“New Means of Defense” Decried
Al-Azhar Sheikhs: Islam Forbids Taking Civilians Hostage
UPDATE: link screwed up by MEMRI today. original text follows below)
At first blush this from Jihad U. sounds pretty good. However, devil’s in the details, and you could drive a truck bomb through this:
Asked whether Islam permits holding hostages, Dr. Ja’far ‘Abd Al-Salam, secretary-general of the Union of Islamic Universities and former vice-president of Al-Azhar University, replied: “Islam does not permit actions of this kind, which contradict the principles of justice and compassion that Islam has brought to all mankind…
“Islamic shari’a allows restricting someone’s freedom only [in punishment for] a crime committed by that person…
“Actions of this kind have been unknown throughout the 14 centuries of Islamic history. There is nothing in the shari’a to justify them. It would be a profound offense to Islam and to the Muslims if [the name of] Islam became associated with actions of this sort – for Islam is against oppression, no matter what the nationality or the religion of the oppressed.”
…
Dr. ‘Abd Al-Mu’ti Bayoumi, a member of the Al-Azhar Academy for Islamic Research, likewise said that Islam forbids kidnapping civilians and holding them hostage. As for the question of who is considered a civilian, he said that it is permissible to kidnap individuals who are aiding enemy forces, since such aid is considered hostile action. Those individuals would then be subject to the Islamic laws regarding prisoners of war.
…
However, someone needs to tell al Qaeda, Taliban, Iran, etal:
‘Abd Al-Sami’ added that kidnapping is permitted under a declared state of war, but that nevertheless it is, as an act of war, subject to various restrictions specified by shari’a. Thus, kidnapping of noncombatants such as women and children is still forbidden. Moreover, he said, captured combatants are considered prisoners of war, and must not be killed.
Al-Sami’ said: “As kidnapping is considered an act of war, it is forbidden to kidnap anyone when not in a state of active war. [When someone is kidnapped during a state of war], he is [considered] a prisoner of war whom it is forbidden to kill, and he is destined to be set free [in the future]… In addition, it is not permitted to kidnap innocent people or enemy civilians – those whom it is forbidden to target with acts of war. Civilians, as defined by Islam, are non-combatants: women, children, and the elderly…”
Meanwhile, some sympathy for the downtrodden and the “new means of defending themselves” to which they are driven, also concern about injustice in the world:
Lastly, Al-Azhar professor Dr. Muhammad ‘Ali Al-Nawahidi said: “The injustice with which some oppressed Muslims are faced drives them, perhaps, to create new means of defending themselves, and to carry out quality operations, such as kidnappings, as a means to achieve their demands… But these actions, which achieve political goals, should not be attributed to Islam, nor should one search for jurisprudential rules that can justify them… It is unjust for the world to judge Islam by the behavior of Muslims and not by its teachings, its principles, and its program for making the world a better place.”
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:30 am on Saturday, September 1, 2007
3 Responses to ““New Means of Defense” Decried”
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September 1st, 2007 at 11:52 am
It is unjust for the world to judge Islam by the behavior of Muslims and not by its teachings, its principles, and its program for making the world a better place.”
So it’s okay for Muslims to kidnap, murder, and torture in the name of Allah, but the rest of the world shouldn’t judge Islam because they do?
September 1st, 2007 at 12:21 pm
As usual, sounds like a lot of reinvention after the fact.
Mohammed didn’t have a problem with taking women captured during one of his escapades.
You maraud, go into the cave, get permission from the Angel to keep the “booty”.
I’m tired of long-winded offerings of “interpretations” of Islam. I’ll just keep looking at what’s being perpetrated in the “name of Islam” and the NON chorus of voices condemning most of that.
Suicide is verboten, too, not just in the shari’a but, I believe, in one of the Suras.
But we can just change the name to…glorious martyrdom and voilà, have at it, blow yourself to smithereens and take out as many as possible in the vicinity.
“The injustice with which some oppressed Muslims are faced drives them, perhaps, to create new means of defending themselves, and to carry out quality operations, such as kidnappings, as a means to achieve their demands…”
Yeah, right.
It’s been a real moneymaker in Iraq. The reason given for some of al Sadr’s guys jumping ship from his “army” was that looting and kidnapping were so much more lucrative.
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:24 am
the trouble with muslims is they don’t know how to reason. Which is not surprising, because in their universe, Allah never promised anyone a reasonable world.
Thus, their universe is poor and ignorant and generally pretty awful.