Ayatullah Sayyed Milani's rulingsAfter the recent events of the
11th September 2001 which took
place in New York and
Washington, questions were put
forward to Ayatollah Sayyed Dr.
F H Milani, London, to explain
and give his rulings on
terrorism, jihad and suicide
bombings. He also explained the
duties of a Citizen of a
country.
In reply to the above questions,
Ayatollah Milani gave the
following explanations and
rulings.
First he said that we have to
understand, What is Islam?.
Islam is the faith and way of
life of almost two billions from
every race throughout the world.
In Arabic, the basis of the
words Islam – to
willingly restrain the ego’s
desires and behave in a
peaceable and decent manner, and
salaam – peace, stem ‘root’ S –
L – M. Other words from the same
root are used very specifically
in the Holy Qur’an. SILM,
which can either be interpreted
as peace or submission and
SALM which specifically
denotes peace.
O you who believe, enter
into Islam wholeheartedly and do
not follow Satan’s footstep …
But if the enemy incline
towards peace, incline to peace
as well and trust in Allah. ………
It is clearly correct to
conclude that Islam is a faith
of peace and purification NOT a
faith of strife and war. No
Muslim is permitted to cause
damage to, or to even threaten
to damage the life or property
of innocent people in any part
of the world.
He then went on to explain the
word Jihad – Is Jihad
considered to be a holy war?
He said NO, Jihad is not a holy
war. Jihad is the struggle to do
good, the battle with the
conscience over the right course
of action. However, the concept
of jihad has two aspects. The
Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) told
followers that the ‘greater’
jihad or struggle, is more
important than the ‘lesser’ one.
He is reported to have told Imam
Ali (a.s.) that the best Jihad
is striving never to harm any of
Allah’s creation.
The greater jihad is striving to
keep one’s ego’s desires under
control.
The lesser jihad is striving to
defend the Muslim community from
those who have declared war on
it.
He was then asked, Does jihad
justify Muslims attacking
civilian target.?
In reply, he said that even if a
state of war exists between a
non – Islamic and a Muslim
country, no Muslim is permitted
to assault, attack or harm any
non – Muslim civilian who does
not physically participate in
the fighting.
When he was asked, Is suicide
bombing acceptable in Islam?
He replied/explained as under:
Martyrdom is the honourable
status accorded to those who
have had to sacrifice their life
for an honourable cause.
However, Imam Ali (a.s.) accords
a higher status to those who
successfully restrain and
control their ill desires than
he does to martyrs. This is
because those who control
themselves are on the level of
the angles. Allah tells us in
the Holy Qur’an.
Allah does not forbid you
from being kind and just to
those who do not oppose you on
the grounds of faith, or drive
you away from your homes. Truly,
Allah loves those who are just.
This is clearly a prescription
for how Muslims ought to behave.
When asked to explain the ruling
from Islamic jurisprudence on
the question of handing over
of a Muslim by a Muslim state to
a Non – Islamic state for trial.
He said that it is a ruling of
Islamic law that, where reliable
Muslim jurists, qualified to
handle disputes are available,
Muslims should appeal to them
rather than to the litigation of
secular courts. This, however,
in no way challenges the
authority of courts such as the
International Court of Justice
in The Hague which specialises
in crimes against humanity.
The idea that a Muslim country
should not hand any Muslim over
to a non – Islamic state for
trial view may emanate from the
Hast thou not turned Thy
vision to those who declare that
they believe in the revelations
that have come to thee and to
those before thee? Their (real)
wish is to resort together for
judgment (in their disputes) to
the Evil One, though they were
ordered to reject him. But
Satan's wish is to lead them
astray far away (from the
right).
This verse commands that those
who declare belief in Divine
revelations should not refer
disputes for judgement by the
evil one – taghout, whom
they are ordered to reject.
To understand this, the meaning
of the word ‘Taghout’ must be
made clear. Its root ‘Tagha’, in
the past tense, refers to
behaviour of extreme arrogance.
