Deoband Fatwa Against Terrorism: Waffle-Ironed

My overall verdict on this? As Fatwas against Terrorism go this falls completely off the scale into the “not fit to wipe hog’s butts with” category.

I previously posted on a declaration from an all sect Islamic Scholar conference in India, and expressed some hope as well as some skepticism. It turns out that the skepticism was justified. Below is the full text of the Declaration, or Fatwa against Terrorism with my commentary in brackets.

Islam is the religion of mercy for all humanity. It is the fountainhead of eternal peace, tranquility, security. Islam has given so much importance to human beings that it regards the killing of a single person the of killing the entire humanity, without differentiation based on creed and caste. Its teaching of peace encompasses all humanity. Islam has taught its followers to treat all mankind with equality, mercy, tolerance, justice. Islam sternly condemns all kinds of oppression, violence and terrorism. It has regarded oppression, mischief, rioting and murdering among severest sins and crimes.

[So far sounds like all other previous Muslim declarations against Terrorism — take this with a grain of salt in light of history the past 20 years.]

This All India Anti-Terrorism Conference attended by the representatives of all Muslim schools of thought organised by Rabta Madaris Islamiah Arabia (Islamic Madrasas Association), Darul Uloom Deoband condemns all kinds of violence and terrorism in the strongest possible terms.

[Wow! Fantastic – way to go! … but why is this so long since a declaration to express condemnation of terrorism is relatively simple? ]

The Conference expresses its deep concern and agony on the present global and national alarming conditions in which most of the nations are adopting such an attitude against their citizens especially Muslims to appease the tyrant and colonial master of the West, which cannot be justified in any way.

[ here’s the “but” clause, or as one teacher put it the “however” clause — as everyone should know “however” is just a soft “but”…

This is where the universe is flipped to paranoid fantasy and non-muslims become the cause of all ill that assails the world, and Muslims become the perpetual victims…]

It is a matter of greater concern that the internal and external policies of our country are getting heavily influenced by these forces. Their aggression, barbarism and state-sponsored terrorism not only in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan but also in Bosnia and various South American countries have surpassed all the records known to human history.

[Statistics do not lie, and statistics tell us that muslim terrorists have killed 10x the number of muslims that all western forces have. Indeed, the neo-takfirists of Deobandi / Wahabbist stripe will hunt other sects of Islam ahead of Westerners in most cases; it’s all about temporal dominance within Dar Al Islam with them.]

Contrary to it, our great nation has always been known for impartiality and its moral and spiritual values. Now the situation has worsened so far that every Indian Muslim especially those associated with madrasas, who are innocent with good record of characters, are always gripped by the fear that they might be trapped by the administrative machinery anytime. And, today countless number of innocent Muslims are spending their lives behind the bars and are forced to bear many intolerable tortures.

[Paraphrased: They are catching too many of us, and people are beginning to notice. It’s getting harder for us to gain children to brainwash to our ways. We are victims once again! We are the victims, it’s us I tell you! Note the “Trapped in the Machine” line, that’s a nice touch where they equate law and justice to a machine.]

And, those spreading terror, attacking police stations, killing the police in broad daylight and showing illegal arms are roaming about freely with no effective and preventive steps being taken by the government to check their acts of terrorism and violence.

[Notice how the responsibility is transferred from the actual evil-doers in this section to the government who isn’t stopping them, note that the Deobandis accept no responsibility themselves. Notice how they don’t condemn the terrorists, just the government.]

This partial attitude has put a big question mark on the secular character of the government posing great threats to the country. Therefore, this All India Anti-Terrorism Conference strongly condemns this attitude and expresses its deep concern on this partiality of government officials and declares its continuous joint struggles for domination of law, justice and secular system.

[Wait a minute, I thought this was supposed to be a Fatwa against Terrorism, not the Government of India?]

This conference strongly demands the Indian Government to curb those maligning the madrasas and Muslims. The administrative machinery should be demanded to conduct impartial investigations in activities disturbing public peace in the country and to punish only those found guilty. It also demands to free the accused if he is found innocent and punish severely those officials who accused him of crimes of terrorism. No person of any particular community should be suspected without solid reasons. In short, the government agencies must fulfill their duty justly without any prejudice and bias so that real peace and security may prevail in the country.

