By Benjamin Graham
March 5, 2010

An Islamic scholar from Pakistan has issued a fatwa, or religious edict, that condemns suicide bombers to hell.

Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri said terrorism is forbidden by the Qur’an, and suicide bombers will not be rewarded by 72 virgins in heaven, as terrorist recruiters often claim.

Ul-Qadri’s 600-page fatwa was praised as “arguably the most comprehensive theological refutation of terrorism to date” by the Quilliam Foundation, a London-based counter-terrorism thinktank.

The foundation added that ul-Qadri is a mainstream Muslim scholar whose views on Islamic law are “widely recognised and respected”.

“Terrorism is terrorism,” said ul-Qadri at a news conference.

“Violence is violence. It has no place in Islamic teaching, and no justification can be provided to it.”

“No good intention – even one thousand good intentions put together – cannot justify a wrong and forbidden act,” he added.

“Good intentions cannot convert a wrong into good.”

Ul-Qadri is the founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran, an organisation with hundreds of thousands of followers in south east Asia and the United Kingdom.