THE ROLE OF RELIGION
Scholars Call Attacks a Distortion of Islam
From The New York Times
September 30, 2001
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
ith evidence that Muslim militants
were responsible for the attacks on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,
prominent Islamic scholars and theologians
in the West say unequivocally that nothing in
Islam countenances the Sept. 11 actions.
But in interviews, they explained that certain
scriptural passages are distorted by Islamic
extremists like Osama bin Laden.
In his office in Leesburg, Va., Taha Jabir Alalwani, the chairman of a council
that issues Islamic legal opinions for Muslims in North America, opened a
copy of the Koran to Page 1,732 and read aloud in Arabic a verse that lays
out the rules of when a Muslim may fight.
"The verse says you have a right to fight those people who try to force you to
adopt another religion or to leave your home," said Dr. Taha, a Muslim judge
who founded a graduate school in Leesburg to teach Islam to Westerners
and Western values to Muslims. "But America didn't ask you to abandon
your religion. America didn't deport you, or tell you to leave your homes."
Questions about the role of religion in justifying the attacks have taken on
fresh urgency with the discovery of letters that the Justice Department
believes belonged to the hijackers. The letters cited from the Koran and
reminded the hijackers that they were on a holy mission that would lead them
to "eternal paradise with all righteous and martyrs."
The scholars said they had not had time to judge the letters' authenticity, but,
as far as the attacks themselves, they said that such atrocities violated the
ethics of battle spelled out by the prophet Muhammad.
In part because of this conviction, the scholars — educated intellectuals who
teach in Western institutions — remain unconvinced that Muslims, even
radical militants, were behind the attacks.
Some of them even said that with the release of the letters by the Justice
Department on Friday, it appeared that Muslims were being framed. The
attack, they said, could have been the work of an American militia group, a
religious cult like Aum Shinrikyo in Japan, or even the Israeli government.
Dr. Taha said he was skeptical that Muslims were involved "based on who is
the beneficiary of the crime," adding: "The Arabs, they lost a lot. A lot was
jeopardized, even their relationship with the U.S."
The scholars said that the terrorist acts clearly violated the ethics of battle
spelled out by Muhammad. The Koran, which Muslims believe was revealed
by God to Muhammad at a time of vicious conflict between Arab tribes in
the early seventh century, includes verses that prescribe the rules of war.
Like scriptures of every faith, the Koran is open to interpretation and has
been twisted to justify the actions of extremists, the scholars said.
Mahmoud Ayoub, a professor of Islamic studies and comparative religion at
Temple University, said: "The Bible has descriptions of the peaceable
kingdom, where the lamb and the lion lay down together, but it also has the
Book of Joshua about the bloody conquest of Canaan. Likewise, the Koran
has plenty of verses that talk about peace, even with Muhammad's enemies,
if they are inclined toward peace. But then there are also verses that
advocate war. And so, we have to make choices."
War has defined limits, said Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, a Muslim scholar who is
founder and director of the Zaytuna Institute, an Islamic study center in
Hayward, Calif.
"The prophet clearly prohibited killing noncombatants, women and children,"
he said. "The prophet prohibited poisoning wells, which I think can be
applied to biological warfare. The prophet prohibited using fire as a means to
kill another being, because only the Lord of fire can punish with fire. And the
destruction of property is prohibited. Even in war, you can't destroy other
people's property."
The Koran specified a grisly punishment for those who destroy themselves,
said Zaki Badawi, principal of the Muslim College, in London.
"God will punish him by making him commit the same act of suicide, the
same cycle of torture, on the day of judgment," Dr. Badawi said. "If he kills
himself with a dagger, his punishment is to sink the dagger in his heart again
and again."
Most of the Koran and the Hadith, the sayings of Muhammad, have nothing
to do with war or violence, and their rules for battle bear little relation to the
lives of most Muslims.
Even the term jihad, which means struggle and is associated in the West with
radical Islam, means something different to most Muslims. To them, it can
refer to an individual's internal spiritual struggle, for example, and opposition
to bad morals in a culture, as well as to armed conflict. But jihad is not
among the five pillars required of Muslims (affirming that God is one,
performing prayer, giving charity, fasting during Ramadan and making
pilgrimage to Mecca).
But while the rules of war are irrelevant to most Muslims, extremists are
likely to be aware of the Koran's strict rules for engagement, the scholars
said. That is why they said they did not believe that Muslims could have been
the attackers. Adding to the scholars' skepticism is an expectation of racial
profiling by American authorities, and their memory of Muslims being
wrongly blamed for the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.
The rules of evidence spelled out by the Koran also play a role in these
scholars' skepticism. Under Muslim law, two witnesses or a confession are
necessary for a murder conviction, said Dr. Taha, who is chairman of the
12-member Council of Islamic Jurisprudence of North America.
Circumstantial evidence, said Dr. Badawi in Britain, is not sufficient because
"it can lead to miscarriage of justice." Dr. Badawi said it had not been
proved that Muslims flew the planes.
In twisting the Koran, the Palestinian group Hamas never refers to its
operatives as "suicide bombers" but as "martyrs,"the scholars said.
Martyrdom is permissible on the battlefield, Dr. Ayoub said. Israel is clearly
a battlefield, the scholars all said, because Israeli troops have evicted
Palestinians from their homes and shot at children. Attacking Israelis is
self-defense, which, according to the Koran, is the only acceptable
justification for fighting.
This helps explain why the same Muslim leaders who denounced the attacks
on the United States have long refused to condemn the terrorism directed at
Israel. Even the prohibition against killing noncombatants does not apply to
Israel, where, the scholars said, civilians and settlers have attacked Muslims
and taken their land.
But Osama bin Laden's approach is beyond the pale, they said. Bin Laden,
in two fatwas, nonbinding pronouncements issued in 1996 and 1998,
justified attacking American targets. He redefined the United States itself as a
battleground because of its support for Israel, its occupation of Saudi
Arabia's holy ground and the war and blockade against Iraq, Dr. Ayoub
said.
In modern Islam, there is no religious hierarchy, no Vatican to
excommunicate heretics. Islam is more akin to Judaism, where ultimate
authority lies in scriptures.
Fatwas were once issued primarily by recognized religious authorities of a
country or Islamic university, said Shaykh Hamza in California, but "now,
every Tom, Dick and Abdullah gives fatwa."
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