World Threats

This is a rather encouraging development in India. Approximately 6,000 Muslim clerics approved a fatwa against terrorism, which stated:

“Islam rejects all kinds of unjust violence, breach of peace, bloodshed, murder and plunder and does not allow it in any form. Cooperation should be done for the cause of good but not for committing sin or oppression.”

The president of Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind said terrorism was Islam’s greatest problem, and said the media needed to do a better job of emphasizing that most Muslims are not radicals.

This is a good event, for sure, but too often so-called moderate organizations define “terrorism” as perceived Zionist/American aggression and not as suicide bombings, and condemns the killing of “innocents,” but Israeli Jews and sometimes, American non-Muslim civilians are not considered “innocent.” This isn’t to say that the clerics supporting this fatwa are playing that game, but it is something observers should keep in mind.

Future fatwas should specifically define what they mean by “terrorism” and “innocent.” I hate to play the semantics game, but manipulating language is a standard trick that extremists use to portray themselves as moderate and keep themselves politically acceptable.