Why Terrorism is Allowed in Islam

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Many Islamic (terrorist) organizations have explained why terrorism is allowed in Islam. Organizations such as Hamas, and Al Qaeda have done so using verses of the Qur'an and the Hadith.

Justification in the Qur'an

Killing a Muslim is killing all of mankind

The life of a non-Muslim is not sacred in Islam, but many Muslims and non-Muslims alike, will present you with Quran 5:32 which they claim denounces killing, and equates the slaying of one human life to that of genocide against the entirety of mankind:

On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone slew a person - unless it be in retaliation for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew all mankind: and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all humanity.

Meaning of verse
According to the highly respected Qur'anic exegesis of Ibn Kathir- early qur'anic commentator, Sayid ibn Jubayr (who lived at the time of Muhammad, and was a companion of Ayesha), had said:

.....Sa`id bin Jubayr said, "He who allows himself to shed the blood of a Muslim, is like he who allows shedding the blood of all people. He who forbids shedding the blood of one Muslim, is like he who forbids shedding the blood of all people." In addition, Ibn Jurayj said that Al-A`raj said that Mujahid commented on the Ayah,

Terrorism in General

Sheikh Osama bin Laden

Saifullah Sheikh Osama bin Laden (born 1957), best known for the September 11 attacks, used quotes from the Qur'an to justify Terrorism,[1] such as:

O prophet! Strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh against them. Their abode is hell, and an evil destination it is.
O you who believe! Take not the Jews and Christians for your friends and protectors: they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guides not a people unjust.
And fight them until there’s no fitnah (polytheism) and religion is wholly for Allah.

Dr. Zakir Naik

Certain scholars such as Dr. Zakir Naik (born October 18, 1965) have said all Muslims should be terrorist in the context of war and fighting (what is in the Islamic view) evils of society, but rejected terrorism which attacks and kills innocent civilians since he argues the verse below only applies in war. When he was asked about the following verse.

"Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies".

He replied:

"Every Muslim should be a terrorist. A terrorist is a person who causes terror. The moment a robber sees a policeman he is terrified. A policeman is a terrorist for the robber . A Muslim should be a terrorist for the Robber and all other anti-social elements."[2][3]

Justification in the Hadith

Civilian Targets

Terrorists use Muhammad's numerous caravan raids of Meccans that passed by Medina as justification for attacking civilian targets as well as military. Muhammad (the Uswa Hasana) organized 64 such raids from 622 CE to 630 CE, of which he personally led 27.

Killing Civilians

Palestinians celebrate the deaths of 2,919 civilians in the 9/11 Islamic terror attacks on America and hand out free sweets

When Muhammad made a peace deal with Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayza and other Jewish tribes, the three leaders of the Jewish tribes were accused by him of breaking the peace treaty. Although he claimed only the three leaders of the tribes broke the peace treaty, Muhammad ordered the beheading of all the Jewish men and boys (who had begun to grow pubic hair).[4] Combatants and non-combatants alike were slaughtered and the remaining women and young children were taken captive by the Muslims and sold in slave markets.[5] This incident took place in the Battle of the Trench. Terrorist use this as justification to attack American civilians.[6][7][8][8][9][9][10][11]. Omar Bakri used this hadith as a justification as to why terrorism is allowed and why killing of civilians is allowed.[12]

Justification for Killing Jews

There are endless examples of anti-Semitism within Islamic scriptures. However, Hamas, an Islamic Resistance movement is Palestine, has justified the killing of Jewish Civilians using the hadith below, which they have also included in their Charter,[13] Many other clerics and scholars[14] have also referred to this verse to justify the killing of Jews:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

Killing Children

As has already been shown, Muhammad's (therefore Islam's) definition of a child differs from a non-Muslims. In Islam a boy who has started puberty is considered an adult. However, for this section we will accept the Islamic understanding. Although Muhammad somewhat disapproved of the killing of woman and 'children', he made a clear exception for non-Muslim woman and children. When he was at war, one of his companions came to him and said they had found children and woman among the dead when they were using catapults.

