Very informative.
From http://www.darulfatwa.org.au/
Darulfatwa is the final frontier to bridge the gap between the needs of Muslims and their productive co–existence in the wider Australian community. Darulfatwa is a non-partisan and independent institution, lobbying for the right of all Muslims to a better living standard without prejudice and discrimination and defending the civil liberties and privileges of those at risk.
Here’s a brief historic account of some extremists, followed by an exposé of their ideology, ending with remedies and solutions according to the rules of Islam (Islamic shari`ah).
Prophet Muhammad said: “The extremist fanatics are doomed.” Although extremism is not a new phenomenon, the rebel exacerbations witnessed today requires prompt action and a strong resolve.
The global extremist movement driving this form of anarchy is manifested in groups known by a multitude of names hiding behind Islam to roam among the Islamic communities without drawing suspicion.
Extremism does exist. Admitting this and recognising it as a dangerous force we can better plan to weed it from society. Islamic practice is a true following of the rules of Islam and extremism is a perverted view that deviates from the meanings of the merciful shari`ah (rules of Islam).
The Beginnings of Extremism
Historically, many people embraced Islam freeing their hearts from the odious practices of ignorance and tribalism.
Those true Muslims whose hearts pacified to the call of the Prophet were a people of middle ground, fairness and justice.
Others, whose hearts did not pacify with peace of mind, had ulterior motives and emerged to spread envious gossip by attempting to split the line. They constitute the fringe sects of destruction and diseased ideologies who had to conceal themselves with the cloak of Islam to spread their evil. The khawarij (dissenters) are among those who appeared in the first century on the Islamic calendar and whom Prophet Muhammad warned against in his hadith:
“There will be those that come after me who will read the Qur’an but it does not go past their throats. They leave Islam like a spear leaves a prey, and they never return to it. They are the worst of the creations.”
Extremism in Modern Times
The majority of Muslims do not subscribe to extremist ideologiesand theological perversions, which is why extremists find themselves constantly challenged, striving in every era to increase their small number and expand on their fringe
positioning. Consequently, extremists have always tended to overtly gather to protect and pass their distorted views
to the next generation built on youth.
Today the khawarij still exist despite appearing under different names. Like their elders, they pass group-blasphemy to all those outside their sects. They continue to assault, to shed blood and to extort the properties of all those who defy them, the same way their elders did with the sons of the companions of the Prophet.
Except today their threat is greater especially when they are not being faced with a unified and prompt ideological counter–offensive. The khawarij of today follow the same concepts of their elders resulting in copycat acts of terror
shedding the blood of the rulers; peoples of states; Imams; contractors; journalists; ambassadors; engineers; doctors; farmers; craftsman, and old and young males and females.
They call upon peoples to dissent against the leaders by way of revolutionary coup d’états and armed revolts, to hit at the infrastructure of governments and to kill its soldiers and police officers. If people refuse their calls, they apostatize them and shed their blood and extort their properties; leading to the bombing of civilian buses and to planting explosives at airports, trains, public roads.
Previously they have even destroyed mosque minarets with the praise of some locals. One of their speakers here in
Sydney said on a local radio station about killing people in the police force and the like: “It’s as permissible to us as drinking water”; thus trying to tarnish the reputation of Islam and Muslims.
Let us not forget the killing and slaughtering of the kids in East Jordan on the hands of these extremists. Their activist was caught saying: “Do not prevent us from its blessing” implying he too wanted to contribute to the cowardice slaughtering.
The extremists have killed many people in Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Saudi, Iraq and other places believing that God will reward them for killing off people who oppose them. Amongst whom they have killed are:
- Sheikh Muhammad ash-Shami: the Mufti of a village near Aleppo called `Ifrin.
- Sheikh Dr. Hussayn adh–Dhahabi: the Minister for Islamic Endowments and an academic at an Islamic College in Egypt.
- Sheikh Nizar al-Halabi: the chairman of the Islamic Charity Projects Association in Lebanon.
Islamic scholars fought and debated them including the great Prophetic companion AbdullahIbn Abbas and the fourth Khalif (successor) Master `Aliy Ibn Abi Talib.
Quotes from extremists’ books:
-
In Fi-Dhilal Al-Qur’an (In the Shades of the Qur’an) [vol.3/G8/p.1198] they say: “He who obeys a human in a secular law even if it were partial obedience then this person is a mushrik (idolater) and a blasphemer no matter how emphatically he utters the testifications of faith”.
-
In the same book [vol 3/p.1449] is written: “It is required upon those who are called the Jama`ah al-Islamiyya or the brotherhood group to snatch the reigns of power from the rulers and to destroy their systems and to revolt against them by way of coups throughout the states”.
The four Sunni schools of thought are the highest authority for the Sunnis in refuting this global extremist movement and its aligned groups who falsely claim to be part of the Sunni populace.
