March 9, 2010

In a bid to deter young Muslims from extremism. Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, head of the Minhaj ul-Quran religious and educational organization, released a 600-page edict in London in which he said suicide bombers were destined for hell. This was reported by Al Jazeera a week ago today.

“There is no place for any martyrdom,” he said. “And their act is never, ever to be considered.”

At a news conference, Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri said Islam was a religion of peace that promotes beauty, “betterment,” goodness and “negates all form of mischief and strife.”

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

“This is the first, most comprehensive fatwa on the subject of terrorism ever written,” he told the Reuters news agency.

“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.”

Pakistan-born ul-Qadri, 59, is a scholar of Sufism, a Muslim branch that focuses on peace, tolerance, and moderation.

The Quilliam Foundation, a U.K. counter-extremism think-tank, said the fatwa was “arguably the most comprehensive” theological refutation of Islamic extremism.