Muslim Scholars Back Fight Against Terrorists

New York Times ^ | Friday, October 12, 2001 | LAURIE GOODSTEIN

[Senator Pardek]

Will some individual tell these beasts that the letter "q" is to be followed by the letter "u"?

[eclectic]

They can take their fatwa and stick it where the sun doesn't shine. The terrorists and pro-terrorists will be crashed regardless.

[browardchad]

The primary purpose of the fatwa, released at a news conference yesterday in Washington, is to reassure Muslim soldiers in the American armed forces that they are permitted to fight other Muslims and Muslim countries to combat terrorism.

The fatwa was issued in response to a request by Capt. Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad, a Muslim chaplain in the United States Army, who sought guidance for Muslim military personnel uneasy about being deployed in the operation against Afghanistan.

I thought the miltary took an oath to preserve, protect and defend this country. I thought that the orders of the commander in chief, as represented by their immediate superiors was the only orders they are to obey.

I would summarily discharge any Muslim military man who is taking his orders from a Muslim leader. I guess I'm naive. We are in deep trouble if this goes unnoticed and uncontradicted.

[ikanakattara]

Gosh, I'm so relieved to know that one of these mullahs MUST be sincere about the fatwah giving US Muslim soldiers permission to pound Afghanistan and beyond, because he has the impeccable credentials of approving Palestinian suicide bombers. Does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?

[Shermy]

Bump for Mr. Uqdah. His statement goes straight to the heart of the baloney.

[VeritatisSplendor]

I thought that the orders of the commander in chief, as represented by their immediate superiors was the only orders they are to obey.

I would summarily discharge any Muslim military man who is taking his orders from a Muslim leader. I guess I'm naive. We are in deep trouble if this goes unnoticed and uncontradicted.

Well, it's more complicated than that. Sometimes immoral orders are given and it could conceivably be a religious duty to conscientiously object. In all such cases that I can imagine in the United States Armed Forces, however, an order sufficiently immoral that it would be sinful to obey it is also sufficiently unlawful that there would be no duty to obey it. If the regulations and military code are such that you can imagine being given a lawful order that contradicts your religious moral imperatives, then you shouldn't go into the armed forces in the first place. In particular, a Muslim who believes that it is against Islam to ally with non-Muslims against other Muslims should not join the army of a non-Muslim country!

Still, a Muslim who did NOT believe this when he joined up but is now being told it by all sorts of mullahs and imams can indeed benefit from this fatwa, so I don't have a problem with it.

[GuillermoX]

Muslim is now the latest and greatest class in the USA. Get used to it. Bush kisses their tails every single day, they are better than we are.

[RightWhale]

It is not clear why Mr. Qaradawi has appeared to change his position.

Possibly, just possibly, Qaradawi believes the terrorists are not Muslim but simply claim Islam as a pretext for their ambitions. If I understand this, though, a Muslim is not allowed to say another is not a Muslim if the other states he is a Muslim.

[The_Reader_David]

If you don't like the transliteration of the Arabic gutteral which has no English equivalent by a q without a u, replace it with kh. (Though Irakh looks funny.)

[JeepInMazar]

I'm waiting for the fatwa which says it's ok for Muslims in America to have religious freedom and decide for themselves if they believe Mohammed is a prophet without fear of death if they come to the conclusion that he is not a prophet.

That's a long sentence, but I think they could get it into a fatwa. I wonder when they will issue it?

[God_isa_Jew]

"Muslim Scholars Back Fight Against Terrorists"

The real source of 'terrorism' are found in the words of the Koran. All of this is just diabolical 'spin'. When members of the worlds largest religion enter the presence of their 'higher power' five times a day and then rise up to drive the infidels out of the middle-east what does that tell you about Allah?

[butter pecan fan]

I can't believe the replies so far to this article. Guys, this is really good news. You people don't seem to understand that a good portion of any battle is for the hearts and minds of people. We've just had well-respected Muslim scholars clearly point out that Bin Laden and his goonies are outright criminals not only according to OUR laws, but also according to Islamic law as well. And your response is to insult the people who (under potentially great pressure from bigots in their own society, I might add) are HELPING us?????! I'm glad not all Americans or like this, or I might start to believe a bit of bin Laden's propaganda against us...

Another brief comment here. From what I've heard, bin Laden's fatwas don't count for diddly squat, because he isn't the real article in terms of Muslim theological credentials. THESE guys, apparently, have genuine authority.

Translation: we've got a REAL fatwa, and bin Laden's isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

Like I said, this is good news.

[The_Reader_David]

The Muslim custom of adopting tactics almost certain to result in the death of the soldier, and claiming the death as "martyrdom" is obnoxious to civilized morality whether Christian or pagan. It is reasonable, however, under their understanding of morality (and I think also under the moral understanding of many red-blooded Americans who call themselves Christians) to draw a distinction between killing people occupying your land (even if they bring civilians, and especially if their "civilians" are armed, as is the case with Israeli settlers) and killing civilians far way without defiance sent.

[knews_hound]

I believe the advantage in this is the cover it gives the fence sitting Arab Militaries the justification to not oppose us. Since the political leadership in many of these countries has promoted the sort of anti American rhetoric that the populations are now inflamed with, could their militaries look to coups to restore some sanity to their societies. The political leaderships may have bizarre ideas of our strenghts and weeknesses but their militaries do not.

They well remember the ease in which we routed the pearl of Arab military might in Iraq.

On the other hand, the true believers may gain control and we are all screwed.

knews hound

[RightWhale]

Terrorism could be compared to a Christian heresy. The heresy is not in the words, but in the use one makes of the words. If terrorism is to be stamped out permanently, it will have to be Islam that does the stomping. The actions of America and its allies will destroy bin Laden's network but won't eliminate the terrorist movement completely even while making it nearly impossibly for terrorists to take effective action for a long time. Islam has to police its own for a permanent end to this.

[Tony in Hawaii]

About freakin' time! Where the hell have they been for a damn MONTH?

[SalukiLawyer]

"The fatwa was issued in response to a request by Capt. Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad, a Muslim chaplain in the United States Army, who sought guidance for Muslim military personnel uneasy about being deployed in the operation against Afghanistan."

You took the words right out of my mouth, Browardchad. And here I started reading this article thinking "Finally, an unequivocal condemnation by Moslem clerics."

I can see it now. Army regs supplemented by "fattwas." Come to think of it, the Pope hasn't exactly been gung ho about this, and, well, what will Jewish soldiers think about Sharon's pronouncements? Protestants might agree with Jerry Falwell that this is God's judgment and we better not interfere. We may yet have reason to be grateful for the professed pagans in uniform.

When I was in service (and with these words I guess I officially become an old crank) I seem to remember we were expected to follow orders and be ready to defeat the enemies of our country wherever and whoever they happened to be.

I think a sense of humor is going to be as important in the coming months as any other quality.

[secretagent]

I wonder if the main guy has criticised Palestinian martyr bombings that take out Israeli non-combatants, or if he sees all Israelis as combatants.

[browardchad]

"If the regulations and military code are such that you can imagine being given a lawful order that contradicts your religious moral imperatives, then you shouldn't go into the armed forces in the first place. In particular, a Muslim who believes that it is against Islam to ally with non-Muslims against other Muslims should not join the army of a non-Muslim country!"

Precisely -- I really don't care about the so-called "psychological victory" here -- the public request by a US Military Captain, from citizens of a foreign nation, to judge whether US military personnel can fight in this war, is an outrage. If they had any qualms about fighting other muslims, they should have requested immediate discharge as conscientious objectors (i.e. those willing to kill anyone but muslims in the defense of their country.)