Fatwa against terrorist

Dear readers, I create this post because I heard many terrorism issues that tend to be associated with Islam as religion. But through this post I want to say that it is NOT TRUE. If you say that it is personal responsibility, then I'll say yes. I know some of you may be asking within the heart "Why you say that?"

Well, here is my explanation:

1) I'm strongly believe that there are still a lot of good Muslim, even far more than you imagine. I live in Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, and I have many Muslim friends here. They (my Muslim friends) are also condemns terrorism action.

2) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, namely Indonesia, also condemns terrorism action and has been gave his command to the police and law enforcement to investigate, arrest, and judge all the perpetrators who were involved in the bombing cases at Hotel JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton, with firmly and without hesitation.

3) I have been looking for the reaction of Muslim scholars in the two countries which has the largest Muslim population namely Indonesia and India, where the terrorist attacks also happened in both countries. What I want to looking for is whether the Fatwa against terrorist was existed. To know more about "Fatwa" please click here. This is the interesting things for me and perhaps also for you who still doubt. Below is what I has found:

IN INDONESIA

Through searching on internet, I have found a Fatwa decision against terrorism at the website of Majelis Ulama Indonesia (Indonesian Ulama Council), namely: FATWA MAJELIS ULAMA INDONEISA Nomor 3 Tahun 2004 Tentang TERORISME (Fatwa of the Indonesian Ulama Council Number 3 Year 2004 about Terrorism). As we know that Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) is the highest Muslim authority in Indonesia who have the rights of issuing Fatwa.

This Fatwa has explain the differences between terrorism and Jihad, that is (original quote in Indonesian language):

Terorisme adalah tindakan kejahatan terhadap kemanusiaan dan peradaban yang menimbulkan ancaman serius terhadap kedaulatan negara, bahaya terhadap keamanan, perdamaian dunia serta merugikan kesejahteraan masyarakat. Terorisme adalah salah satu bentuk kejahatan yang diorganisasi dengan baik (well organized), bersifat trans-nasional dan digolongkan sebagai kejahatan luar biasa (extra-ordinary crime) yang tidak membeda-bedakan sasaran (indiskrimatif).

Translated in English:

Terrorism is the criminal act against humanity and civilization that cause serious threat to the sovereignty of the country, the danger to security, world peace and harm the welfare of the society. Terrorism is one of the forms of crime which it well organized, a trans-national crime and is classified as extraordinary crime that does not differentiate the target.

And the law if do the terror is (original quote in Indonesian language):

Hukum melakukan teror adalah haram, baik dilakukan oleh per-orangan, kelompok, maupun negara.

Translated in English:

The law if do the terror is forbidden / Haram, whether is done by individual, group, and the country.

If refers to this Fatwa, it is clear that the terrorists did not carry out the improvement, also did not uphold Allah's religion, and the victims are people who do not know anything, and the deeds of terror is forbidden.

IN INDIA

The Times of India wrote: "For the first time ever, Islamic seminary Darul-Uloom Deoband issued a fatwa against terrorism on Saturday, stating Islam had come to wipe out all kinds of terrorism and to spread the message of global peace". And according to Reuters India, Darool-Uloom Deoband is a 150-year-old institute, controlling thousands of smaller Islamic seminaries in India.

The Fatwa signed by Darul-Uloom's grand mufti Habibur Rehman, asserts that: "Islam rejects all kinds of unjust violence, breach of peace, bloodshed, murder and plunder and does not allow it in any form". The Fatwa, still according to The Times Of India, went on to say: "It is proved from clear guidelines provided in the Holy Quran that allegations of terrorism against a religion which preaches and guarantees world peace is nothing but a lie. The religion of Islam has come to wipe out all kinds of terrorism and to spread the message of global peace. Allah knows the best".

Mahmood Asad Madani, leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, has stated that: "Killing of innocent people is not compatible with Islam. The biggest challenge faced by us today is terrorism (which) threatens to strike at the very root of the secular structure of our society besides causing irreparable loss."

OTHER REACTION

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh has stressed the importance of rallying all efforts from media and educational institutions to combat terrorism. He said: "The misuse of the religion by extremists is greatly damaging the image of Islam". And the Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama also said: "It was wrong to tag all Muslims as terrorists". His statement comes a day after the leading Muslims anti-terrorism organization issuing "Fatwa against terrorism" (please read more at MeriNews website).

Therefore, it's clear that terrorist is the problem of terrorist itself, the responsibility of personal or their organization itself, and has NO relevance with religion. Among you may want to say "Why not using national legal system?" For this one I agree with you, but at least all the good Muslim people has sending the message for world peace through the Fatwa against terrorist. Always remember! outside there are still many good Muslim people, even more than that which you imagine. Will you generalize them also? Hopefully NO.

Although I'm not Muslim, I want to defend my Muslim friends (my best friends here) who understood their religion properly. Finally, I'm confused why I rarely heard the publication or discussion for this Fatwa on media like TV, newspaper or internet? Oh... I can understand! But... if you have a blog, hopefully you want to help me to spread this news.

Postscript:
I had ask Jim Belshaw, a blogger from Australia, about the question at the last paragraph, that is, why this important Fatwa rarely get attention from the media? And you may find his interesting answer within his post titled: For Tikno - selection, perception, bias and the MUI Fatwa. And then from Neil, also a blogger from Australia said: "It is as well - again - to remind ourselves that it is not all of Islam we are looking at here, but a perversion". It is interesting to see the opinion from the western people towards the Islamic world, and at this time I refers to Jim and Neil.