The right to condemn

Submitted by Mo (United Kingdom), Jan 24, 2007 at 19:31

In The Name of Allah (swt) The Most Gracious The Most Merciful

I firstly apologise for my late response.

I think that Jihad as concept cannot be categorised as anything less that what we in the West would consider our legitimate right, the right to defend our land from invaders, the right to drive or force the occupiers out, also the right to obey orders of the president or leader to go to war (on the offensive) if and when that time arrives. However for each example given above there are limits and boundaries set out by Shariah, as for the right to defend land from invaders and repel occupation it must be exercised within these set boundaries of not killing the innocent, also not harming non-combatants, especially women and children. Not to mutilate the dead, to treat the POWs with respect and care, to give them the food the Muslims eat, to give them the reception the Muslims would give themselves and all this is demonstrated in the life of the Prophet (p) as well.

Now the question about suicide bombing, we need to break this down further and ask ourselves the real questions in order for us to understand it coherently. I have a few questions that can be debatable in the light of Islam.

1) Is suicide bombing a legitimate method of warfare?

All scholars are in consensus with the issue of suicide in general, taking ones life by choice, and I'm sure Bin Laden himself knows this fact. Suicide in general is not allowed and therefore is condemnable outright. But when it comes to war and Jihad in general, everything does become a blur and scholars are separated on this issue.

Some scholars say that because it is willing taking your own life, it therefore is suicide and is Haram (forbidden), and these scholars have their evidences from the Quran and Sunnah to prove their point, other scholars say that because you are in a state of war and in Jihad, your goal is to win the war, and if it means in that suicide bombing is the only and last choice one has, it is allowable in the light of shariah. And these scholars also have their evidences from taken from the Quran and Sunnah to further illustrate their point.

You have to bear in mind though that we are not talking about using suicide bombings against civilian or non-combatants, but against legitimate military targets. But then we move into an even more blurry area amongst the Ulemas, the issue about killing innocent civilians. Is that allowed in Islam?

The far majority of scholars say that it is wrong outright, and that those who commit these acts are in fact committing sins. They have their sources of evidence from the Quran and Sunnah to prove their point. And again we have the minority view of scholars who are for the opinion that in a war where Muslims are the victims and dying, they say it is permissible to kill innocent civilians. It must be said that the evidences used by these scholars are not sound at least in my own opinion, and it can be scrutinised and debated on their evidences.

You wrote "What is it, you Muslims must do, in order to get there?"

There is only one way to attain paradise in Islam, which is to attain the pleasure of Allah (s). There is an important concept in Islam, which is that no Muslim will ever attain paradise through their good deeds, however good they may be. That may sound funny, but in essence it is through the mercy of God Almighty that people attain paradise.

So having this in mind, Muslims must seek the pleasure of Allah (s) first, making sure their intentions are correct, that it is for Him and only Him that we do good, and not for any worldly gains. Because we believe that it takes only a mere bad deed that is so unpleasant in the sight God Almighty that could inevitably lead you to Hell fire regardless of the many good that you may have done, and vice versa, a mere good deed that is so beloved to God Almighty that could earn you paradise.

A hadith told by the Prophet (p); where a prostitute gave water from a well to a thirsty and dehydrated dog, resulted in her attain paradise on the day of Judgement. Another hadith where the Prophet (p) said that a man was dragged by the angels to be taken to hell fire, when that man turned to God Almighty and said "I had no knowledge of you when I was in the world, by one thing I did know about you is that you were The Most Merciful" that was enough for God Almighty to order the angels to send him to paradise. Another point to mention which is very important is of our last action prior to our deaths. We could be on our way to the mosque for prayers, or giving charity, or helping a person cross the street when we suddenly have a heart attack and die. That can be the deciding factor, or maybe that we recited with true conviction the testimony of faith before we die, that can also help. The truth is we will never know, until we die where we will end up. That is totally up to Allah (s)

Now coming to your point about condemning people for the 9/11. there is another concept in Islam, which is that no one has the right to condemn another Muslim where he/she will most definitely end up, heaven or hell, as the final decision is up to Allah (s). Another concept in Islam that the scholars are well aware of is that condemning an act just because it is not from your own opinion is not permitted, sounds strange probably.

A scholar who is of the opinion that suicide bombing as means for killing innocent people is totally wrong cannot go on national TV and condemn an act that was done under the influence of another scholar's opinion, so long as the act itself is within the framework of Islam (meaning there was evidences from the Quran and Sunnah used, however extreme they may be). That is the reasons why we find rarely Scholars condemning openly actions of this nature. However that isn't the end of the story, these scholars of differences of opinion are constantly debating each other in trying to reach a consensus.

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