[ So we now have the real point, this is a Fatwa against the government to protect the Deobandi’s, and terrorists, and to paint themselves as victims]

This All India Anti-Terrorism Conference appeals to all intellectuals, writers and media persons to independently and honestly analyze the national and international affairs and avoid to biased and partial attitudes.

[did they just say “honestly”?]

Moreover, this All India anti-Terrorism Conference attended by the representatives of all schools of thought appeal to all Muslims to continue, as they always did in the past, their loyalty towards the dear motherland and love and respect towards humanity. It appeals to them to fully understand the present alarming situation, the gravity and intensity of the time, and feel the pulse of the present world so that they might not be employed as tools of evils by anti-Islamic or anti-national forces. It peals to them to live with dignity and pride being faithful to the country, to keep full trust on their leadership, render full support to Islamic madarsas which are valuable assets of the Muslim Ummah, spend their lives in the country following Islamic Shariah and teachings with full confidence. They should always remember that most important things are Islam and practicing it, and, hence, their prime focus should be on enriching their lives with good deeds and noble manners as, in fact, worldly situations deteriorate because of non-practice of Islamic teachings.

Need for holding state-wise conferences against terrorism.

This meeting of working committee of All India madarsas association feels necessary to hold state-wise conferences as it held this grand conference in view of the existing situations. The present situation of the country demands the joint and constant efforts being made to denounce terrorism, biased and discriminatory attitudes of the government against the Muslim community. It needs such conferences to be held in the major places of all the states. This meeting appeals to Darul Uloom Deoband to act as a leader in this direction.

[so they end up with the state is the terrorist, and we condemn it. They conclude that they are the victims.]

My overall verdict on this? As Fatwas against Terrorism go this falls completely off the scale into the “not fit to wipe hog’s butts with” category.

Update: BJP Wary of Deoband Fatwa Against Terror

British Hostage Video Airs on Al Arabiya

A new video of a British hostage aired on Al Arabiya today, from the Telegraph:

The bearded captive, who appears healthy, calls for the UK to free Iraqi prisoners in return for the men’s release, in the clip broadcast by the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya station
“I have been held here for nearly eight months,” he says, suggesting that the clip is already a month old.
Addressing Gordon Brown, the captive continues: “Release their people from prison so that we can go home. It is as simple as that.”
The video carries a message from the Islamic Shia Resistance in Iraq, a Shia faction believed to be connected to the Mahdi Army, the violent militia led by the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

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With rebuilding efforts paramount to the future of Iraq, it’s very important to put an end to the hostage taking groups who will otherwise make recovery for the Shia areas of the country exceedingly difficult. NGO’s will not go where they are not safe.

Previous Hostage Posts

Crows Home to Roost V: Deoband Scholars Condemn Terror

At a summit of Islamic Scholars 20,000 strong in India even the Deoband scholars signed the declaration condemning terror.

There’s more to this than just a show, as terror now haunts the Islamic world. It is threatening their madrassa structure, and they are having harder times recruiting students due to the massive Muslim vs. Muslim terror violence we’ve seen the past two years.

The crows came home to roost, as demonstrated by Lal Masjid in Pakistan, the mosque bombings and shootings across the Islamic world, and the threats to stability and governance in many Islamic nations. It was bound to happen.

The question remains as to whether there will be after the fact winking and nudging to indicate that they only meant this for Islamic countries, or Dar al Islam.

From the Times Online:

Terrorism has been declared un-Islamic by scholars at a Wahabi madrassa, which some believe inspired the Taleban, according to a senior cleric.

In a declaration, as many as 20,000 leaders representing different sects of Islam also called on the Indian Government to ensure that Muslims were not harassed in the name of terrorism, Maulana Shaukat said. He was speaking from the 150-year-old Darul Uloom Deoband madrassa at Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, northern India.

The declaration said: “Islam is a religion of mercy for all humanity. Islam sternly condemns all kinds of oppression, violence and terrorism.”

Adil Siddiqui, another Deobandi representative, noted that “whenever there is any incident of terrorism, every possible attempt is made to link it to Muslims, particularly who have studied in madrassas. This is totally wrong.”

Reading between the lines in several papers and Islamic forums there has been a sea change of sorts post-Bhutto assasination, it will be interesting to see how that develops.