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Posted on 10/16/2001 12:27:20 PM PDT by CommiesOut

16 October 2001


 
U.S. Islamic Leaders Issue Fatwa on U.S. Muslim Soldiers Fighting Other Muslims
 
(U.S. Muslim soldiers need to defend their country and combat
terrorism) (720)
By Phillip Kurata
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Two prominent Islamic scholars in the United States have
issued a fatwa, or legal opinion, on the importance of American
Muslims serving in the U.S. military to defend their country and
combat terrorism.

"All Muslims ought to be united against all those who terrorize the
innocents, and those who permit the killing of non-combatants without
a justifiable reason. The Muslim soldier must perform his duty in this
fight despite the feeling of uneasiness of 'fighting without
discriminating.' His intention must be to fight for enjoining of the
truth and defeating falsehood. It's to prevent aggression on the
innocents, or to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to
justice," the fatwa reads.

It was written by Taha Jabir Al-Alawani, President of the Fiqh Council
of North America and President of the Graduate School of Islamic and
Social Sciences, and Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hanooti, a member of the fiqh
council. The two Islamic scholars issued their legal opinion in
response to a query submitted by Chaplain Abdul-Rashid Muhammad, the
most senior Muslim chaplain in the U.S. military, who sought guidance
on the permissibility of U.S. Muslim servicemen to participate in the
war effort in Afghanistan and other Muslim countries.

"Muslims are part of the American society. Anyone who feels he's
fighting in a just war must fight," Al-Alawani said.

"We abide by every law of this country except those laws that are
contradictory to Islamic law," said Sheikh Al-Hanooti. The sheikh
added that U.S. Muslim military personnel may refuse to fight on the
grounds of conscientious objection.

"If any Muslim serving in the U.S. Armed Forces has a conscientious
objection to combat and believes that it is against Islamic principles
to fight in any war, then that individual has the right to stand by
his or her concience," Al-Hanooti said. "They realize, of course, that
they may be administratively separated from the military as a result
of their choice."

Muhammad, who is stationed at the Walter Reed military hospital in
Washington, says there is no conflict between being a loyal soldier
and a loyal Muslim. He is helping some Muslim American servicemen deal
with their qualms about fighting terrorists who claim to represent
Islam.

"It is time now for us to not only wake up, but speak up," Muhammad
said in a recent interview. "The prophet said when we see evil action
we are compelled to change it with our hand, challenge it with our
tongue or at least hate it in our heart."

Muhammad, an African American who was raised as a Baptist, became the
first Muslim chaplain in the U.S. military in 1993. Until then, all
the 3,150 U.S. military chaplains were either Jews or Christians. In
1996, a second Muslim chaplain was commissioned by the Navy. Since
then the number of Muslim chaplains in the U.S. military has grown to
14.

Qaseem Uqdah, a Marine Corps veteran who is executive director of the
American Muslim Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Council, said the
Muslim military chaplains include Muslims who were born into the faith
in Asia, Africa and the Middle East and Muslim converts, who include
several African Americans, an Anglo-American and a Chinese American.
Uqdah's group has been selected by the U.S. military to recommend
people as Muslim chaplain candidates.

U.S. military officials say a shortage of candidates with the required
education limits the number of Muslim military chaplains. Three Muslim
chaplains are currently being trained at the Hartford Seminary in
Connecticut.

The newest Muslim chaplain is James Yee, a Chinese American and a
graduate of the West Point military academy, who was born into a
Lutheran family. He became interested in Islam while a student and
later spent four years studying Arabic and Islam in Damascus, Syria.
Currently he serves with the 29th Signal Battalion at Fort Lewis,
Washington.

Chaplain Yee said that Muslims on his base have come to him with
worries about being ordered to fight Muslims overseas.

"An act of terrorism, the taking of innocent civilian lives is
prohibited by Islam, and whoever has done this needs to be brought to
justice, whether he is Muslim or not," Chaplain Yee said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)

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