Posted on 01/23/2005 11:29:17 AM PST by nickcarraway
MECCA, Saudi Arabia -- One of Saudi Arabia's most influential clerics urged Muslims to eschew terrorism, saying attacks on the innocent were not in accordance with the teachings of Islam.
"Islam is a religion of moderation. Extremism has no place in Islam," Sheikh Abdurahman Al-Sudais of the Masjid'l Haram (Grand Mosque) said in a sermon delivered for Friday's Eid'l Adha (feast of sacrifice).
He called on followers of Islam to exert all efforts to protect non-Muslims.
Hundreds of thousands of people, from among some 2.5 million Muslims performing the haj pilgrimage in the kingdom, attended the Eid'l Adha prayers.
Al-Sudais' call came in the wake of stepped up attacks by militant Muslims in troubled areas of the Middle East. Some of the attacks have occurred in Saudi Arabia, blamed on militants linked to the al-Qaeda network, which had declared the pro-US Saudi rulers apostates.
In the latest incident in Iraq, a suicide car bomb exploded at a Shi'ite wedding party in a town south of Baghdad late on Friday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 27, doctors said.
There has been a surge in attacks on Shi'ites as Iraq's January elections approach. Earlier on Friday, a suicide car bomber killed 14 Shi'ite worshippers as they left a Baghdad mosque.
Al-Sudais said Muslim scholars should help preach the real Islam to counter what he said was a distorted interpretation of the religion by some people.
"Islam is a religion of peace but some people are using misguided interpretations of Islam to justify (attacks on perceived enemies)," Al-Sudais said.
He said scholars might have to take some of the blame for the "little success" of distorted ideas because they had done little to counter their spread.
"We are now suffering from this dangerous phenomenon. This phenomenon has become widespread that Muslim scholars must hold on to the real Islam," Al-Sudais said.
'Repulsive hearsays'
Earlier, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia urged scholars to use all available materials to teach the correct form of Islam.
Sheik Abdul Aziz Al-Asheik told participants at an international inter-culture conference, which was hosted by the World Muslim League (WML), that Muslims would not have difficulty in establishing dialogues with other sectors because materials on Islam were widely available.
"Many non-Muslims know very little or nothing about Islam and depend on hearsays, which are repulsive and distorted," Al-Asheikh said.
He said people who hated Islam were claiming that the religion encouraged terrorism and extremism, and appeared to be winning in some aspects because some people were starting to think that what they were being told about Islam was the truth.
Exposing Islam's enemies
"It is only through constructive dialogue, led by people who understand Islam and its teachings, that the enemies of Islam could be exposed and their lies refuted," Al-Asheik said.
Al-Sudais said the branding of followers of other faiths as infidels and attempts to incite Muslims to rise against their leaders had caused instability not only in the region but in other areas of the globe, as well.
"Theirs is a delinquent and void interpretation of Islam based on ignorance," he said.
Islam does not mean killing non-Muslims, Al-Sudais said.
"It does not mean shedding blood and terrorism, such as killing people (by planting bombs) to send their body parts flying."
Bombings in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia has not been spared from terror attacks.
Bombings have scarred Riyadh, the country's capital, and militants identified with the al-Qaeda network have attacked facilities manned by foreigners.
In the wake of the violence, Saudi security forces have launched a manhunt for Saudi dissident Saad Al-Faqeeh, allegedly a ranking lieutenant of Osama Bin Laden.
I'm sorry .. but it's clear to me - it does.
Some of the leaders of Saudi have been supporting terrorism for years. There is a movement within Saudi to take the kings down .. so either the kings clean their own house, or their homegrown radicals will.
"For goodness sakes, they're killing more of each other in Iraq than Americans."
Right on! And this is something I sincerely hope the people of Iraq, and the broader Muslim world, realizes before they blame the west for all of their troubles.
We discussed this on one of the Iraqi blogs a few months ago. The terrorists have been misusing the term infidel and non-believer to mean anyone who was not a Muslim, even to the point of saying some Muslims were not pure enough and were infidels as well. I learned that the term infidel was coined to identify the "unfaithful" those who do not believe in God. By the same token, a Christian or a Jew are NOT non-believers. The belief is in God.
The terrorists are cherry picking sentences in the Koran to justify murder. Only the Muslim clerics and scholars can fix this.
