Tuesday 2nd March, 2010

Describing Al-Qaeda as an 'old evil with a new name', influential Pakistani scholar Dr Tahir ul-Qadri has said he would soon issue a 'fatwa' against terrorism and suicide bombing.

Qadri said the Al-Qaeda has not been sufficiently challenged and that his global ruling against terrorism completely dismantles the banned terror organisation's violent ideology.

In his 600-page ruling, Qadri said Islam forbids the massacre of innocent citizens and suicide bombings.

The fatwa also challenges the religious motivations of would-be suicide bombers who are inspired by promises of an afterlife, The BBC reports.

The famous Muslim scholar developed his document last year as a response to the sudden increase in suicide bombings across Pakistan.

The fatwa, which would be promoted in Britain by Qadri's organisation, Minhaj ul-Quran International, would cover global issues in an attempt to get its theological arguments taken up by Muslims in western nations.

Terming the fatwa as 'hard hitting', Minhaj ul-Quran International's spokesperson Shahid Mursaleen said the ruling would inject doubt into the minds of potential suicide bombers.

"Extremist groups based in Britain recruit the youth by brainwashing them that they will with certainty be rewarded in the next life. Dr Qadri's fatwa has removed this key intellectual actor from their minds," Mursaleen said. (ANI)