"The Prophet passed by me at a place called Al-Abwa or Waddan, and was asked whether it was permissible to attack the pagan warriors at night with the probability of exposing their women and children to danger. The Prophet replied, "They (i.e. women and children) are from them (i.e. pagans)."

Muhammad said "they are of them" more than 3 times when children were killed.

It is narrated by Sa'b b. Jaththama that he said (to the Holy Prophet)" Messenger of Allah, we kill the children of the polytheists during the night raids". He said: "They are from them".

Muslim terrorist use this as a justification for carrying out terrorist attacks even if it puts woman and children in danger are even if they get killed. Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed referred to this hadith to justify why killing children accidentally is Islamic.[15]

Justification for Killing Homosexuals

Many terrorists, as do Islamic Scholars, justify the killing of homosexuals using the hadith. Terrorist acts have been committed against homosexuals on a regular basis in countries like Iraq where currently there are death squads operating.[16][17] They justify their acts based on the teachings and actions of Muhammad, who said:

Whoever you find doing the action of the people of Loot, execute the one who does it and the one to whom it is done[18]

Muhammad’s first successor Abu Bakr (the father of Aisha) had a homosexual burned at the stake. The fourth caliph, Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali, ordered a sodomite thrown from the minaret of a mosque. Others he ordered to be stoned. One of the earliest and most authoritative commentators on the Koran, Ibn ‘Abbas (died 687) blended both approaches into a two-step execution in which “the sodomite should be thrown from the highest building in the town and then stoned.” Later it was decided that if no building were tall enough, the he could be shoved off a cliff.[19] Regardless of the exact method, many jurist argue over the way the punishment should be carried out.[19]

Killing Apostates (people who leave Islam)

According to Islam, people who leave Islam must face the death penalty. In 1992 Muslim militants gunned down Farag Foda, an Egyptian secularist. They claim they did so because the prophet ordered the death of apostates.

Before his death, Farag Foda was declared an apostate and foe of Islam. An Al-Azhar University scholar, Mohammed al-Ghazali, a witness before the court, declared it was not wrong to kill a foe of Islam. Al-Ghazali said:

The killing of Farag Foda was in fact the implementation of the punishment against an apostate which the imam (the Islamic leader) has failed to implement (undertake).[20]

This was due to the sayings of Muhammad, who said:

"'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.'"

One of his followers refused to sit down and talk until a Jewish man who left Islam was killed. Only after he was killed did he continue. [21]

Killing those who mock Muhammad

Islamic scholars have declared that if a person mocks Muhammad, they must be killed.

Whoever Curses the Prophet Peace and Blessings be Upon him, Muslim or Kafir, Must be Killed.
"The general scholars agreed that whoever curses him, Peace and Blessings be upon him, must be killed. This was stated by Malik, Al-Layth, Ahmad, Ishaaq, and Ash-Shafi'ee, and Nu'man (Abu Hanifa) said that the Dhimmi (Jizya-paying non-Muslim) is not to be killed."
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) sometimes chose to forgive those who had insulted him, and sometimes he ordered that they should be executed, if that served a greater purpose. But now his forgiveness is impossible because he is dead, so the execution of the one who insults him remains the right of Allaah, His Messenger and the believers, and the one who deserves to be executed cannot be let off, so the punishment must be carried out.

Al-Saarim al-Maslool, 2/438

Insulting the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is one of the worst of forbidden actions, and it constitutes kufr and apostasy from Islam, according to scholarly consensus, whether done seriously or in jest. The one who does that is to be executed even if he repents and whether he is a Muslim or a kaafir.

Muhammad and his Jewish neighbour
Some Muslims say the Muhammad had a Jewish neighbour who threw rubbish at him, one day the person became ill and Muhammad visited her. This story is not present in any Islamic texts or hadiths and is thus most likely made-up. Neither have any scholars of the past mentioned it.

Muhammad reportedly said:

I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim.

Therefore he could not have had non-muslims neighbours in the later stage of his life.

