Feb 03, 2010

A leading British Islamic scholar issued a fatwa condemning "terrorists" as the enemies of Islam, in a bid to deter young Muslims from extremism.

In his religious ruling, delivered this morning in London, Pakistan-born Dr Tahir ul-Qadri, 59, said he felt compelled to issue the edict because of concerns about the radicalisation of British Muslims at university campuses and because there had been a lack of condemnation of extremism by Muslim clerics and scholars.

In his 600-page judgement, known as a fatwa , Dr Qadri said Islam forbids the massacre of innocent citizens and suicide bombings, and is not in line with Islam.

He told reporters: "They [terrorists] can't claim that their suicide bombings are martyrdom operations and that they become the heroes of the Muslim Umma [global brotherhood]. No, they become heroes of hellfire, and they are leading towards hellfire," he said.

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

Dr Qudri has written about 350 books on Islam, and is a scholar of Sufism, a Muslim branch that focuses on peace, tolerance, and moderation. He is the founder of the vast Pakistani grassroots movement known as Minhaj ul Quran.

The Minhaj-ul-Quran movement which was founded in Pakistan in 1980, works around the globe to promote peace and interfaith dialogue.

The Quilliam Foundation, a UK counter-extremism think-tank, said Fatwas " by Wahhabi-influenced clerics and Islamist idealogues initiated modern terrorism against civilians, are arguably the most comprehensive theological refutation of Islamic extremism."

And this fatwa has the potential to eradicate "Islamist terrorism".