a grave sin, this is backed
  by the Quranic verse which reads Whosoever
  kills a human being as punishment for crimes
  other than manslaughter or sowing corruption in
  the earth, it shall be as if he has killed all
  mankind, and who so ever saves the life of one,
  it shall be as if he had saved the life of all
  mankind (Al-Maidah32).

13

• Al-Sabil, Shaykh Muhammad bin Abdallah, member
  of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars,
  Saudi Arabia
• Any attack on innocent people is unlawful and
  contrary to Sharia (Islamic law). ... Muslims
  must safeguard the lives, honor and property of
  Christians and Jews. Attacking them contradicts
  Sharia.

14

• al-Shaykh, Shaykh Abd al Aziz bin Abdallah, The
  grand mufti of SAUDI ARABIA Islam forbids
  suicide terrorist attacks. What you call suicide
  bombings in my view are illegitimate and have
  nothing to do with jihad in the cause of God. I
  am afraid it is another form of killing oneself.

15

• al-Tantawi, Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed, The Grand
  Sheikh of the al-Azhar mosque, EGYPT
• Condemned suicide bombings against Israeli
  civilians and condemned terrorism in all its
  forms. 

16

• al-Tantawi, Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed, imam of
  al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, EGYPT Attacking
  innocent people is not courageous, it is stupid
  and will be punished on the day of judgment. ...
  Its not courageous to attack innocent children,
  women and civilians. It is courageous to protect
  freedom, it is courageous to defend oneself and
  not to attack.

17

• American Muslim Scholars STATEMENT REJECTING
  TERRORISM
• We wish again to state unequivocally that
  neither the al-Qaeda organization nor Usama bin
  Laden represents Islam or reflects Muslim beliefs
  and practice. Rather, groups like al-Qaeda have
  misused and abused Islam in order to fit their
  own radical and indeed anti-Islamic agenda. 
  Usama bin Laden and al-Qaedas actions are
  criminal, misguided and counter to the true
  teachings of Islam.
• We call on people of all faiths not to judge
  Islam by the actions of a few.  We believe in
  justice and peace for both Israelis and
  Palestinians. We are convinced that security for
  Israel can only be achieved by justice for
  Palestinians.    We say most clearly, however,
  that the killing of innocent civilians, whether
  Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, is always wrong and
  is forbidden in Islamic law and ethics. 
  Illegitimate means can never be justified by a
  desirable or noble goal.

18

• Asmal, Dr. Abdul Cader U.S.
• The time to ratchet down hostilities is now. The
  coming together of typecast foes may not be easy.
  On the other hand allowing fascists to chart the
  future of humanity is not a viable option.
  Rapprochement is the only answer to Israels
  survival and Islams renaissance. There is
  nothing incompatible between Islam and Judaism
  that prevents Muslims and Jews from living
  together again. They have a moral imperative to
  do so, resting on the Muslim belief of a
  divinely-assigned stewardship of Gods creation,
  and the Jewish belief of Tikkun or healing of
  Gods creation. With these credentials Muslims
  and Jews should not only be able to coexist but
  respond to the call, peace on earth and goodwill
  to all men, a timeless message with a universal
  appeal, we can all live with.

19

• Azam, Hina, Ph.D. U.S.
• One hardly needs to ask al-Qaeda (and
  al-Qaedaesque) operatives what they think they
  are doing in their suicide attacks. The
  pronouncements and writings of Osama bin Laden
  and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi make it abundantly
  clear that they believe they are engaging in a
  legitimate jihad. Never mind that they break
  cardinal rules of jihad as laid out in the Quran
  and the lawbooks of Islam. Never mind that they
  confuse basic distinctions, such as the one
  between combatants and civilians, and between
  suicide and martyrdom. The truth of the matter,
  however, is that they are engaged in the very
  behavior that the Quran and Prophet came to
  combat tribalism. Despite protestations to the
  contrary, Al-Qaeda and similarly-minded groups
  are engaged in no more than the old-fashioned
  tribal warfare, the hallmark of jahiliyya.

20

• Aziz, Haris U.S. Anti-Semitism is against the
  basics of Islam. Islam promotes humility and
  warns against keeping enmity and anger in ones
  heart. It is a positive sign that many Muslim
  intellectuals such as Akbar Ahmed and Tariq
  Ramadan are speaking out against anti-Semitism by
  Muslims. It is also crucial that the Jewish
  leaders also follow suit and encourage better
  understanding between Muslims and Jews. Tariq
  Ramadan says, there is nothing in Islam that
  gives legitimization to Judeophobia, xenophobia
  and the rejection of any human being because of
  his religion or the group to which he belongs.
  Anti-Semitism has no justification in Islam, the
  message of which demands respect for the Jewish
  religion and spirit, which are considered a noble
  expression of the People of the Book.

