Dear all, for your interest.
Rose F

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article298109.ece
Islamic leaders will issue 'fatwa' on terrorists
By Severin Carrell
Published: 10 July 2005
Britain's top Muslim scholars are to issue a "fatwa" which will condemn 
the terrorists behind Thursday's bombings, in an unprecedented move to 
repudiate the Islamist militants suspected of the atrocities.

It is expected that the religious ruling, which will be drafted this 
week, will effectively outlaw the bombers among Muslims by stating the 
attacks were a breach of the most basic tenets of Islam.

Senior community leaders believe they must try to deflect another wave 
of revenge attacks by undermining the religious basis of the 
terrorists' alleged Islamist ideology and, significantly, by 
questioning their right to describe themselves as Muslims.

The move follows a decision taken late on Friday night at an emergency 
summit attended by about 100 of the country's most prominent Muslim 
leaders, held in private at East London Mosque.

Sir Iqbal Sacranie, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain 
(MCB), said: "Those behind this atrocity aren't just enemies of 
humanity but enemies of Islam and Muslims. The people at the receiving 
end of this, both as some of the victims of the bombing and victims of 
the backlash, are Muslims."

The proposal was thrashed out amid growing fears that British Muslims 
face violent reprisals for the bombings which have killed more than 50 
people and wounded another 700 people.

Several religious centres, including a Sikh temple and a mosque in 
Leeds, have already been attacked, and several Muslims have reportedly 
been assaulted in southern England and north London.

Muslim leaders have also been sent hundreds of threatening emails, 
thought to have been orchestrated by neo-Nazi groups. In the aftermath 
of the 11 September attacks on New York and the Pentagon, hundreds of 
British Muslims were assaulted, one fatally, with mosques firebombed 
and desecrated.

The statements - the first of their kind issued by British Muslim 
leaders - mark a turning point for the UK's Islamic scholars. Under 
Islamic law, it is impossible to strip someone of their right to call 
themselves Muslim. Unlike the right of Catholic popes to excommunicate, 
in Islam that power is reserved to God.

Senior clerics and scholars are, however, able to repudiate a Muslim's 
actions and to discredit the Islamic basis of their behaviour. This 
approach has been highly controversial, however, after Islamic scholars 
ruled the Ahmadi sect were not Muslims because they believe Mohamed was 
not the final prophet and that their founder was the messiah.

The MCB's official spokesman said: "If these bombers are found to be 
Muslims, we will make it clear we utterly dissociate ourselves from 
them - even if they claim to be Muslims or are acting under the mantle 
of the Islamic faith. We reject that utterly."

Within hours of the bombings on Thursday, senior Islamic scholars 
abroad condemned the attacks in Egypt and Saudi Arabia condemned the 
bombing as un-Islamic.

One of the first was Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the controversial Egyptian 
cleric who met Ken Livingstone last year and who was accused earlier 
this year of supporting suicide bombing and the killing of homosexuals.

Sheikh al-Qaradawi said that Islam "denounces in the strongest possible 
terms the shedding of the sanctified blood of innocent and protected 
people."

He said the bombings were "evil acts characterised by barbarity and 
savagery, which are condemned by Islam in the strongest of terms, for 
Islam is extremely clear about the prohibition of taking human life".

Signed by dozens of prominent Muslim bodies, mosques, Islamic scholars 
and community groups, the MCB will also state that Muslims have a moral 
duty to help the police catch the perpetrators.

Community leaders are also under intensifying political pressure to 
take these steps.

Murad Qureshi, the only Muslim member of the Greater London Assembly 
and a former Labour councillor in Westminster, said: "If there was a 
fatwa issued, I would welcome it.

"It's about time we put clear distance between ourselves and so-called 
Muslim leaders like Osama bin Laden, who has been able to dictate the 
whole agenda with his video nasties."

Mr Qureshi, who was brought up close to Edgware Road, scene of the 
third of Thursday's Tube bombings, said the Arab-dominated area was now 
extremely tense.

"It is undoubtedly subdued," he said.

Lined by Lebanese, Moroccan and Arab restaurants, the road is also 
close to Britain's "senior" mosque, at Regent's Park.

In common with mosques across the country, the mosque was unusually 
quiet during Friday prayers, with little to be seen of the 
politically-active radical groups that usually leaflet worshippers 
there.

Many community leaders reacted last week by urging Muslims to stay 
indoors, travel in groups and avoid areas around pubs at closing time - 
advice which is now being rejected as too defensive.

Mr Qureshi and Sir Iqbal Sacranie said they plan to resist efforts to 
demonise Muslims - a theme picked up last week by Trevor Phillips, 
chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality.

Mr Phillips said: "There's not a dividing line between Muslims and 
Londoners. The dividing line is between those who commit these acts and 
those who don't."

Mr Qureshi said: "It's important we don't feel we have to apologise for 
Thursday's attacks. We're not talking about Muslims here. We're talking 
about a bunch of nutters. The time has come to debunk the idea they are 
sanctioned by Islam."

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