The
murder of Spanish tourists
and Yemenis in Marib this
week has nothing to do with
Jihad, and has nothing to do
with Islam, said religious
scholars this week.
Non-Muslims coming to Yemen
have a guarantee that they
will be safe and secure when
they are given the visa,
said Dr. Fadhel Murad, a
professor at Al-Ayman
University. “These suiciders
have nothing to do with
Islam and don’t represent
Yemen in any way,” he said.
“Young Muslims used as
suiciders are being misled,
taught Islam in a wrong
interpretation of it that is
a closed one. The result of
these suicide bombers is
ignorance in Islam and
understanding and
interpreting it,” said Murad.
Sources: Yobserver
Written By:
Zaid Al-Alaya’a
Suicide bombers are
against Islam, say
scholars
7 Jul 7, 2007 -
4:19:08 PM
“In order for this violence
to be weeded out, all
religious scholars should
form a committee in order to
fight the ideas of these
extremists and everybody
behind them,” said Murad.
Murad also said that Muslims
should not just copy things
blindly, as Islam has
ordered us to question and
to look at things
critically. People want to
distort the image of Islam
by doing these attacks, he
said. “But Islam is a
religion for all times that
can be applied in all
aspects of our life.”
Rashad Mohammed Saeed, who
was in Afghanistan and got
back to Yemen after
September 11, is one of the
young men who use their
religion to justify his
version Jihad. He said that
the Jihadist movement
doesn’t belong to a specific
school in Islam. It was
rather formed by events in
general that have happened
to Muslims. This movement
takes legality from the
Shari’ah in its origins,
Quran and Hadeth, said Saeed.
It gives him motive to fight
oppression. Jihadists are
part of the Salafi sect,
said Saeed. “I personally
believe that Salafism are
the most tenets that is
resisting governments like
Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Salafism teach on the text
literally and urges people,
especially the young to
jihad. “But here we must
say that Islam prohibited
the killing of civilians.
That’s why we say in Islam
that it is not right to kill
old people, woman. Jihad
targets fighters, not
civilians,” said Saeed.
“The creation of suicide
bombers comes as a result of
oppressed people, young ones
that are ready to sacrifice
themselves,” said Saeed. He
said that you convince
people to become suicide
bombers by telling them that
Israelis are killing
innocent people, Americans
are killing a lot of people
in Islamic countries, and
whoever gets revenge from
those will go to paradise.
“If there is no oppression,
you could not find anybody
who would sacrifice himself.
Other justifications or
reasons for suicide bombers
beside oppression are
corruption and ignorance of
the teachings and principles
of Islam, he said.
It is the US’ oppression and
wrong policy with Muslims
that makes room for
suiciders and Jihadists,
said Saeed. “The US is the
reason behind all the
tension that is prevailing
in the world these days. The
policy of the US also made a
lot of people believe that
people like Osama bin Laden
and his followers are the
saviors from the oppression
on the Islamic world. The UK
was targeted when it entered
the war with the US in Iraq,
Spain as well. Arabian
countries that support and
are allies with the US are
also targeted.” Foreigners
have a different view of the
attacks. “It is
disingenuous to suggest that
extremists and suicide
bombers are motivated by
anything other than a
twisted love of violence, a
gross misinterpretation of
religious texts, and a
perverted desire to impose
their own narrow political
and religious view on
billions of law-abiding,
life-loving, moderate
citizens,” said Philip
Boyle, press officer in the
British Embassy, in
Sana’a.
Jihadists have carried out
terrorist outrages in Yemen,
Morocco, Egypt, Russia,
Indonesia, the Philippines,
Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kenya,
Tanzania, Syria, Lebanon and
many, many other countries,
he said. None of these
countries have troops in
Iraq or Afghanistan. But
they were still targeted by
terrorists. “And it is a
fact that most victims of
terrorist atrocities are
Muslims,” said Boyle.
"Muslim civilians are killed
daily by murderers who claim
to represent God's will on
Earth, and it is Muslim men,
women and children that
suffer the most at the hands
of what can only be
described as a fascist
death-worshipping cult,”
said Boyle. "The UK has
been at risk of terrorist
attack since long before
9/11. This threat is faced
by all countries that
embrace the rule of law and
that stand up to those who
would seek to enforce their
political will through
violent, undemocratic and
murderous methods. As the
British Prime Minister,
Gordon Brown, said after the
attack on Glasgow Airport:
We will never yield to
terrorists,” said Boyle.