21

• Badawi, Zaki, Principal, Muslim College in London
  BRITAIN
• We desperately need for the recovery of the
  religious commitment that will inspire in all of
  us the respect for the rule of law over
  individualism and tribalism. Only then will we
  subscribe to the dignity and worth of all
  peoples, tribes, and individuals regardless of
  color, custom, tongue and traditions. And only
  then will we have a world at peace with itself.

22

• Bakri, Shaykh Omar, Leader of al-Muhajirun, a
  radical Islamist movement based in London,
  ENGLAND
• Condemned 9/11 attack.  If Islamists did itand
  most likely it is Islamists, because of the
  nature of what happenedthen they have fully
  misunderstood the teachings of Islam. ... Even
  the most radical of us have condemned this. I am
  always considered to be a radical in the Islamic
  world and even I condemn it. 

23

• Bayyoumi, Abdel-Motei, al-Azhar Islamic Research
  Academy, Cairo, EGYPT
• There is no terrorism or a threat to civilians
  in jihad religious struggle.

24

• CAIR statement on holocaust denial
• No legitimate cause or agenda can ever be
  advanced by denying or belittling the immense
  human suffering caused by the murder of millions
  of Jews and other minority groups by the Nazi
  regime and its allies during World War II.
  Cynical attempts to use Holocaust denial as a
  political tool in the Middle East conflict will
  only serve to deepen the level of mistrust and
  hostility already present in that troubled
  region.

25

• Council of Ulama, fatwa of February 2003, SAUDI
  ARABIA What is happening in some countries from
  the shedding of the innocent blood and the
  bombing of buildings and ships and the
  destruction of public and private installations
  is a criminal act against Islam. ... Those who
  carry out such acts have the deviant beliefs and
  misleading ideologies and are responsible for the
  crime. Islam and Muslims should not be held
  responsible for such actions.

26

• Crane, Dr. Robert D. U.S. Many Muslims justify
  violence against civilians as self-defense. In
  response to 9/11 their only response was a
  defensive Dont blame us!? The time has come for
  Muslims to do precisely this, to blame
  themselves. If religious extremism, regardless of
  its causes, can claim justification for
  incinerating and crushing thousands of innocent
  Americans in the name of Islam, then the silent
  majority of Muslims have an unmet responsibility
  to reclaim the wisdom of their Islamic heritage
  as a constructive force in global affairs. This
  must be the primary response to the challenge of
  9/11.  The specific challenge of such a response
  is how to organize in a positive way to promote
  more enlightened understanding of Islam,
  particularly by Muslims among Muslims.

27

• El Fadl, Khaled Abou, U.S. Classical Muslim
  jurists, however, were uncompromisingly harsh
  toward rebels who used what the jurists described
  as stealth attacks and, as a result, spread
  terror. Muslim jurists considered terrorist
  attacks against unsuspecting and defenseless
  victims as heinous and immoral crimes, and
  treated the perpetrators as the worst type of
  criminals.  Under the category of crimes of
  terror, the classical jurists included
  abductions, poisoning of water wells, arson,
  attacks against wayfarers and travelers, assaults
  under the cover of night and rape. For these
  crimes, regardless of the religious or political
  convictions of the perpetrators, Muslim jurists
  demanded the harshest penalties, including death.
  Most important, Muslim jurists held that the
  penalties are the same whether the perpetrator or
  victim is Muslim or non-Muslim.

28

• El Amin, Imam Plemon U.S. Cowardly acts of
  terrorism upon innocent men, women, and children
  is not a doorway to Heaven, but a gateway to
  Hell. Blind aggression and retaliation are sins,
  and as Muslims we reject these practices by our
  selves, our kin, our foes, the rich, or the poor.
  Past and recent acts of terrorism that victimize
  innocent human beings, such as the World Trade
  Center bombing, the mosque assault by Baruch
  Goldstein, and the recent suicide bombing in Tel
  Aviv are deplored by our community and must be
  condemned by all God-conscious and civilized
  communities, both Muslim and others. We must all
  stand up for peace and toleration. Among both the
  Palestinians and the Israelis are those guilty
  and responsible for the many women and children
  left maimed and dead. Each side has produced both
  perpetrators of violence and victims of
  injustice.

29

• Engineer, Dr. Asghar Ali, INDIA The Quran
  clearly lays down that killing any person without
  a just cause amounts to killing whole humanity
  and saving one persons life amounts to saving
  entire humanity. This is truly humanistic and
  spiritual dimension of Islam and of any religion
  for that matter. Killing hundreds of innocent
  people can not qualify for being a religious act
  by any stretch of imagination.  In fact whether
  fundamentalism and terrorism (in the sense in
  which they have been defined above) are linked
  together or not both are curses for humanity. No
  truly religious person should approve of such
  gross misuse of religion. A religious attitude
  has to be of humility, distance from political
  power and of non-violence. The Sufi Islam which
  was truly spiritual Islam always maintained its
  distance from power centres and believed in the
  doctrine of what is called sulh-i-kul i.e. peace
  with all.

