September 5, 2004
REFORM COMES LATE, BUT NOT TOO LATE:
Clerics order end to Iraq hostage-taking (Adrian Blomfield, 06/09/2004, Daily Telegraph)
Iraq's most senior Sunni religious body said yesterday it would issue a fatwa outlawing the abduction and execution of any foreigner in the country. [...]Posted by Orrin Judd at September 5, 2004 10:33 PMThe fatwa was issued by the country's committee of Muslim scholars, or ulema. [...]
"We are going to issue a fatwa declaring that the kidnapping of foreigners in general is not Islamic and ordering that all hostages be released immediately," said Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abdul Jabbar, a senior cleric.
Refusing to comply with a fatwa, the most serious command that can be issued in Islam, risks damnation and execution.
Fat wata good that will do them.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at September 6, 2004 12:02 AMAw, how thoughtful of them. But Islam has no recognized highest authority, right? So the terrorists can pick and choose among clerics and their fatwas, and rest their case on the ones that support them. To say nothing of the many bloodthirsty verses in the Qur'an.
Say, doesn't that Osama bin Laden fellow also issue fatwas?
This sounds like the newly-installed government in Iraq is having some impact. These hairballs may have finally had the fear of Allah put in them at last.
Posted by: Bart at September 6, 2004 8:27 AM"In general?" What does that mean? OK for Americans and other infidels?
Posted by: jsmith at September 6, 2004 10:55 AM