The word ‘Taghout’ specifically
refers to rulers and judges who
make arrogant pronouncements and
issue unjustifiable and unsound
verdicts.
Ayatollah Milani then went on to
explain the duties of a
citizen.
He explained that before
clarifying the Islamic
jurisprudential position
regarding citizenship, it must
be said that the only states
which may correctly be described
as ‘purely Islamic’, were those
headed by error free leaders
namely, the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.)
and the Imams of his progeny (p.b.u.t).
Believers are ordered not to
bolster, support or remain in
states which oppose Allah and
HIS Messengers. Therefore,
diverse Muslim communities
throughout the world may not
support such states whose
citizenship they hold, whether
or not these are Muslim majority
lands.
In our opinion, a Muslim’s duty
is to refer herself or himself
to the infinite authority of the
Almighty Allah and the guidance
of HIS final Messenger (p.b.u.h.).
The instructions from these two
sources are to:
- Respect and honour all the duties and obligations of citizenship of
the country whose
nationality they hold as
long as these do not oppose
Allah or HIS Messengers (p.b.u.t)
- Be worthy exemplars of
Islamic conduct and
behaviour.
- And, if they think there
is any ambiguity between
what their country and Islam
demands, leave that to be
handled by accredited
Islamic jurists resident in
that land, who are fully
aware of all the
circumstances. They should
not themselves propound or
promote ideas which may be
false and which will
consequently impugn the
integrity of Islam and
Muslims.
Ayatollah Milani then explained
to the audience how to
reconcile Muslim religious
duties with duties of
citizenship in countries such as
the European Countries and the
United States of America as
under;
He said that we must clarify
that the majority of jurists
believe that any Muslim who
seeks to be admitted to, and to
be later accepted as a citizen
of a non – Islamic state, is
obliged to abide by all the laws
of that land. If they do not,
they have to suffer the full
consequences of their actions.
While a minority of Muslim
‘scholars’ may from time to time
attempt to justify people not
abiding with these laws, we do
not agree with that view nor
condone such behaviour.
Finally he said that there are
three areas to consider for a
Muslim living in a non – Muslim
state:
- Those laws and regulations required for the effective running of
society such as traffic,
building, health and safety
regulations. All of these
need to be adhered to by
every one without exception,
and there is no conflict of
interest.
- Family and matrimonial
issues such as marriage and
divorce, custody of
children, inheritance etc.
In this area one can
practice all one’s religious
injunctions without let or
hindrance and without
breaking the law of the
land.
- To be a good citizen is
by definition, to respect
the laws of the land and to
be a loyal subject.
113 -
What Does Islam
Seek To Achieve By Means
Of Jihad?
What Is The Need
For The Initiating Jihad?
Æ
The
Islamic jihads can be
classified into three
categories.
1
– The Initiating and
Liberating JihaD
God
has prescribed a set of
orders and chalked out programmes for the development, freedom, comfort, happiness and
prosperity of man, and has
entrusted unto His
Prophets the
responsibility of
communicating these to the
people.
Now, if an
individual or a group of
individuals regard the
communication of these
orders detrimental to
their personal lowly
interests and endeavour to
obstruct the Prophets in
fulfilling their Divine
responsibilities, the
Prophets possess the right
to remove the obstructions
lying in their path,
initially by utilizing
peaceful means and if not
possible, then by use of
force, in order to acquire
for themselves the freedom
to propagate (the
commandments of God).
In
other words, in every
society, the people have
the right to be able to
hear the talks of those
who invite them towards
the path of Truth, and
possess freedom to accept
their invitation.
But if some
individuals desire to
deprive them of their
legitimate right and
inhibit them from hearing
the talks and becoming
unfettered from their
mental and social
captivity and slavery, the
followers of these divine
programmes possess
the right to utilize every
means at their disposal in
order to achieve this
freedom, and it is here
that the necessity of the Initiating
Jihad in Islam and
other divine religions
becomes manifest.