30

• Shaykh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah
• Said he was horrified by these barbaric ...
  crimes Beside the fact that they are forbidden
  by Islam, these acts do not serve those who
  carried them out but their victims, who will reap
  the sympathy of the whole world. ... Islamists
  who live according to the human values of Islam
  could not commit such crimes.

31

• Ghannouchi, Shaykh Rached , chairman of Tunisias
  an-Nahda Movement, in exile in London, ENGLAND
  Such destruction can only be condemned by any
  Muslim, however resentful one may be of Americas
  biased policies supporting occupation in
  Palestine, as an unacceptable attack on thousands
  of innocent people having no relation to American
  policies. Anyone familiar with Islam has no doubt
  about its rejection of collective punishment,
  based on the well-known Quranic principle that
  no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of
  another.

32

• Ghannoushi, Soumaya The causes al-Qaida
  extremists speak for are certainly just causes.
  The sanctioning of genocide and occupation in
  Palestine, slaughter of hundreds of thousands in
  Iraq through exposure to depleted Uranium and
  years of barbaric sanctions first, then through
  bombing and shelling without bothering to count
  the dead, brutal invasion of the country,
  destruction of its infrastructure and humiliation
  of its people, undoubtedly rank among modern
  historys bloodiest crimes and darkest
  tragedies.  But the mindless killing of the
  innocent in Madrid, New York, or London is the
  wrong answer to these real grievances. These are
  illegitimate responses to legitimate causes. Just
  as occupation is morally and politically
  deplorable, so too is any blind aggression
  masquerading as Jihad.

33

• Hajoo, Imam Jamil U.S. The terrorists, whoever
  they are, could not be worthy Muslims. The
  Islamic message is a message of justice, peace
  and mercy to all mankind. A cowardly act of
  terrorism against innocent people is not a
  doorway to heaven but a gateway to hell. Islam
  rejects aggression and self-serving retribution.
  Islam holds the human soul in high regard and
  considers the attack against one human being a
  grave sin.  The Holy Quran warns Whoever
  killed a person not in retaliation of murder or
  in spreading mischief in the land it would be as
  if he killed all mankind and if anyone saved one
  life it would be as if he saved all mankind
  (Quran 5 32). Prophet Muhammad said Whoever
  hurts a dhimee (a Jew or a Christian protected by
  Islamic state) he would be like hurting me and
  who hurts me, he hurts God.

34

• Hasan, Usama - Britain Suicide-bombing of
  civilian targets is evil and prohibited under
  Islamic Law. I would tell suicide-bombers
  intending to attack civilians that they would be
  murderers, not martyrs, and that they would go to
  Hell, not Heaven.

35

• Hassaballa, Dr. Hesham U.S.  From where has this
  all come? By what stretch of the imagination
  could the killing of Margaret Hassan, or the
  attack on the elementary school in Beslan, Russia
  be deemed as Islamic? Where in our ancient and
  rich scholarly tradition has the murder of
  non-combatants ever been sanctioned? As I search
  deep into my soul for answers to these invariably
  difficult questions, my soul is struck with a
  deep pang of pain. I fear that the Nation whose
  legacy to the world had once been Astronomy,
  Medicine, and Philosophy has devolved into one
  whose legacy to the world will be suicide
  bombings, kidnappings, and be headings. I fear
  that the phrase parle larabe (he speaks
  Arabic), once a symbol of elevated social
  status, will become a stain of shame, worthy of
  concealment.

36

• Hassaballa, Dr. Hesham U.S. No matter what wrong
  has been done to the Muslims, there is no
  justification for the taking of innocent life. It
  is not defending Islam in the least it is not
  martyrdom, but cold-blooded murder. The Quran
  is quite clear Do not let the hatred of some
  people move you to commit injustice. (58).
  Never can the legitimate suffering of Muslims
  around the world be justification for the murder
  of innocent human beings, no matter where they
  are, no matter who they are, no matter what faith
  they claim to profess.

37

• Hathout, Dr. Maher, American Muslim scholar.
• In spite of our deep understanding and sympathy
  towards the Palestinian suffering and the
  frustration of trying to move the conscience of
  the world through peaceful means and throwing
  rocks, and in spite of our condemnation of the
  brutal practices of the Sharon apartheid regime,
  we still took a clear stand against suicide
  bombing that compels a person use his or her body
  as a weapon to destroy noncombatants. We took
  that stand conscientiously based on our
  understanding of Islam, as well as the awareness
  that once we glorify death and cheapen human
  life, it takes us to a downhill spiral that does
  not limit itself to one field or one cause. Now
  we see what we were dreading happening daily,
  resulting in the killing of Iraqis in Iraq, the
  Shias, in Pakistan, the Kurds in Mosul. Suicide
  killing has become a modus operandi, not a
  desperate aberration.  ... If we truly believe in
  this religion, we ought to go through very
  serious questioning and soul-searching. How did
  we, as a group, fail to nip this ugly phenomenon
  in the bud?  How did we indulge in the luxury of
  theoretical debates, and craft all kinds of
  euphemisms to let this go on, spill out and grow?

