Suicide Attacks are Haram, Clerics Decree

This in from the Daily Times of Pakistan:


LAHORE: Fifty-eight clerics belonging to different schools of thought on Tuesday gave a unanimous ‘fatwa’ (decree) according to which considering suicide attacks a kind of jihad was ‘haram’ (forbidden) and disallowed in Islam.

Mufti Muneebur Rehman, Pakistan Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee chairman, told a press conference on Tuesday that the group of clerics had also said a man or a woman would not be considered Muslim if they took part in a suicide attack thinking he or she had God’s blessings.

Seven senior clerics from different parts of the country were also at the conference.

Muneebur Rehman also said planting bombs, attacking mosques or other places of worship or even public places were also haram in Islam. He said killing human beings had nothing to do with Islam and dispelled the impression that religious organisations trained their students to carry out such activities. He said no religious institutions could give such training to its students.

Clerics also said struggling for freedom within the ambit of international law was justified.

Allama Muhammad Hussain Akbar, Allama Ubaidullah Ashrafi, Qari Muhammad Hanif Jallundary, Maulana Abdul Malik Abdul Mustafa Hazarvi, Muhammad Rafique Hasni and Mufti Muhammad Khan Qadri were also at the clerical meeting.

This meeting was the result of Minister of State for Religious Affairs Aamir Liaqat Hussain’s continuous efforts to build consensus between the clerics of Pakistan on the subject.