You know all those terrorists we've been killing? Well, it looks like the knives they've been holding at the moderate's throats are finally beginning to fall away.
I agree that the Bush doctrine should apply, but the reality is, they are our "allies." Our national interests (yes, which include oil) simply don't allow the universal application of the Bush doctrine (for one we just don't have the manpower to do it). Otherwise, the axis of evil would have been a longer list. Moreover, we will simply need to be careful with how we go about engaging and changing the home of Mecca and Medina, just as a matter of protecting our interests in the region. That's just the sad truth.
Yep. They'll complain that none will speak out against terrorism, and then attack any one that does stick his neck out.
I never said it doen't happen in the west, in fact, I was referring to Muslim populations in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and other non-arab countries. And there are Muslims in those states that advocate sharia as well, but there are also many that suggest that islam and politics should be kept separate, and that sharia has no place in the state-centered polity. All I am saying is that suggesting that sharia goes hand-in-hand with islam isn't correct.
Several Islamic so-called "charities" have been shut down and their officers indicted, since September 11th 2001, for funneling money to terrorists.
That is not a problem. Indeed, it is a Good Thing.
The serious proposals bandied about by some posters here, though, of making Islam illegal in the United States, and of "invading their countries, killing their leaders, and converting them to Christianity" overseas, however, are unacceptable.
ping
The version broadcast in Arabic is probably different.
That is a common problem. You are right on in bringing it up.
Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, in a joint speech, urged Muslims to shun terrorism which they said meant “warring against God and his Prophet,” to follow Islam’s teachings of moderation and forgiveness and to unite.Just because you hear a Muslim condemn "terrorism," you have to ask him/her what the word means. This is how they can say there are no Muslim terrorists or that terrorism is against Islam--because by the definition they use, terrorism is always against Islam; any violence in favor of Islam is not counted as terrorism.
Yes, so is the old testament.
And who is arguing against that?
Nazism is illegal in Germany, it is not a crime in America. Neither is communism, anarchism, or Islamofascism although all three preach sedition.
There have been periods in American history when there have been laws against sedition but they are repealed when the threat has passed.
Interesting little defense mechanism in Islam; when a nation prohibits the exercise of the faith, all Imam agree that is the clear sign that physical holy war/jihad may be waged against a country.
MEMRI compilation of remarks from Al Sudais:
His sermons hold significant weight throughout the Islamic world.
The themes of his sermons are characterized by confrontation toward non-Muslims. Mr. al-Sudayyis calls Jews “scum of the earth” and “monkeys and pigs” who should be “annihilated.”
Other enemies of Islam, he says, are “worshippers of the cross” and “idolworshipping Hindus” who should be fought. Mr. al-Sudayyis has been consistent in calling for jihad in Kashmir and Chechnya, for Jerusalem to be liberated, and for the “occupiers in Iraq” to also be fought. He often claims that Islam is superior to Western culture.
At the Grand Mosque in Mecca on February 1, 2004, Mr. al-Sudayyis called on Muslims everywhere to unite to defeat the world’s occupiers and oppressors.
“History has never known a cause in which our religious principles, historical rights, and past glories are so clearly challenged…The conflict between us and the Jews is one of creed, identity, and existence.”
He told those listening to “read history,” in order “to know that yesterday’s Jews were bad predecessors and today’s Jews are worse successors. They are killers of prophets and the scum of the earth. Allah hurled his curses and indignation on them and made them monkeys and pigs and worshippers of tyrants. These are the Jews, a continuous lineage of meanness, cunning, obstinacy, tyranny, evil, and corruption…”
Mr. al-Sudayyis elaborated on the conflict between Muslims and Jews: “O Muslims, the Islamic nation today is at the peak of conflict with the enemies of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, with the grandsons of Bani-Quraydah, al-Nadhir, and Qaynuqa’ [Jewish tribes in the early days of Islam]. May Allah’s curses follow them until the Day of Judgment.”