38

• Hathout, Dr. Maher U.S.
• Two weeks ago, we saw how a group of young
  Muslims swallowed the bait of fiery rhetoric
  riddled with out-of-context verses spun in order
  to serve a nihilistic ideology of anger and
  despair offered to them disguised as Islam.
  Within a short period of time, these young men
  fell prey to the hate-filled dogma and were
  transformed into beings capable of blowing
  themselves up, taking with them innocent lives
  whom God has also blown in them from his spirit
  and conferred dignity on the children of Adam
  (Quran 770) which cuts through barriers of race,
  gender and creed...As they commit the crime
  against themselves and others, they drag with
  them the reputation and image of the religion
  they claim to venerate. They not only violate its
  basic teachings, but disfigure the message of
  mercy to the worlds into a justification for
  cruel, cowardly and repulsive behavior. In this
  way, hearts that were supposed to be opened to
  the word of God got closed and minds that were
  hoped to have been opened to the light of
  guidance are shut.

39

• Heminski, Sheikh Kabir U.S. There are many
  prophecies that suggest that we are at a point of
  global crisis. In addition to many other voices,
  the indigenous peoples of the world, and
  especially of my own continent of North America,
  are trying to call our attention to the
  unavoidable truth The world is more out of
  balance than ever in human history. Not only the
  ummahs of the land, but the ummahs of the sky and
  sea are suffering and dying from these
  imbalances. We have truly forgotten the
  sacredness of all life as we have become
  entangled in our own egoistic, nationalistic, and
  even sectarian concerns. 

40

• Henzell-Thomas, Dr. Jeremy BRITAIN There are
  even finer distinctions to be drawn here. We
  might recognize the distinction between Islamic
  terrorist and Muslim terrorist, but we might
  also want to say that a Muslim terrorist is
  also an oxymoron, because a true Muslim can, by
  definition, never be a terrorist (i.e. one guilty
  of hirabah, or unholy war), in the same way as
  Islam, by definition, can never sanction such
  behavior. We then have to distinguish between the
  misleading phrase Muslim terrorist and some
  such phrase as criminal terrorist who calls
  himself a Muslim.  ... The logical consequence of
  this reasoning is to deny to anyone a faith-based
  identity who does not live up to the precepts of
  the faith or does not embody a completely
  idealized version of the faith he or she claims
  to follow. Ultimately then, are there any
  Muslims, Christians and Jews apart from the
  Prophets and Saints?  One way round this is to
  understand that the Quran promises nothing to
  the Muslims, only to the mumin, the People of
  Faith, who may also be Jews, Sabeans and
  Christians, and, in fact, people of other faith
  communities too, given the fact that the Quran
  tells us that a Prophet has been sent to every
  human community and that We make no distinction
  between any of them.. 

41

• Ibrahim, Anwar , Islamic activist and former
  deputy prime minister, MALAYSIA, Never in Islams
  entire history has the action of so few of its
  followers caused the religion and its community
  of believers to be such an abomination in the
  eyes of others. Millions of Muslims who fled to
  North America and Europe to escape poverty and
  persecution at home have become the object of
  hatred and are now profiled as potential
  terrorists. And the nascent democratic movements
  in Muslim countries will regress for a few
  decades as ruling autocrats use their
  participation in the global war against terrorism
  to terrorize their critics and dissenters. This
  is what Mohammed Atta and his fellow terrorists
  and sponsors have done to Islam and its community
  worldwide by their murder of innocents at the
  World Trade Center in New York and the Defense
  Depart-ment in Washington. The attack must be
  condemned, and the condemnation must be without
  reservation. 

42

• Islahi, Shaikh Muhammad Yusuf, Pakistani-American
  Muslim leader, U.S. The sudden barbaric attack
  on innocent citizens living in peace is extremely
  distressing and deplorable. Every gentle human
  heart goes out to the victims of this attack and
  as humans we are ashamed at the barbarism
  perpetrated by a few people. Islam, which is a
  religion of peace and tolerance, condemns this
  act and sees this is as a wounding scar on the
  face of humanity. I appeal to Muslims to strongly
  condemn this act, express unity with the victims
  relatives, donate blood, money and do whatever it
  takes to help the affected people.