Hating for Sake of Allah

Muhammad is noted to have said:

The best of the actions is to love for the sake of Allah and to hate for the sake of Allah.

Many Muslims have used this as a justification to hate what they consider Kufr. Muhammad also said that fighting jihad is second only to the belief in him and Allah.

Allah's Apostle was asked, "What is the best deed?" He replied, "To believe in Allah and His Apostle (Muhammad). The questioner then asked, "What is the next (in goodness)? He replied, "To participate in Jihad (religious fighting) in Allah's Cause."

Scholars on Terrorism

Ziauddin Barani (1285 - 1357) says in his book Fatawa-i Jahandari:

Musalmans will be favored and honored; infidels and men of bad faith will be faced with destitution and disgrace; the orders of the unlawful fate and the opposed creeds will be erased; the laws of the shari'at will be enforced on the seventy-two communities; and the enemies of God and the Prophet, will be condemned, banished, repudiated, and terrorized
Ziauddin Barani, Fatwa

Dr. Yusuf Azzam says, when talking about offensive Jihaad:

"Jihad Against the Kuffar is of two Types: Offensive Jihad (where the enemy is attacked in his own territory) ... [and] Defensive Jihad. This is expelling the Kuffar from our land, and it is Fard Ayn [personal religious obligation on Muslim individuals], a compulsory duty upon all ... ...Where the Kuffar [infidels] are not gathering to fight the Muslims, the fighting becomes Fard Kifaya [religious obligation on Muslim society] with the minimum requirement of appointing believers to guard borders, and the sending of an army at least once a year to terrorise the enemies of Allah. [22]

See Also

References

  1. Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s speech to the people of Pakistan - Translated From Urdu By Ahmed Al-Marid, September 26, 2007
  2. Islam and Terrorism - Dr Zakir Naik
  3. Dr Zakir Naik - Why are most of the Muslims fundamentalists and terrorists? - Misconceptions About Islam (FAQs)
  4. "...Narrated Atiyyah al-Qurazi: I was among the captives of Banu Qurayzah. They (the Companions) examined us, and those who had begun to grow hair (pubes) were killed, and those who had not were not killed. I was among those who had not grown hair..." - Sunan Abu Dawud 38:4390
  5. Haykal, Muhammad Husayn (Author). Al-Faruqi, Ismail Raji (Translator). (2002). The Life of Muhammad. (p. 338). Selangor, Malaysia: Islamic Book Trust.
  6. The historical Muhammad - Von Irving M. Zeitlin
  7. The Expulsion of Banu Nadir
  8. 8.0 8.1 Peterson, Muhammad: the prophet of God, p. 125-127.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Ramadan, In the Footsteps of the Prophet, p. 140f.
  10. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, vol. 1, p. 191.
  11. Brown, A New Introduction to Islam, p. 81.
  12. Islam - A mufti explains, why Muhammad killed Women and Children
  13. Hamas Charter - MidEast Web Historical Documents
  14. Saudi Cleric: Jews Plant Gharqad Trees to Hide Behind When Muslims Come to Kill Them on Judgment Day - MEMRI
  15. Islam - A mufti explains, why Muhammad killed Women and Children
  16. Ben Lando - Iraqi gay community a target - Iraq Oil Report, July 9, 2009
  17. Iraq's New Hospital Patients: Gay Men - Queerty, April 24, 2009
  18. The Ruling for Homosexuals - Fatwa from IslamOnline
  19. 19.0 19.1 Serge Trifkovic - Islam's Love-Hate Relationship with Homosexuality - FrontPageMag, January 24, 2003
  20. Ana Belén Soage - FARAJ FAWDA, OR THE COST OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION - MERIA, June 8, 2007
  21. "...."I will not sit down till he has been killed. This is the judgment of Allah and His Apostle (for such cases) and repeated it thrice. Then Abu Musa ordered that the man be killed, and he was killed...." - Sahih Bukhari 9:84:58
  22. http://www.religioscope.com/info/doc/jihad/azzam_defence_3_chap1.htm