Monday, March 1, 2010
This is just a quick link to follow -- an "aside." These are links to interesting things that, for one reason or another, I didn't place into a full posting. Click the link to visit the full article. Go to the blog index for a regular listing of posts.
UK Muslim leader to issue fatwa against Jihad - 'A revered mainstream Muslim scholar is set to announce in London on Tuesday a fatwa (Muslim ruling) against terrorism and suicide bombing in the name of Islam. Sheikh Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri, a widely recognized and respected authority on Islamic jurisprudence, will issue a comprehensive fatwa prohibiting terrorism and suicide bombing at a press conference in Westminster, central London. The Pakistani-born Dr. Qadri has authored an unprecedented, 600-page fatwa on why suicide bombings and terrorism are un-Islamic and scripturally forbidden. The ruling is the most comprehensive theological refutation of Islamist terrorism to date...'
Sheikh Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri is a serious Sharia scholar and judge, so this caries a lot more weight than comments by women (Iyaan Hirsi Ali), by secularists or apostates (Wafa Sultan), devout laymen (M. Zuhdi Jasser), fringy Muslims (Irshad Manji) or heretical splinter groups (Ahmadiyya Muslims).
Let's hope it's the beginning of self-critical reflection by Muslims leading to much-needed and long overdue modernizing reform.
Even so, it's the beginning of the beginning. Things won't change overnight. It will be a long, uphill slog. But finally there's an authoritative Muslim voice saying the right things loudly and clearly.
BBC's religion editor on 'GBH's The World just said that Sheikh Dr. al-Qadri is a Sufi. Like Dervishes, the Sufis are much more into spirituality, mysticism and personal enlightenment than the more mainstream Sunni and Shia. On the one hand, it's not so surprising that this budding of Islamic reform would come from a Sufi. On the other, the fatwa would carry a lot more weight if he were more mainstream.
Predictably enough, regardless of his denomination, some have denounced him and his fatwa, calling him an idolator. That's to be expected. Much too soon to tell how much influence this fatwa will have.