43

• Islam, Yusuf (formerly Cat Stevens), prominent
  British Muslim, singer, songwriter, BRITAIN I
  wish to express my heartfelt horror at the
  indiscriminate terrorist attacks committed
  against innocent people of the United States
  yesterday. While it is still not clear who
  carried out the attack, it must be stated that no
  right thinking follower of Islam could possibly
  condone such an action the Quran equates the
  murder of one innocent person with the murder of
  the whole of humanity. We pray for the families
  of all those who lost their lives in this
  unthinkable act of violence as well as all those
  injured I hope to reflect the feelings of all
  Muslims and people around the world whose
  sympathies go out to the victims at this
  sorrowful moment.... As a Muslim from the West,
  it is important to me to let people know that
  these acts of mass murder have nothing to do with
  Islam and the beliefs of Muslims.

44

• ISNA Fatwa Against Terrorism and Religious
  Extremism Muslim Position and Responsibilities,
  U.S. IN PART  1 All acts of terrorism,
  including those targeting the life and property
  of civilians, whether perpetrated by suicidal or
  any other form of attacks, are haram (forbidden)
  n Islam.  2 It is haram for a Muslim to
  cooperate with any individual or group that is
  involved in any act of terrorism or prohibited
  violence.  3 It is the civic and religious duty
  of Muslims to undertake full measures to protect
  the lives of all civilians, and ensure the
  security and well-being of fellow citizens.

45

• Sherman Jackson, American Muslim Scholar
  Terrorism in Islamic law (under the name of
  hirabah) is publicly directed violence (not just
  public violence but publicly directed violence),
  i.e., violence that indiscriminately targets
  innocent, non-combatant civilians. As for suicide
  bombings, even leaving aside the question of
  suicide itself, inasmuch as they target innocent,
  non-combatant, civilian populations, they are
  crimes under Islamic law, whether they are
  carried out against non-Muslim, civilian
  populations, such as in Israel, or Muslim
  civilian populations, such as in Iraq. It is true
  that at least one prominent modern jurist, Shaykh
  Yusuf al-Qaradawi, has exempted Israel from this
  judgment, arguing in effect that such bombers are
  martyrs in a legitimate jihad. But this is not
  the view of the majority, who find it lacking in
  scriptural proof, as well as inconsistent with
  the judgment that even this jurist would apply to
  identical acts committed elsewhere. As for
  situations such as Iraq, they really reflect the
  extent to which the contemporary Muslim reality
  betrays Islamic ideals. For here the Qurân
  explicitly addresses the Muslims with the
  following warning And whoever intentionally
  kills a believer, their recompense shall be hell,
  where they shall abide. Gods anger and curse
  shall be upon them, and God shall prepare for
  them a severe punishment.

46

• Jackson, Sherman, American Muslim scholar. In the
  interest of honest communication and meaningful
  global dialogue, I think that all of us should
  abandon our hypocritical claims to passivism and
  honestly lay out the circumstances under which we
  will sanction violence and those under which we
  will accept peace. At the very least, this could
  provide us with an opportunity to recognize our
  respective contributions to peace and violence in
  the world, instead of always seeing our violence
  as noble and justified and our enemys violence
  as gratuitous and barbaric.  Of course, many will
  see this as a veiled indictment of American
  action in the world. In point of fact, however, I
  see Muslims as being just as guilty of
  high-handed arrogance and blatant disregard for
  both the sanctity of human life and the teachings
  of the religion they profess. I am actually
  writing this missive from the gulf state of
  Qatar, where I have spoken with numerous Muslims
  who bemoan what they describe as a frightening
  and deep-seated sickness that seems to have
  gripped a segment of the Muslim population. They
  recognize the horrific political, social and
  economic conditions under which this segment
  lives. But they do not condone their wanton,
  publicly directed violence and terror and they
  do not recognize it as part of their religion.

47

• Keller, Nuh Ha Mim, American Muslim scholar, U.S.
  Muslims have nothing to be ashamed of, and
  nothing to hide, and should simply tell people
  what their scholars and religious leaders have
  always said first, that the Wahhabi sect has
  nothing to do with orthodox Islam, for its lack
  of tolerance is a perversion of traditional
  values and second, that killing civilians is
  wrong and immoral.

48

• Khamenei, Ayatollah Ali, Supreme jurist-ruler
  of Iran
• Killing of people, in any place and with any
  kind of weapons, including atomic bombs,
  long-range missiles, biological or chemical
  weapons, passenger or war planes, carried out by
  any organization, country or individuals is
  condemned. ... It makes no difference whether
  such massacres happen in Hiroshima, Nagasaki,
  Qana, Sabra, Shatila, Deir Yassin, Bosnia,
  Kosovo, Iraq or in New York and Washington.

49

• Khan, Muqtedar, Ph.D. U.S. Let me tell you that I
  would rather live in America under Ashcroft and
  Bush at their worst, than in any Islamic state
  established by ignorant, intolerant and murderous
  punks like you and Mullah Omar at their best. The
  US, Patriot Act not withstanding, is still a more
  Islamic (just and tolerant) state than
  Afghanistan ever was under the Taliban.  Remember
  this Muslims from all over the world who wished
  to live better lives migrated to America and
  Muslims who only wished to take lives migrated to
  Afghanistan to join you.  We will not follow the
  desires of people (like you) who went astray and
  led many astray from the Straight Path. (Quran
  577).  I conclude by calling upon you Mr. Bin
  Laden and your Al Qaeda colleagues and Mr. Saddam
  Hussein to surrender to International Courts and
  take responsibility for your actions and protect
  thousands of other innocent Muslims from becoming
  the victims of the wars you bring upon them.

