http://www0.mercurycenter.com/local/center/isl0916.htm
Posted at 9:30 p.m.
PDT Saturday, Sept. 15, 2001
Expert says Islam
prohibits violence against innocents
Muslim scholar: Terrorists are mass murderers, not
martyrs
BY
RICHARD
SCHEININ
Mercury News
Tuesday's terrorist attacks have
saddened and maddened millions -- and raised questions for many
about Islam. Speculation abounds that the hijackers were inspired
by terrorists like Osama bin Laden, who teach that violent acts
can pave the way to paradise. But what does Islam really
say about such matters? About jihad and martyrdom?
We asked Hamza Yusuf, an Islamic
scholar in the East Bay, who said the attackers were ``enemies of
Islam.'' Not martyrs, but ``mass murderers, pure and simple.''
Yusuf, whose articles about Islam
are published internationally, talked about the attacks, the
hysteria that he fears could grip the United States, and the role
that Muslims and others must play in opposing violence. ``We've
got to get to some deeper core values that are commonly shared,''
he said.
Why would anyone do what the
hijackers did?
Religious zealots of any creed are
defeated people who lash out in desperation, and they often do
horrific things. And if these people indeed are Arabs, Muslims,
they're obviously very sick people and I can't even look at it in
religious terms. It's politics, tragic politics. There's no
Islamic justification for any of it. It's like some misguided
Irish using Catholicism as an excuse for blowing up English
people.
They're not martyrs, it's as simple
as that.
Because?
You can't kill innocent people.
There's no Islamic declaration of war against the United States. I
think every Muslim country except Afghanistan has an embassy in
this country. And in Islam, a country where you have embassies is
not considered a belligerent country.
In Islam, the only wars that are
permitted are between armies and they should engage on
battlefields and engage nobly. The Prophet Muhammad said, ``Do not
kill women or children or non-combatants and do not kill old
people or religious people,'' and he mentioned priests, nuns and
rabbis. And he said, ``Do not cut down fruit-bearing trees and do
not poison the wells of your enemies.'' The Hadith, the
sayings of the Prophet, say that no one can punish with fire
except the lord of fire. It's prohibited to burn anyone in Islam
as a punishment. No one can grant these attackers any legitimacy.
It was evil.
What role should American Muslims
have in opposing this brand of violent Islam?
I think that the Muslims -- and I
really feel this strongly -- have to reject the discourse of
anger. Because there is a lot of anger in the Muslim communities
around the world about the oppressive conditions that many Muslims
find themselves in. But we have to reject the discourse of anger
and we have to move to a higher moral ground, recognizing that the
desire to blame others leads to anger and eventually to wrath,
neither of which are rungs on a spiritual ladder to God. It's
times like these that we really need to become introspective.
The fact that there are any Muslims
-- no matter how statistically insignificant their numbers -- who
consider these acts to be religious acts is in and of itself
shocking. And therefore we as Muslims have to ask the question,
``How is it that our religious leadership has failed to reach
these people with the true message of Islam?'' Because the acts of
these criminals have indicted an entire religion in the hearts and
minds of millions. Ultimately, this is a result of the bankruptcy
of these type of people who claim to be adherents to the Islamic
religion. These people are so bankrupt that all they have to offer
is destruction.
Why do some people regard the
hijackers as martyrs?
That's an abomination. These are
mass murderers, pure and simple. It's like Christians in this
country who blow up abortion clinics or kill abortion doctors. I
don't think anyone in the Christian community, except a very
extreme fringe, would condone that as an acceptable Christian
response. In the same way, there's no Muslim who understands his
religion at all who would condone this. One of the worst crimes in
Islam is brigandry -- highway robbery, or today we'd say armed
robbery -- because it disrupts the sense of well-being and
security among civilians.
Suicide bombers have cited a
Koranic verse that says, ``Think not of those who are slain in
Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in
the presence of their Lord.''
That is meant for people who are
legitimately defending the lands of Islam or fighting under
legitimate state authority against a tyrannical leader. There is
no vigilantism in Islam. Muslims believe in the authority of
government.
Imam Malik, an early Islamic legal
authority, said that 60 years of oppression under an unjust ruler
is better than one hour of anarchy.
Then why is there such strong
support in parts of the world for the attacks?
Because we're dealing in an age of
ignorance and an age of anomie, the loss of social order. And
people are very confused and they're impoverished. What Americans
are feeling now, this has been business as usual for Lebanese
people, Palestinian people, Bosnian people.
What about Israeli people?
Certainly the fear element is there
for Israeli people -- that's true, and the terror that they've
felt. And there are still a lot of Jewish people alive who
remember the fear and terror of what happened in Europe, so that's
not far from people's memories.
It seems at some point, the cycles
of violence have to stop. It's a type of insanity, especially when
we're dealing with nuclear power. People are saying that this was
an attack on civilization -- and that is exactly the point. And I
think the question we all have to ask is whether indiscriminate
retaliation is going to help preserve civilization.
The perpetrators of this and,
really, all acts of terror are people who hate too much. There's a
verse in the Koran that says do not let the hatred of a people
prevent you from being just. Being just is closer to piety. The
evil of wrath is that justice and mercy are lost.
How do you explain Palestinians and
others celebrating the attacks in the streets?
When you see ignorant people in the
streets, rejoicing -- the Prophet condemned it. It's rejoicing at
the calamities of your enemies, and Islam prohibits that. They do
have a lot of anger toward America, because America produces much
of Israel's military hardware and so many American tax dollars go
to support Israel. You have a lot of animosity in the Arab world.
But the vast majority of Arabs are horrified by what's happened.
There's animosity in the Muslim world toward American foreign
policy. This is the unfortunate price of power and its exercise in
the world, that you incur the resentment and animosity of a lot of
people. But the majority of Muslims who I know don't have anger
toward individuals or the American people.
The concept of jihad has been
widely used to justify violence.
Jihad means struggle. The Prophet
said the greatest jihad is the struggle of a man against his own
evil influences. It also refers to what Christians call a ``just
war,'' which is fought against tyranny or oppression -- but under
a legitimate state authority.
What is the Arabic word for martyr?
Shaheed. It means
witness. The martyr is the one who witnesses the truth and gives
his life for it. There are people in this country like Martin
Luther King who would be considered a martyr for his cause. Also,
if your home, your family, your property or your land or religion
is threatened, then you may defend it with your life. That person
is a martyr. But so is anybody who dies of terminal illness; it's
a martyr's death. Because it's such a purification that whatever
wrongs they once did, they're now in a state of purity.
And the greatest martyr in the eyes
of God is the one who stands in the presence of a tyrant and
speaks the truth and is killed for it. He is martyred for his
tongue.
What does Islam say about suicide?
Suicide is haram in Islam.
It's prohibited, like a mortal sin. And murder is haram.
And to kill civilians is murder.
What is a martyr's reward?
The Prophet said that a martyr who
dies doesn't have a reckoning on the Day of Judgment. It's an act
through which he is forgiven. But the Prophet also said that there
are people who kill in the name of Islam and go to hell. And when
he was asked why, he said, ``Because they weren't fighting truly
for the sake of God.''
If there are any martyrs in this
affair it would certainly be those brave firefighters and police
that went in there to save human lives and in that process lost
their own.