Saturday, October 25, 2008

Muslim Clerics' Fatwa: Suicide Attacks Forbidden . . . in Pakistan

The 7th July 2005 London Suicide Bombers
Haram in Pakistan!
Elsewhere, Martyrdom Operations are halal?
(Image from Wikipedia)

More news from MEMRI: In Special Dispatch No. 2093 (October 24, 2008), "Clerics' Conference In Lahore Issues Prohibition Against Suicide Attacks Inside Pakistan," we learn that:
"On October 14, 2008, clerics from 28 religious groups in Pakistan held a conference at the Jamia Naeemia madrassa in Lahore. The conference was organized by the Muttahida Ulema Council of Pakistan. In a fatwa agreed by consensus, the clerics declared suicide attacks inside Pakistan to be haram, or forbidden in Islam."
Specifically, that's point number 13 of "the 21-point declaration issued by the clerics and distributed to journalists at the end of the conference":
"13) It is Ulema's fatwa by consensus that suicide attacks inside Pakistan are haram [forbidden in Islam] and illegitimate."
The implication is that such attacks are halal in other contexts, else why specify Pakistan? But did the clerics actually call these "martyrdom operations" by the contested expression 'suicide attacks'? To call such bombings "suicide" attacks would make them automatically haram anywhere, yet the clerics specify Pakistan.

Perhaps MEMRI has mistranslated this term?

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2 Comments:

At 6:40 AM, Blogger Dorian Gray said...

Greetings,
I am happy to read you use MEMRI's service. I think what they do is important. The concept is necessary, we need to understand and be able to read and listen to others.
Also, I was wondering, ever read anything from Matthias Keuntzel? (A Hamburg bases scholar, writes about Iran, Islamicism and Antisemitism).

 
At 7:07 AM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

Dorian, good to hear from you again. Actually, I was wondering about you just yesterday and hoping that you are doing well.

Yes, MEMRI is performing an important function, and I very much appreciate their work. Some criticise MEMRI for not providing context, but I don't, for I can get the context from my other reading.

As for Kuentzel, I've read three or four articles that he's written. He's very informative, and I encouraged one of my students writing on antisemitism to read Kuentzel.

Are you still working on the issue of antisemitism? Would you say that the danger in Europe today is more from the traditional European antisemites or more from antisemitism in Europe's Muslim population?

Jeffery Hodges

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