50

• Khatami, President Muhammad of IRAN
• The September 11 terrorist blasts in America can
  only be the job of a group that have voluntarily
  severed their own ears and tongues, so that the
  only language with which they could communicate
  would be destroying and spreading death.

51

• Khatami, President Muhammad condemns bin Laden
  First, because of the crimes he conducts, he
  said, and second because he conducts them in the
  name of Islam, the religion which is a harbinger
  of peace and justice. Khatami, whose speech in
  Farsi was relayed through a translator, said he
  was one of the first world leaders to condemn
  the barbarous acts of Sept. 11.  In response to
  a question about the notion of suicide bombers
  gaining entry to heaven as reward for their
  martyrdom, Khatami said, Those who put others
  through hell will never go to heaven.

52

• Maqsood, Ruquaiyah Waris BRITAIN It is high
  time that the followers of this anti-Muslim
  teaching are properly labeled for what they are.
  Their brand of Islam is not Islam. They do not
  have an identifying name at the moment - the word
  Fundamentalist is not accurate, neither is
  extremist. I would like to call their faith
  something like Islamiolatry. They are not Muslims
  but Islamiots or Zealotologists. Once a sectarian
  can be identified by a name, then people find it
  much easier to understand that these are at least
  deviants from the faith, and more usually enemies
  to the faith. ... When people choose to kill
  themselves and take out over five thousand
  miscellaneous persons with them, this is hardly
  what Islam defines as Jihad and these people are
  not martyrs - a jihad is a struggle for the will
  of God in which any attack on the weak, the
  child, the female, the aged, the animal or the
  plant is totally forbidden. A martyr is someone
  who has been put to death for what they believe. 
  It is not the rights of a Muslim minority that
  are under threat - but the rights of the Muslims,
  the majority, Islam itself, the millions of
  believers, that are being hijacked by these
  murderers who dare to call themselves Muslims.

53

• Manzoor, Dr. S. Parvez, SWEDEN If these acts of
  terror indeed have been perpetrated by Muslim
  radicals or fundamentalists, they have reaped
  nothing but eternal damnation, shame and
  ignominy. For nothing, absolutely nothing, could
  remotely be advanced as an excuse for these
  barbaric acts. They represent a total negation of
  Islamic values, an utter disregard of our fiqhi
  tradition, and a slap in the face of the Ummah.
  They are in total contrast to what Islamic
  reason, compassion and faith stand for. Even from
  the more mundane criteria of common good, the
  maslaha of the jurists, these acts are treasonous
  and suicidal. Islamic faith has been so callously
  and casually sacrificed at the altar of politics,
  a home-grown politics of parochial causes,
  primeval passions, self-endorsing piety and
  messianic terror.

54

• Mattson, Ingrid, Ph.D.  U.S. These days, I find
  myself in the position of being asked to explain
  the motives of these unknown terrorists. I am a
  Professor of Islamic Studies, not a
  criminologist. I can explain Islamic law, ethical
  norms, and religious practices, I do not
  understand the way a terrorist thinks. The best I
  can do is describe how terrorism is treated in
  Islamic law and theology.

55

• Minai, Ali Ahmed U.S. Those who lament the fact
  that Islam today wears the face of militancy in
  the eyes of the world should keep this in mind
  When those who are moderate do not speak as
  loudly as the militants, the militants speak for
  them too. The only way to reclaim the enlightened
  aspect of Islam is to pursue it aggressively.
  Call it extremism in the pursuit of moderation.
  And that is no vice.

56

• Mohammed, Dr. Mahathir, Prime Minister MALAYSIA
• Salvation could not be achieved through the
  killing of innocent people.

57

• Muhammad, Imam W. D. U.S. Islam insists that the
  best human behavior be demonstrated even when
  engaging an enemy in war, Our Prophet Muhammed
  (prayers and peace be on him) ordered that
  civilians not be made the victims of war. He (the
  Prophet) cautioned the Muslims to take care not
  to attack those who were not bearing arms against
  them. Islam and the Prophets life require of us
  that we uphold justice and be a peace-seeking
  people.