Similarly,
if some individuals were
to compel the believers to
revert to their original
religion, every means
could be employed for
repelling such compulsions
too.
2
– The Defensive Jihad
At
times it so happens that a
battle is imposed upon an
individual or a group such that
they find themselves the object
of a calculated and/or a
surprise attack.
In such an instance, all
divine and man-made laws permit
the persons attacked to defend
themselves and employ every
available means to protect
themselves.
This kind of jihad is
referred to as the defensive
jihad; the battles of Ahzaab,
Uhud, Mautah, Tabuk,
Hunain and some other
Islamic battles are examples of
this category of jihad which
were defensive in nature.
3
– Jihad For The Eradication Of
Polytheism And Idolatry
Although
Islam invites the people to
select this religion - the last
and the most exalted of all
religions - nonetheless, it also
respects the freedom of belief
and it is for this reason it
grants the communities, who
possess Divine books, sufficient
opportunity so that, after study
and reflection, they may accept
the religion of Islam.
But if they do not do so
it looks upon them as a minor
confederate and by placing some
specific conditions, which are
neither intricate nor difficult,
endeavours to have a peaceful
co-existence with them
However,
the issue of polytheism is
different since it is neither a
religion nor a doctrine and so
it cannot be looked upon with
respect and esteem - rather, it
is a kind of superstition,
deviation and foolishness.
In reality, it is a kind
of mental and moral sickness,
which ought to be uprooted at
all costs.
The
use of the terms ‘freedom’
and ‘respect’, in connection
with the views of others, is
applicable if the views or the
beliefs are at least based upon
a proper and correct foundation.
However, deviation,
superstition and sickness are
not something that can be
treated as respectable, and it
is due to this that Islam has
ordered idolatry to be uprooted
from the human society, even at
the cost of warfare; if idol
temples and their evil
influences cannot be brought
down and destroyed by peaceful
means, then they should be
uprooted by means of force.
From
what has been mentioned above,
the answer to the venomous
propaganda of the Church becomes
plainly evident since a sentence
more explicit and lucid than لاَ
اِكراَهَ
فيِ
الدِّين,
which appears in the Qur'an,
cannot be found in this regard.
Of
course, they, for the purpose of
distortion, focus their
attention upon the battles of
Islam;
however, a study of these
battles clearly reveal that
while some of these were purely
defensive in nature, others -
that belonged to the category of
initiating jihad -
were not initiated with the
objective of conquering lands
and forcing the people into the
religion of Islam but instead,
for overturning incorrect and
oppressive regimes, and
providing opportunity to the
people to freely study and
review the religion and modes of
social lifestyle.
The
Islamic history is a living
testimony to the above, since it
has been observed repeatedly
that when the Muslims would
conquer cities they would grant
freedom to the followers of
other religions (just as they
would do to the Muslims) and
these people even performed
their acts of worship and
observed their religious
ceremonies, unhindered.
And if a limited tax, by
the name of jizyah, used
to be taken from them, it was
for the purpose of providing
social security and covering the
expenses of the security forces,
since their lives, properties
and womenfolk were under the
protection of Islam.
All
those, who deal with the history
of Islam, are aware of this
reality and even the Christians,
who have written books on Islam,
have acknowledged this issue.
For example, in the book Le
civilisation des arabes we
read: The Muslims were so
lenient towards the other
communities that the religious
leaders of these communities
(even) had the permission to
organize their own religious
gatherings.
In
some historical accounts it has
been reported that a group of
Christians, who had arrived in
the presence of the Holy Prophet
(peace be upon him and his holy
progeny) for the purpose of
research and investigation,
performed their religious
ceremonies in the Mosque of the
Holy Prophet (peace be upon him
and his holy progeny) in the
city of Medinah - freely and
unchecked!
