Killing of the Innocent
| Khatib : | Sadullah Khan |
| Khutbah No: | 106 |
| Khutbah Date: | 06/18/04 |
[Al-Qur'an 6:151]
Dastardly News
It is with deep sadness and utter disgust that we, as people of Faith and of conscience, receive the news of thediabolical beheading of 49-year-old American aeronautics engineer Paul Marshal Johnson, who was held hostage inSaudi Arabia. His desperate family pleaded for his life as a deadline set by his kidnappers (Al-Qaeda Organizationin the Arabian Peninsula) loomed.
"Please release my father. He is an innocent man. He loves Muslims. Saudi Arabia was his home", Johnson's sonPaul told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television from the United States. He said his father has lived in Saudi Arabia fora decade and values Islamic culture. Once, he said, his father sent family members a Quran, with passages highlightedfrom the Islamic holy text that he felt were important.
Attack on Foreigners
The cowardly abduction and horrendous execution of Johnson is the latest chain in a series of anti-foreigners attacks in the Kingdom, drew outrage among religious scholars, with the Imam of Al-Masjid Al-Haram in Makkahascertaining during his Friday sermon that attacking innocent non-Muslims is strictly forbidden in Islam. Addressingworshippers in Al-Haram mosque in the holy Islamic city of Makkah today, the prominent scholar condemned killing ofthe non-Muslim civilians as religiously forbidden. "There are a few who want to shed blood of people of faiths (Christians and Jews); such pay no heed to the injunctions of the Qur’an or Sunnah." Sheikh Saleh Bin Abdullahsaid.
No Islamic basis
Based on the verses:
"Whoever takes one single life without justification, is as if he has killed the entire humanity" [Quran 5:32]
"Take not life - which Allah has made sacred - except for just cause." [Al-Qur'an, 6:151] ...
it is Islamically unlawful to take the life of anyone who is innocent. It is well to remember at this point the distinction made above between Qur'an and Sunnah, and the Muslims: only the Qur'an and Sunnah are guaranteed to bein accordance with what the Creator desires, whereas some Muslims may deviate. Hence, if any Muslim kills an innocentperson, that Muslim has committed a grave sin, and certainly the action cannot be claimed to have been done ‘in the name of Islam’.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is reported to have said, a believer remains within the scope of his religion as long as he doesn't kill another person without justification.
It should be clear, then, that ‘Muslim terrorist’ is almost an oxymoron: by killing innocent people, a ‘Muslim’is committing an awesome sin, and in fact stepping out of the bounds of Islam. Such acts are tantamount to spreading‘corruption on earth’, against which the Qur’an warns [Qur'an 2:11-12] [Qur'an 18:103-104].The perpetrators of such shameful deeds assume that they are doing good, while in fact they are spreaders of chaosand corruption.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) warned thrice, "Beware of extremism in your religion." Islam is the middle waybetween excess and neglect. Zealots are a plague upon religion. Muslim scholars have observed that these extremistscome basically in two types:
- Reactionary extremists do not want any pluralism; they view the world in black and white, good and evil terms. They are good, and anyone who opposes them is evil. From among the Muslims these are people who ‘excommunicate’ any Muslim who fails to share their interpretations of the Quran and their understanding of Faith. They use takfir (denouncing a Muslim as an unbeliever) and character assassination as a tool for marginalizing any criticism directed at them.
- The radical extremists differ only in that they will use violence to further their cause and that the end justifies the means. They see any act as acceptable if it will further their ‘cause.’ This is blatantly anti-Islamic. In Islam the means must reflect its noble ends. Any means that does not embody the core truths and ethics of Islam is not from Islam and thus denounced as aberration. Islam is not a secret society of conspirators who no one knows what they are planning. Islam declares openly its aims and objectives and these are recognized by good people everywhere as pure and congruent with their own wisdom and traditions. Islam never allows a Muslim to kill the innocent and the helpless.
Many among Muslims seem to have lost sound understanding of the teachings of our Faith. Islam has been hijackedby a discourse of anger and the rhetoric of rage. Some have allowed the mimbar/pulpit of some mosques tobecome bully pulpits in which people use anger to rile Muslims up, only to leave them feeling bitter and spitefultowards people who in the most part are completely unaware of the conditions in the Muslim world, or the oppressiveassaults of some foreign interests on Muslim peoples.
Islamic Prohibitions Pertaining to Prisoners
Though Mr. Johnson was abducted and taken hostage, both unacceptable in Islam; our Faith demands just treatmentof even prisoners of war, what to speak of hostages/abductees. The following are Islamic prohibitions pertaining totreatment of prisoners as agreed upon by the consensus of Muslim scholarship ...
- Mutilation: It is not permitted to punish a prisoner by cutting off any part of his body or breaking any of his bones. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade mutilation of prisoners of war and said, "Do not mutilate." (Narrated in the collection of Imam Muslim).
- Hitting the face is prohibited because of the humiliation involved. By the same token, it is not permitted to put chains on prisoners’ necks or to lay them on the ground to whip them, because this involves humiliation and harms their health and bodies.
- Punishment by fire, strangulation or holding a prisoner’s head under water.
- Starving prisoners or exposing them to cold, or feeding them harmful things or food not permitted according to the prisoner’s religion, or preventing them from wearing clothes. If a prisoner dies because of such things, his jailer may be executed in retribution (qisaas) or be required to pay diyah (blood money).
- Removing prisoners’ clothing. This is prohibited because it uncovers their `awrah (private parts) and exposes them to physical and psychological illness.
- Preventing them from relieving themselves, doing ablution and praying. It is obvious that this is harmful to the prisoners’ health.
Our Unreserved Condemnation
- We assert unequivocal condemnation based on our religious and ethical values and as Muslims living in America as part of the ummah / global community of faith.
- We realize that we do not have to react to every maniacal incident emanating from the Muslim world or the Muslim community, just as other religious groups need not defend their extremists;
- Notwithstanding the disbelief that anyone following the faith of Islam could commit such a heinous crime, we condemn the act regardless of the identity of the perpetrators; but more so that they claim to be Muslim and committing this crime in the name of Islam.
- We should not diminish our resolve to be active in protecting the civil liberties of all people and struggling for justice both locally and globally;
- We fear that reciprocal attacks on Muslims could occur.
- We firmly believe that no political/religious cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts.
May Allah protect the innocent from the injustices of the self-righteous.