Quotes from the four Sunni
schools:
- The Mufti of the Hanbalis
Sheikh Muhammad bin `Abdullah
bin Hamid (d. 1295 H.) said in as–
suhub al-wabilah (The Downpouring
Clouds, p.276) about the
leader of the extremist Wahhabi
movement: “If he was contested
and refuted and could not overtly
kill his contester, he sends a hit
man to murder him on his bed or
at night in the market place,
because he believed in the blasphemy
of those who opposed him
and the shedding of their blood”. - The Shafi^iyy Mufti Sheikh
Ahmad Zayni Dahlan (d. 1304 H.)
wrote in Ad-durar As-sunniyyah
(The Sunni Gems) about the
leader of the extremist Wahhabi
movement that he used to say:
“And all that is under the seven
skies is a mushrik (idolater) fully,
and he who kills a mushrik is
rewarded with Paradise”. - He also mentioned in his book
‘umara’ al-balad al-haram (The
Princes of the Holy Land) that
when the Wahhabis entered
at-Ta’if they killed the people en
mass, indiscriminately. - The Maliki Sheikh Ahmad as–
Sawi (d. 1241 H.) mentioned in his
commentary on al-Jalalayn [vol.3
p.307-308] about the khawarij
who misinterpret the true meanings
of the Qur’an and the
Prophetic traditions shedding the
blood of the Muslims as is
witnessed today in their localities.
They are a sect in the Hijaz region
(East Arabia) called the Wahhabis,
they think they have a legitimate
authority but in deed they are the
liars who have been deceived by
the devil who has made them
forget the remembrance of their
Lord.
Those are the evil satanic sect; in
fact the sect of Satan is
defeated.” - Sheikh Hasan al-Banna said
about the underground youth
before he died, that they were
not brothers and they were not
Muslims.
His disciple, Dr Muhammad al–
Ghazali (d.1996) mentioned in
min ma`alim al-haqq (From the
Characteristics of Truth, p.264):
“Those underground youth were
later on a major threat to the
group, as they started turning
against each other in assassinations
until they became a destructive
tool for terror in the hands of
those who had no true knowledge
of Islam and could not be relied
upon for the common interest of
society”.
Today, the threat of extremists is
escalating and reaching new
fronts beyond New York, Madrid,
Bali, London and Sharm Elsheikh.
They kill unjustly on one hand and
call themselves ‘the Salafy Group’
on the other hand.
But, no two concepts can be more
polarised. They hide behind the
banner of Islam.
The fact of the matter remains
that Islam is against them and
against their evil acts.
Remedies and Solutions
The war against extremism is a
systematic war which has to be
accompanied with preventative
measures which include: - Satisfying the need for Islamic
scholars, Sheikhs and Islamic
religious workers who remain at
the forefront of the line of
Continued Community 2MFM Member…
defence against them. - To continue training new
religious workers and Sheikhs with
the know hows and the rebuttal
documents enabling them to
expose extremism and its proponents. - To expose those in the public
arena so that they cannot
continue to find access to the
general public. - To maintain a media, broadcast
and print, that supports rebutting
and curtailing extremist acts and
undressing their disguise and
motives. - To encourage Islamic leaders of
today to speak out against the Al–
Jamaah Islamiyah, today’s Khawarij,
to prevent them from
teaching their extremist ideology
through pulpits, mosques, radio
stations, satellite channels,
schools, public lectures. - To prevent public access to
extremist books.
Curtailing extremism should not
be limited to security measures,
which sometimes defeats the aim
by bloating the motives of
extremists and promote clandestine
acts.
We all need to resolve this phenomenon,
each through his area
of expertise and capacity.
Darulfatwa-Australia, in its moderate
Islamic path as represented
by the traditional Sunni methodology
of Imams, Sheikhs, religious
workers, organisations, Islamic
centres and sections of the
Australian Islamic community asks
the governments and nations to
differentiate between Muslims
and terrorists and to further
promote that there is no relation
between Islam, terrorism and
extremism.
Darulfatwa reaffirms that Muslims
globally and in Australia are
against all criminal attacks driven
by extremist ideology.
We say to all, that we are not the
ones who exchange conviction for
positions, and not those who
disregard the true Islamic fatwa
for any agenda or program.
We are witnessing today people
who compete for air time and
coverage, while concealing their
true identity and motives behind
void utterances of peace and
moderation.
Their private sessions contain the
same rants that they distribute in
their bookstores, including calling
those carrying out suicidal attacks
“martyrs”.
In fact counselling against
extremists requires a continuous
effort to eradicate this social
dilemma and save nations and its
peoples from its danger.
This work requires qualified and
diligent individuals trained in
deflating the calls of the named
al-Jama`ah al-Islamiyyah, the
Wahhabis and Hizbut-Tahrir.
The trustworthy Prophet peace
be upon him said: “Allah
rewards for gentleness what He
does not reward for violence”
[related by Muslim and others].