Muslim scholars reject militants’ reading of medieval jihad fatwa

Paris, NU Online
Prominent Muslim scholars have recast a famous medieval fatwa on jihad, arguing that the religious edict radical Islamists often cite to justify killing cannot be used in a globalized world that respects faith and civil rights.

A conference in Mardin, southeastern Turkey, declared that the fatwa by 14th century scholar Ibn Taymiyya rules out militant violence and that the medieval Muslim division of the world into a “house of Islam” and “house of unbelief” no longer applies.<>

Osama bin Laden has quoted Ibn Taymiyya’s “Mardin fatwa” repeatedly in his calls for Muslims to overthrow the Saudi monarchy and wage jihad against the United States.

In reference to that historic document, the conference declared: “Anyone who seeks support from this fatwa for killing Muslims or non-Muslims has erred in his interpretation. It is not for a Muslim individual or a Muslim group to announce and declare war or engage in combative jihad ... on their own,” said the declaration, which was issued on Sunday in Arabic and later provided in English.

The declaration is the latest bid by mainstream scholars to use age-old Muslim texts to refute current-day religious arguments by Islamist groups. A leading Pakistani scholar issued a 600-page fatwa against terrorism in London in early March.

The Mardin conference gathered 15 leading scholars from countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, Senegal, Kuwait, Iran, Morocco and Indonesia. Among them were Bosnian Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric, Sheik Abdullah bin Bayyah of Mauritania and Yemeni Sheik Habib Ali al-Jifri. Militants say the fatwa allows Muslims to declare other Muslims infidels and wage war on them. The scholars said this view had to be seen in its historic context of medieval Mongol raids on Muslim lands.

The emergence of civil states that guard religious, ethnic and national rights “has necessitated declaring the entire world a place of tolerance and peaceful coexistence between all religious, groups and factions,” the scholars said. (reu/dar)