“The nation must know that these are people with a disgraceful history and a black record… They want to establish the Greater Israel with Jerusalem as its capital. They also aspire to demolish the Al-Aqsa Mosque and build their alleged temple in its place. They want to liquidate the State of Islam and the Koran, and build the State of the Torah and Talmud on its debris. They will get what they deserve from Allah…
“Our Al-Aqsa is crying out saying all mosques have been liberated, while I — a great holy mosque — am still being desecrated. Is the aspiration of over 1 billion Muslims to preserve their holy places [to be] considered savagery and terrorism? What a great lie, O Allah, O steadfast brothers in struggler and steadfast Palestine, the land of honor, loftiness, sacrifice, jihad, and bravery. The captivity of our Al-Aqsa in the hands of the tyrants makes us sleepless. May Allah please us with its liberation.Victory is coming soon, Allah willing.”
“...Here are the flags of victory looming on the horizon. We can smell it. It is crowned by a brave jihad, an intifada, which is still the winning card and the lit candle in the hands of the devout sons of this nation…O nation of jihad and sacrifice, it is the duty of Muslims to support their brothers in creed in Palestine and elsewhere and to back them with material and moral support. Jihad with money sometimes supersedes jihad with soul, as mentioned in many Koranic verses and the prophet’s traditions.”
snip
http://daily.nysun.com/Repository/getmailfiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMail&Type=text/html&Path=NYS/2004/05/12&ID=Ar00900
MEMRI compilation of remarks from Al Sudais:
His sermons hold significant weight throughout the Islamic world.
The themes of his sermons are characterized by confrontation toward non-Muslims. Mr. al-Sudayyis calls Jews “scum of the earth” and “monkeys and pigs” who should be “annihilated.”
Other enemies of Islam, he says, are “worshippers of the cross” and “idolworshipping Hindus” who should be fought. Mr. al-Sudayyis has been consistent in calling for jihad in Kashmir and Chechnya, for Jerusalem to be liberated, and for the “occupiers in Iraq” to also be fought. He often claims that Islam is superior to Western culture.
At the Grand Mosque in Mecca on February 1, 2004, Mr. al-Sudayyis called on Muslims everywhere to unite to defeat the world’s occupiers and oppressors.
“History has never known a cause in which our religious principles, historical rights, and past glories are so clearly challenged…The conflict between us and the Jews is one of creed, identity, and existence.”
He told those listening to “read history,” in order “to know that yesterday’s Jews were bad predecessors and today’s Jews are worse successors. They are killers of prophets and the scum of the earth. Allah hurled his curses and indignation on them and made them monkeys and pigs and worshippers of tyrants. These are the Jews, a continuous lineage of meanness, cunning, obstinacy, tyranny, evil, and corruption…”
Mr. al-Sudayyis elaborated on the conflict between Muslims and Jews: “O Muslims, the Islamic nation today is at the peak of conflict with the enemies of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, with the grandsons of Bani-Quraydah, al-Nadhir, and Qaynuqa’ [Jewish tribes in the early days of Islam]. May Allah’s curses follow them until the Day of Judgment.”
“The nation must know that these are people with a disgraceful history and a black record… They want to establish the Greater Israel with Jerusalem as its capital. They also aspire to demolish the Al-Aqsa Mosque and build their alleged temple in its place. They want to liquidate the State of Islam and the Koran, and build the State of the Torah and Talmud on its debris. They will get what they deserve from Allah…
“Our Al-Aqsa is crying out saying all mosques have been liberated, while I — a great holy mosque — am still being desecrated. Is the aspiration of over 1 billion Muslims to preserve their holy places [to be] considered savagery and terrorism? What a great lie, O Allah, O steadfast brothers in struggler and steadfast Palestine, the land of honor, loftiness, sacrifice, jihad, and bravery. The captivity of our Al-Aqsa in the hands of the tyrants makes us sleepless. May Allah please us with its liberation.Victory is coming soon, Allah willing.”
“...Here are the flags of victory looming on the horizon. We can smell it. It is crowned by a brave jihad, an intifada, which is still the winning card and the lit candle in the hands of the devout sons of this nation…O nation of jihad and sacrifice, it is the duty of Muslims to support their brothers in creed in Palestine and elsewhere and to back them with material and moral support. Jihad with money sometimes supersedes jihad with soul, as mentioned in many Koranic verses and the prophet’s traditions.”
snip
http://daily.nysun.com/Repository/getmailfiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMail&Type=text/html&Path=NYS/2004/05/12&ID=Ar00900
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