58

• Mulkhan, Abdul Munir Indonesia - The word jihad
  does not signify war (qital) alone, but can
  also mean to strive mightily to defeat ones own
  ego, so as to become humble and at peace with
  oneself, with God, and His varied creation. As
  many others have stated, the Prophet himself
  explicitly made this point, upon returning from
  the lesser jihad at the battle of Badr to the
  greater jihad, through which he exhorted his
  Muslim followers to overcome their egotistical
  nature and desires. Violence is generally born of
  egotism and arrogance, even when veiled in the
  sanctity of religious justification. The wave of
  suicide bombings we have witnessed in recent
  years is no exception. True jihad consists of
  opposing such violence, in the name of God and
  His religion. For only God Himself has any right
  or claim to absolute possession of the Truth.

59

• Murad, Shaykh Abdul Hakim BRITAIN Certainly,
  neither bin Laden nor his principal associate,
  Ayman al-Zawahiri, are graduates of Islamic
  universities or seminaries. And so their
  proclamations ignore 14 centuries of Muslim
  scholarship, and instead take the form of lists
  of anti-American grievances and of Koranic
  quotations referring to early Muslim wars against
  Arab idolators. These are followed by the
  conclusion that all Americans, civilian and
  military, are to be wiped off the face of the
  Earth.  All this amounts to an odd and extreme
  violation of the normal methods of Islamic
  scholarship. Had the authors of such fatwas
  non-binding legal opinions followed the norms
  of their religion, they would have had to
  acknowledge that no school of traditional Islam
  allows the targeting of civilians. An
  insurrectionist who kills non-combatants is
  guilty of baghy, armed transgression, a capital
  offence in Islamic law. A jihad can be proclaimed
  only by a properly constituted state anything
  else is pure vigilantism

60

• Musaji, Sheila, Editor The American Muslim U.S.
  As an American-Muslim I feel moral repugnance
  towards terrorism and violence, and at the same
  time I feel concern and frustration for what is
  happening to Muslims (and others in the third
  world) daily. Because the legitimate grievances
  of some have been hijacked by criminals as a
  pretext for terrorism does not de-legitimize the
  concerns.  The issues still need to be
  addressed..  Much of the world suffers from
  oppression, occupation, tyranny and injustice. 
  We cannot stop terrorism without first working to
  end the injustice. 

61

• Musaji, Sheila Editor, The American Muslim
  Journal, U.S. Issued a STATEMENT ON THE TRAGEDY
  OF SEPTEMBER 11th which said in part We are
  Americans and Muslims and proud to be both. We
  are as shocked and horrified by this insane act
  of terrorists as any other Americans. Our hearts
  go out to the victims and their families. We also
  want those responsible to be caught and brought
  to justice. They may happen to consider
  themselves Muslims (as Timothy McVey and Slobodon
  Milosovic may have considered themselves to be
  Christians) and may even have twisted the
  teachings of their religion to justify their
  actions, but terrorism is not the act of any
  person who understands anything about the
  teachings of any of the worlds religions. There
  is no religious justification for such actions.
  September 29, 2001

62

• Noor, Farish MALAYSIA But Islam, it must be
  remembered, also happens to be a faith that does
  not possess a clerical class or a supreme leader
  like the Pope. On the positive side this lends
  the creed an egalitarian outlook which puts all
  Muslims on par with each other. But on the
  negative side the absence of a centralised
  hierarchy also means that the Muslim world is
  full of self-proclaimed leaders of the faith
  like the Taliban and their unwanted guest, Osama
  bin Laden.  It is this absence of a clerical
  order and the plasticity of religious discourse
  that allows concepts like Jihad to be hijacked
  by such self-appointed defenders of orthodoxy.
  Coupled with this is the predicament of a Muslim
  world that feels itself increasingly threatened
  and marginalised by the forces of globalisation,
  leading to the defensive posture being adopted by
  many Muslim leaders themselves.

63

• OIC - Organization of the Islamic Conference,
  Summit Conference. We are determined to fight
  terrorism in all its forms. ... Islam is the
  religion of moderation. It rejects extremism and
  isolation. There is a need to confront deviant
  ideology where it appears, including in school
  curricula. Islam is the religion of diversity and
  tolerance. Daily Star (Beirut, Lebanon),
  December 9, 2001

64

• Philippine Muslim Leaders Condemn Terrorism,
  PHILLIPINES Islamic religious authorities have
  declared terrorism haram (unlawful) in Mondays
  simultaneous open congregational prayers to mark
  Eidl Fitr in town centers of Muslim-dominated
  provinces and cities. Ustadz Abdulrauf Guialani,
  a member of the Assembly of Philippine Darul
  Ifta (APDI) or Houses of Opinion, declared
  senseless violence haram three times as he
  delivered the khutba.  Ustadz Esmael Ebrahim, a
  senior member of the APDI, said a similar
  teaching was given in Eidl Fitr open field
  prayers elsewhere in the country, particularly in
  the areas of the Autonomous Region in Muslim
  Mindanao (ARMM). September 23, 2006

