Suicide bombers have been described as the "heroes of hellfire" by a leading Muslim scholar in a fatwa condemning terrorists as the enemies of Islam.

Pakistan-born Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said there were no "ifs or buts" about terrorism and such acts had no justification in the name of Islam.

In a news conference attended by MPs, representatives from the Metropolitan Police, charitable organisations, think-tanks and other groups, he called on Islamic leaders to convey the message that acts of terrorism cut people off as true followers of Islam.

"They can't claim that their suicide bombings are martyrdom operations and that they become the heroes of the Muslim Umma (the wider Muslim community), no, they become heroes of hellfire, and they are leading towards hellfire," he said.

"There is no place for any martyrdom and their act is never, ever to be considered Jihad," he added.

Dr Qadri, who spoke at length in both English and Arabic before his audience, said his fatwa - a religious edict or ruling - was an "absolute" condemnation of terrorism without "any excuses or pretexts".

"Good intentions cannot convert a wrong into good, they cannot convert an evil into good," he said. "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 insisted that Islam was a religion of peace that promotes beauty, "betterment", goodness and "negates all form of mischief and strife".

The 600-page fatwa by Dr Qadri, founder of the global Minhaj-ul-Quran movement, which has thousands of supporters across the world as well as in the UK, will be translated into English in the coming weeks. His talk will also be made available online in an attempt to counter extremist versions of Islam available on the internet.

A fatwa, an edict issued by a learned Muslim scholar, may concern any aspect of Islamic life. The term became famous in the Western world in 1989 after the author Salman Rushdie was forced into hiding following a "death fatwa" issued by Ayatollah Khomeni, then Supreme Leader of Iran, on the grounds that his book, The Satanic Verses, had "insulted" Islam.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100302/tuk-suicide-bombers-enemies-of-islam-6323e80.html

Assalamualaikum

@poster
while i am all for peace and reckon the good doctor's fatwa is a step in the right direction i have to disagree with him that islam does not support suicide bombing or martyrdom.

using the yusuff ali translation#

quran 4;74 "Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who reject Faith Fight in the cause of Evil: So fight ye against the friends of Satan: feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan."

quran 2;191 "And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have Turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith"
(this particular verse which was the medinan verse which mohammad gave that abrogated all other meccan verses on toleration and peaceful co existence with other faiths)

the fact of the matter is that while the world needs modernist islamist scholars like the dr if not for anything to reduce the needless and senseless blood shed,majority of muslims will dismiss him as a western apologist and like sayyid qutb said in his critical treatise milestones"people like them are weak and trying to bow to western orientalists"

its so easy to see

according to d verse u quoted
using the yusuff ali translation#

quran 4;74 "Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who reject Faith Fight in the cause of Evil: So fight ye against the friends of Satan: feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan."

is killing innocent people a fight against the friends of satan?

note that both muslims and others die in d bombing

quran 2;191 "And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have Turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith"


it was clearly started in d verse

And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have Turned you out

initially dey oppress mulims and when this law came, its time for u to fight them d way they fight u, its simple

bilms:

quran 2;191 "And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have Turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith"


it was clearly started in d verse

And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have Turned you out

initially dey oppress mulims and when this law came, its time for u to fight them d way they fight u, its simple

i am at work therefore i cant properly adress your comment but i will give you a short assignment go and read milestones by a foremost fundamentalist sayyid qutb on jihad and your question will be answered

i am aware of sayyid,

The Problem Of Sayyid Qutb's Jihad.
Note: Sayyid Qutb is an important figure in current Islamic violence circles. He was executed by President Nasser of Egypt in 1966. Qutb provides the intellectual justification (based on the Koran)for the present day assault by Islamist terrorists on the West, Christianity, the Jews and liberal muslims. Readers will not have read his ideas in relation to the thought of Pope Benedict. It makes interesting reading.

i will open another thread to discuss about him if u care