Dubai: Dar Al Ifta, Egypt’s official Islamic body, has warned of what it called “misleading militant” fatwas that glorify suicide attacks.
“The suicide operations are forbidden in Islam and are among the cardinal sins which Allah has vowed punishment for their perpetrators,” the Cairo-based authority said.
It condemned such attacks, saying they result in the killing of Muslims and non-Muslims.
“The Noble Islamic Sharia highly values human blood and life. God Almighty says in the Holy Koran:‘And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right’,” the body said.
“These [suicide] operations kill men, women and children, a matter rejected in Islam,” it continued.
Shaikh Ekrima Sabri, the President of the Supreme Islamic Council in occupied Jerusalem also weighed in on the the condemnation of dangerous fatwas.
He harshly condemned suicide attacks branding the suicide bombers apostates and non-Muslims altogether.
Responding to the suicide attacks at Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah of Saudi Arabia, Shaikh Sabri said “those murderous attacks fuel suspicion that the whole process is supervised by colluding, unseen, suspicious, imperialist and dirty hands,” he said. “Suicide attacks have always been categorically rejected.”
“Suicide attacks are plotted and meant to further weaken the sacred relationship between Muslims and their holy sites,” he said.
“Suicide bombers are not and can not be regarded as Muslims. Islam clearly disowns them all. They are branded apostates.”
On Wednesday, social media in the Arab world was abuzz with footage and YouTube clips posted by thousands of users showing a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader praising suicide bombings as a means to “intimidate the enemy”.
Yousuf Al Qaradawi, a cleric based in Qatar and considered by many as one of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group’s spiritual leaders, is known for radical views that include condoning suicide bombing. In the wake of suicide attacks in Baghdad and Madinah this week, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, wrote on Twitter that the Muslim cleric who encourages such crimes should be held accountable.
He mentioned Al Qaradawi as one of those clerics who condones suicide attacks. Al Qaradawi responded on his Twitter account claiming that he never encouraged suicide attacks. He also said he condemned the attacks in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Soon after, the social media networks erupted with thousands of posts, under the hashtag #AlQardawiisawarcriminal, calling the cleric “a liar” and showing videos in which he praised suicide attacks as a means to intimidate the enemy and and “support the Mujahedeen”.
