Islamic jurists: Killing of innocents in the name of jihad not justified

Eminent Islamic jurists meeting in Makkahtul Mukarrama under the aegis of Muslim World League have reached the conclusion that killing the innocents could not be condoned in the name of religion.

The week-long meeting of Islamic Fiqh Academy, due to end yesterday, has covered a number of issues confronting the Muslim world today.

These included the issues of terrorism, jihad, religious edicts and other issues of day to day life confronting the Muslims. An effort was made to reach a consensus on the issues.

The move underlined the difference between terrorism and the right to resist any invasion. It said that any one resisting occupation or safeguarding integrity and independence cannot be termed as a terrorist.

According to Justice (Retd) Taqi Usmani who represented Pakistan in the meeting of eminent Islamic jurists, it was however, made clear that operations in which common, innocent people get killed cannot be condoned in the name of jihad. The issue of declaring other Muslims as infidel was also discussed by the religious Islamic scholars during the week-long meet.

The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Fahd in his opening message to the meeting of the Islamic jurists highlighted the need to look closely at jihad, terrorism, takfir and other similar issues confronting the Islamic world today and earning a bad name to the Muslims all over the globe. He was of the opinion that Islamic scholars need to define these terms properly so that deviant thoughts could be countered. Saudi Arabia, like some other Muslim societies, is faced with extremism in its ranks, often connected to religious thou-ghts and beliefs.

It was learned that the committee also discussed the taxation system in the light of Islamic rulings; especially issues such as who can and when taxes could be levied in a Muslim society and to what purposes the collected taxes could be used.

The issue of hereditary diseases due to mismatched marriages also came under discussion. According to sources, it was made clear that authorities could made it mandatory to get a medical check before solemnising any marriages so as to rule out the possibility of hereditary medical problems arising out of such marriages.

Some other medical issues such as the usage of sperms left over after the delivery of test tube babies also came up for discussion. The issue of legalising certain aspects of interest free banking were also discussed at the meeting of the Islamic jurists. Eminent jurists from various parts of the Islamic world are attending the meet.