THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010

LONDON – A Muslim scholar issued Tuesday, March 2, a 600-page fatwa condemning people who are carrying out suicide operations as “non-believers”.

"They can't claim that their suicide bombings are martyrdom operations and that they become the heroes of the Muslim Umma,” Pakistani-born scholar Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri told a press conference in London cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“No, they become heroes of hellfire, and they are leading towards hellfire.”

The Muslim scholar described Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda organization as an "old evil with a new name" that has not been sufficiently challenged.

"There is no place for any martyrdom and their act is never, ever to be considered jihad."

Qadri, the leader of the Minhaj-ul-Quran movement, said his 600-page fatwa was an absolute condemnation of terrorism without "any excuses or pretexts".

"This is the first, most comprehensive fatwa on the subject of terrorism ever written," he told the Reuters.

The scholar developed his fatwa last year as a response to the increase in bombings across Pakistan by militants.

The basic text has been extended to 600 pages to cover global issues, in an attempt to undermine the justifications of militant groups to launch attacks.

"I have tried to leave not a single stone unturned on this particular subject and I have tried to address every single question relevant to this subject."

The fatwa will be translated into English in the coming weeks and made available online in an attempt to counter extremist ideologies.

Islam For Peace The Muslim scholar stressed that Islam forbids attacks against innocent citizens and suicide bombings.

Islam is a religion of peace that promotes beauty, betterment, goodness and "negates all form of mischief and strife", he said.

Qadri rejected the view that there were situations under which acts of vengeance, such as attacks on marketplaces or commuter trains, could be considered a justifiable act of war.

"Good intentions cannot convert a wrong into good, they cannot convert an evil into good," he said.

"Terrorism is terrorism and violence is violence. It has no place in Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it, or any kind of excuses or ifs or buts."

A scholar of Sufism, Qadri, 59, has written about 350 books on Islam.

His group, Minhaj-ul-Quran, was founded in Lahore in 1980 as a non-political, non-sectarian, non-governmental organization (NGO), according to the group’s website.

The group says it aims to revive the message of the Qur’an and Sunnah in light of the modern and moderate interpretation.

In Britain, the group says it runs courses in combating extremism in educational centres in London, Manchester and Birmingham.