Fatwas issued against terror groups

HYDERABAD: Religious guardians of the Muslim community have reacted for the first time against Islamic terrorist groups, issuing fatwas and demanding that these advocates of hatred stop naming their outfits after Allah and Prophet Mohammed. Several Muslim organisations also decided to launch a campaign to discourage Muslim youth from falling prey to such violent groups.
"Islam is a religion of peace and using holy names against peace is disrespecting Islam.The religion which does not even allow harming a tree or an animal cannot condone killing innocent people in the name of Jihad,"said Moulana Syed Shah Badruddin Qadri Al-jeelani, president of Jamiat-ul Mashaiq al-Hind and All India Sunni Ulema Board.
"Through the fatwa our organisations wanted to give a message that Islam in no way supports violence,"he said on Monday. The fatwa came in the wake of an unknown Islamic group calling itself Lashkar-e-Qahar (Army of the Subduer) claiming responsibility for the Varanasi blasts.
Other terrorist groups which operate in India, such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the righteous) are named after Prophet Mohammed and attempt to draw their legitimacy by the divine connect.
Moulana Mastan Ali, director of Jamiat-ul Mominath, who authored a fatwa on Sunday, says terrorist groups do this to attract religious-minded young people.
"Let them go for other tactics. If they cannot drop the path of violence then at least they must drop the names,"he said. The same anger and the desire not to be clubbed with terrorists was visible among the ulema in Mumbai, although no fatwa was issued.
"To use the Prophet's name for terrorist activities is sinful,"declared Mufti Saleem Akhtar of Darul Uloom Gharib Nawaz at Malad. "It's not jihad. Not all fights are jihad. Jihad is a particular clash in a particular circumstance,"he said.
Maulana Mehmood Daryabadi of the All India Ulema Council, an influential group of clerics, said: "The blasts in Varanasi can never be condoned. Islam regards it a sinful activity.
"In the days following the serial blasts in the Sankat Mochan temple during the peak praying hour last Tuesday, several Muslim organisations across India condemned the acts.
"This is a brutal crime which Islam doesn't approve of,"said Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid. Muslims leaders also appeared worried about UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's attempt to blatantly use Muslim radical figures in his campaign to woo Muslim votes.