65

• Qadri, Tahirul head of the Awami Tehrik Party,
  PAKISTAN Bombing embassies or destroying
  non-military installations like the World Trade
  Center is no jihad. ... Those who launched the
  Sept. 11 terrorist attacks not only killed
  thousands of innocent people in the United States
  but also put the lives of millions of Muslims
  across the world at risk. ... Bin Laden is not a
  prophet that we should put thousands of lives at
  risk for. United Press International, October
  18, 2001

66

• Ramadan, Tariq The situation is far too serious
  for one to be satisfied by simple explanations
  based on current frustrations. In the name of
  their faith and their conscience, Muslims must
  take a clear position so that a pernicious
  atmosphere does not take hold in the Western
  countries. Nothing in Islam can legitimize
  xenophobia or the rejection of a human being due
  to his/her religious creed or ethnicity. One must
  say unequivocally, with force, that anti-Semitism
  is unacceptable and indefensible. The message of
  Islam requires respect of Jewish faith and
  spirituality as noble expressions of The People
  of the Book.

67

• Sachedina, Abdulaziz, Ph.D. U.S. I continued to
  search for the religious sources of terrorism, if
  there were any, available to the extremists in
  the scriptures or in the tradition ascribed to
  the Prophet. As I searched, I became aware that
  the term jihad, which is commonly used by these
  terrorists to legitimize their criminality, does
  not appear in the meaning of holy war against
  the infidels at all.  In fact, terrorism in any
  form does not qualify as anything more than a
  cowardly act and an expression of rejection of
  Gods blessing of life.  To be sure, the term
  jihad in the lexicon of these murderers does
  not appear in more than a contrived meaning to
  cover up the horror of their satanic behavior.

68

• Sardar, Ziauddin MALAYSIA Creating the Kingdom of
  God on earth, as it is in heaven, is the basic
  message of Islam. This is the true meaning of
  jihad. Now theres a word. The very mention of
  the term sends shivers down civilized spines
  and leads many, glibly, towards holy war.
  Surely, these paradise-seeking martyrs have
  declared jihad on America? Acts of terror are not
  jihad. They violate the explicit word of God,
  Prophet Muhammad and the reasoned consensus of
  all believers. The greatest jihad is the war on
  injustice in ones own soul, the injustice that
  can conceive of terror tactics and lose all
  restraints and respect for the sanctity of a
  human life. Jihad is the reasoned struggle of
  each individual to work within the bounds of
  moral action, to extend the protection of justice
  equitably to every human being, irrespective of
  color, creed or place of origin. Jihad is the
  obligation to make peace a lived reality for all
  human beings.  ... Islam cannot explain the
  actions of the suicide hijackers, just as
  Christianity cannot explain the gas chambers,
  Catholicism the bombing at Omagh. They are acts
  beyond belief, religious belief, by people who
  long ago abandoned the path of Islam.

69

• Schleifer, S. Abdallah EGYPT That is why, in my
  opinion, the Amman Initiative called last spring
  2005 by Jordans King Abdallah II was so
  important. The conference made manifest by the
  Amman Initiative was organized on the kings
  behalf by the Aal al Bayt Institute for Islamic
  Thought, an institute that embraces both the
  ulema in the most classical sense and
  contemporary Muslim intellectuals of various
  perspectives. Together, the ulema and the
  intellectuals signed off on a document that
  affirmed the mutual recognition of all classical
  schools of Islamic law, be they Sunni or Shiah,
  and condemned all attempts to takfir Muslims a
  doctrine that allows one Muslim to classify
  another Muslim as an apostate worthy of being
  slaughtered. This is the doctrine that has been
  used in an attempt to justify terrorism, in
  Islamic terms, within Egypt since the mid-1970s
  and now is the basis for the almost daily mass
  murder of Shiahs in Iraq.  This declaration,
  which embraced fatwas by the sheikh al-Azhar, the
  mufti of Egypt, and the rector of al-Azhar
  University Grand Ayatullah Sayyid Ali Sistani
  and many other outstanding Shiah ulema in Iraq
  and Iran muftis in Jordan, Oman, and other Sunni
  countries as well as by an officer of the Fiqh
  Council of Saudi Arabia and Sheikh Yusuf
  al-Qaradawi, struck at the very roots of
  theologically justified terrorism. By mutually
  recognizing all Sunni and Shiah schools of law
  and by insisting that only those scholars who
  have mastered the traditional legal disciplines
  within their respective schools have the
  authority to issue fatwas, the mainstream ulema
  and Muslim intellectuals who participated in
  Amman also explicitly declared that Islam is not
  a do-it-yourself store-front religion.

70

• Shakir, Imam Zaid U.S. This is a war being guided
  on both sides by self-righteous murderers whose
  motives and proclamations mirror each other. Each
  side sees God as being exclusively with them.
  That being the case, the restraint and
  judiciousness urged by Christian and Islamic
  theology to guide the execution of war is cast
  aside with wanton impunity. Each side manipulates
  a vulnerable public to create a climate that
  allows for the perpetuation and