An Islamic scholar vs. the jihadists

[unixronin]

ForeignPolicy.com published an interesting article a few days ago talking about the Taliban and Pakistani cleric Tahir ul-Qadri.  It seems that about a month ago, ul-Qadri, who is recognized as one of the foremost Islamic scholars in Pakistan and an authority on the Quran and Islamic law, wrote a 600-page fatwa denouncing terrorism as contrary to the teachings of the Prophet.

Now, other Islamic scholars have denounced terrorism and suicide bombing as haram, forbidden acts.  What made such a stir about ul-Qadri's fatwa is that he went further, citing a "vast array of classical Islamic sources" to state that terrorism is not merely haram, it is kufr, an act of disbelief.  In short, he has declared unequivocally that the jihadis are apostates — and Islam declares that the penalty for apostasy is death.

"There was a need," says Qadri, "to address this issue authentically, with full authority, with all relevant Quranic authority -- so that [the terrorists] realize that whatever they've been taught is absolutely wrong and that they're going to hellfire.  They're not going to have paradise, and they're not going to have 72 virgins in heaven.  They're totally on the wrong side."

Unsurprisingly, the Taliban isn't happy about this, and — as noted in the article — has been internally circulating messages calling for ul-Qadri's death.

Now, the way it looks to me, any time you start calling for the assassination of leaders of your own religion for saying that you have fallen from the faith, ... well, aren't you sort of proving his point?  This doesn't seem like a good move for the Taliban.  And what will happen if they do assassinate him?  He'll become a martyr, and there's nothing more powerful than a martyr.

But there's another thing to consider here.  Supposedly, according to many Islamic prophecies, the Twelfth Imam (aka the Hidden Imam) is supposed to return — many say some time around now — to bring justice and peace to the world.  Now, just suppose that the Taliban or some other jihadi group were to assassinate ul-Qadri, and ul-Qadri were to not only be recognized as a martyr, but — in light of this fatwa and his other teachings — posthumously hailed as the return of the Twelfth Imam.  Imagine what it would do to the jihadist cause if the Hidden Imam returned according to prophecy, only to be murdered by jihadis.  Imagine the fury of mainstream Moslems.

There would be no place on this Earth any jihadi could hide.

Comments

[rain-manpnw.livejournal.com]

We could dump all the jihadists into the Saudi desert. Then they'd be caught between Iraq and a hajj place ...

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Aaaauuuugh! :)