Writing in Asharq Alawsat, Turki Al-Saheil writes about talks now taking place in both the Shoura Council and the Council of Senior Ulema to make the issuance of takfiri fatwas a defined crime. Takfiri fatwas declare that someone is not a Muslim. Not only is that person declared to be a non-believer, but he is also subject to being killed by anyone who claims to be upholding the virtue of Islam. In a culture in which religion is tightly interwoven with daily life, being declared a non-Muslim is not just an exercise in rhetoric.
The wild, ‘cowboy’ issuing of fatawa does distort Islam and it damages the Saudi state. One Shoura Council member is quoted as saying that even though the clerics issuing these fatwas have no connection to the Saudi state, they are still identified as ‘Saudi Arabian religious clerics’, and bring down the reputation of all Saudi clerics. An example raised in the article is that of the clerics who issued fatwas claiming that the public mixing of the sexes was haram, i.e., strictly forbidden by Islam, and to permit this mixing was to put oneself outside the fold of the Islamic nation or umma.
Calls to Criminalize Takfiri Fatwas
Turki Al-SaheilRiyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- Saudi Arabia’s Senior Ulema Council is currently holding closed-door sessions to discuss two important issues affecting the kingdom; the financing of terrorism, and Takfiri fatwas.
Last week, another closed-door session held by the Saudi Shura Council discussed calls to criminalize Takfiri fatwas that are issued from outside the official religious institute in order to put an end to the issuance of such fatwas that have been on the rise in recent years. Takfiri fatwas are fatwas or religious advisory opinions that state that a certain practice or act is haram or religiously impermissible and that anybody who takes part in such practices is not a Muslim.
Sources close to one of the members of the Senior Ulema Council stated to Asharq Al-Awsat that the sessions being held by the council in Riyadh are “secret and extraordinary,” while another source at the Senior Ulema Council explained that the meetings, which commenced on Saturday and will end today Monday 12 April, will discuss the criminalization of the “Takfiri fatwas,” and the “financing of terrorism.”
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April:13:2010 - 08:47
[...] Islamic reform: The ulema in Saudi Arabia are considering criminalizing takfiri fatwas. [...]
April:13:2010 - 14:31
It should be criminalized. Also it says that when a so called Muslim calls another person a non Muslim it is true that one of them is not and you know the thing about one finger forward and three backwards.
I wonder if being a Muslim or a Non Muslim is going to be a ticket or pass to get somewhere. Is it the ticket to Jannah and why are people interested in other people’s tickets? I have never seen people at a certain place of employment more preoccupied with people’s religion and their personal religious practices that they were unable to focus on their own jobs. That is a disease IMO. Some people’s preoccupation with other’s religious affiliation is so intense that it overshadows any other work they should be doing including most likely devoting themselves to their own worship and spiritual development.
It is really unfortunate. So my advice to takfiri declaring fanatics would be don’t get so caught up in the latest of who’s who amongst Muslims and what they are not doing or doing. Instead they may want to start by picking up some trash around their house or give 6 riyals to the man who picks up the trash carelessly thrown on the ground.
April:13:2010 - 21:06
“why are people interested in other people’s tickets?”
You know,Sparky, I think that is a VERY important question. Why indeed? If we could answer THAT question I think we could almost have the solution to all the hate.
I wonder if the reason people are so interested in others practice, in this case Muslim, but certainly NOT limited to that faith,is because this is the sum total of their intellectual interests. And I often wonder if, for all the bluster about being pious, if deep down they are not really secure in themselves and their faith. It has been pounded into them so hard that they feel if they don’t get it “right” they have somehow failed God, themselves and life. It somehow makes them feel superior to feel as if they are practicing “better” than the next person and therefore will get a few more brownie points with God. They need to feel more superior…some people use money , others use power, some use physical attraction or educational accomplishments and degrees…in this case it is religious fervor. But it is all shades of the same thing…feeling superior to someone else to soothe an insecure heart.
I have always found that sort of self defeating. I think God loves all his children. Similar to earthly parents, He realizes they are not the same and have different personalities and ways of expressing themselves in their love for Him. So Whether one dresses from head to foot in black with a slit for viewing or one chooses not to cover their head at all it does not make Him love one more than another. He loves their heart, their soul and their minds…not what they wear, or how loudly they express their brand of piety, how much they give to the poor etc. In fact, in Christianity (and I am not sure about Islam) one is supposed to give in anonymity so as not to draw attention to one self. The gift given in secret is valued much higher than the one given in a showy manner. The $5 given to the food bank by the old lady who can barely afford food herself is valued much more than the $1000 given by the man who has much. It is a measure of the sacrifice, not the amount that matters.
As Jesus once said,
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Sorry didn’t mean to get preachy but your response made me think of this.
April:13:2010 - 23:52
Sparky makes a good point—this fatwa fever is a desease—but banning freedom of thought/speech is not the answer—-I think it is in educating the people that instead of listening to ridiculuous fatwas—people should read the Quran and come to their own conclusion—it is not right to be so intellectually lazy that you let others do your thinking for you.
It would be far better to debunk these idiotic fatwas.
April:17:2010 - 09:17
The problems is, do those Imams really believe in what they are saying, and do others.
Let us take this iranian Imam Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi who has proclaimed that inappropriately dress women leading to extramarital affairs are the resons behind the devastating earthquakes that frequently rattle the country.
Now if thats true then Denmark in spring would be serious earthquake territory. From the few spring days we have had yet this year it looks like the fashion is short dresses, really short.
http://news.oneindia.in/2010/04/17/extramarital-sex-leads-to-earthquakes-iran-cleric.html
April:17:2010 - 17:21
I recall being in Copenhagen in the spring and finding that fashions in the parks was rather a lot less than short skirts. Completely less.
Maybe the earthquake god has bad aim and hit Iceland instead? We might come to that conclusion if dust clouds cover the Riviera!
May:02:2010 - 12:05
islamic scholars has 2 b careful when condeming any given fatwa.any muslim male or female who commit act of disblief i.e judging by law contrary to qur’an and sunnah should be declered as kafir.but we have 2 make dat person know the implecations first i.e. and pls let’s only islamic govt.only 2 judge the matter b’cos the case is islamic only.