"The international nature of
the terrorist threat, and
the cowardly attacks on our
two countries this month,
just days apart, shows how
important it is for all
nations to work together to
defeat this global menace,
and to stand strong in the
face of such heinous and
reprehensible acts. The UK
and Yemen will continue to
work closely together to
achieve this aim," he said.
Several experts in Islamic
experts offered their
perspectives on how suicide
bombers are made, and what
motivates them. They also
addressed how westerners
should deal with modern
Muslims, to cut the road in
front of these extremists.
"There is a group of Muslims
called Salafi Jihadists. The
source of this group is
Salafism, which is an
Islamic movement that claims
that people have strayed
from the right path of
Islam, and they want to go
back to the golden days of
Islam," said Zuhair Ali, a
researcher at Sana'a
University, Political
Sciences.
Salafis look at the present
from the perspective of
thinkers from the old days,
and don't renew things and
look at religion on the
surface and don't look at
the real purposes of things
in Islamic teachings, said
Ali. He said that
Salafis are divided into two
groups. The first is the
Salafis who focus on
preaching and calling for
Islam, and are not concerned
with politics. The second
one is the Salafi Jihadist
who see our society an
ignorant one living in Dark
Age of pre-Islam, and calls
governments and people
disbelievers (Koffar).
They started to use violence
in order to change things
that they see as
non-Islamic, even in their
own countries, said Ali.
Outside of their countries,
they divide the world into
Islamic and non-Islamic
countries that have to be
fought. Here, they carry
two different notions. The
first belief is that the
near enemy is more dangerous
and more important, and here
that they start to fight
against their governments,
said Ali. The second one is
the belief that the remote
enemy is more dangerous and
more important.
Historically speaking, when
these Jihadists started to
fight, it was in
circumstances in which they
were exploited by some
governments, such as the war
in Afghanistan, said Ali.
When the war was over,
Jihadists started to look
for other fights carrying
their notion and beliefs.
Some started wars against
their governments in their
own countries, targeting any
interests and institutions
belonging to the west, the
US in particular. Many
people consider the US to be
the first enemy of Islam
because of its support for
Israel, whom they call
koffar, said Ali. These
group later spread, and
their fights became more
systematic. They started
working and planning attacks
against the US and its
interests abroad. These
groups of Salfi Jahadists
attract young Muslims and
feed them their notions and
beliefs that is called
Takeferi convincing them
that the ultimate end for
Jihadists is Paradise—thus
convincing them to become
suicide bombers.
They target young Muslims
who suffer from an identity
crisis, or those who are
desperate and frustrated
because of their
situation. The suicide
attacks also allow other
groups who want to cause
distress and disorder in any
place to attack using the
same means, because they
know that it will be
attributed to Jihadists,
said Ali. The Takeferi
Salafi Jahadists give
themselves a license to shed
blood and kill all those who
are not abiding by the rules
of Islam, in their
interpretation of it. They
consider any Muslim working
with the West as an enemy
too that has to be done away
with. They don’t
differentiate between
civilians or soldiers, and
see the agreements that
their governments sign with
Western countries as
invalid, as they were done
by a disbelieving
government. Their argument
in killing civilians is that
Israel is killing civilians
in Palestine, the US is
killing civilians in Iraq,
so this gives them a reason
to kill western civilians
anywhere.
These Jihadists are the
opposite of other Islamic
groups that are connected
with reality and modern
life, who accept political
participation and pluralism
and use peaceful means to
express themselves. Modern
groups of Muslims form
parties. Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace said
about the moderate groups of
Muslims that they are
supposed to be given a
chance to participate in
politics as this will cut
the way for extremist
groups. Practicing
politics for them will make
them more flexible in their
views. Moderate groups of
Muslims, when they get
involved in politics, amend
some of their views and
start to deal with democracy
and freedom of speech. This
will help give them a
channel to express their
views and stop them from
going towards the extremists
groups, said Ali. “These
moderate groups can turn to
parties that resemble
socialist parties and
Christian parties in the
West.”
