AMJA’s Statement

25/7/2005

In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful

The Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA)

The Third Annual Conference

Sokoto, Nigeria

July 21–25, 2005 / Jumada Thani 15–19, AH 1426

A Top Urgent Statement Concerning Terrorism

Praise be to Allah and His prayers and peace be upon His Messenger.

Dr. Hussein Hamed, chairman of the AMJA

Members of the Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA), along with a host of Nigerian Shari`ah scholars, convening in their Third Annual Conference, "Coexistence Between Civilizations", in Sokoto, Nigeria, July 21–25, 2005 / Jumada Thani 15–19, AH 1426; while their ears have been ringing with the bad news of the vicious explosions that shattered the peaceful resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, as well as the previous similar explosions in other places; declare that Islam—which came as a mercy for all mankind; and in which the Messenger of Allah (His prayers and peace be upon him) announced the first international declaration of human rights in his farewell pilgrimage: the inviolability of blood, money, honor, and dignity of man; and who used to commend his armies, marching to prevent war and aggression, not to kill a woman, a child, an elderly person, a monk, or an ailing person, or to cut down trees, or kill riding animals—could never find a legal, humanitarian, or moral justification for any such sinful and vicious acts, which are prohibited by Allah and the world religions, and condemned all over the world and by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA) in its third annual conference in Sokoto, Nigeria, declares to the whole world the following:

• The inviolability of blood, money, honor, and dignity of man are as sacred as the sanctity of Makkah in the sacred months; and any aggression on anything inviolable without any right to do so is a deadly sin that displeases and angers Allah and His Messenger.

• Combat was ordained in Islam only to prevent war and aggression. Islam used swords just for defending the religion of Islam and Muslims, and not against civilians nor noncombatant men. Military actions are taken only against combating men and those who assist them in their aggression against Islam, Muslims, and the creed of Allah, and not against men who are not involved in military actions or who are not armed.

• The Assembly prohibits acts of explosions, sabotage, and violence, and considers such operations as acts of war, which are actually war against Allah and His Messenger and seek to spread corruption and disruption among people.

• The religion that prohibits frightening and terrifying people, even by arms and without using them, would rather deserve to be worthy of prohibiting all forms of violence, terrorism, sabotage, and destruction, and declares ceaseless war on those who commit such vicious acts.

• The religion rules that a woman who confined a cat and prevented it from eating and drinking until it died will be tortured in Hellfire. And the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told us that Allah the Almighty praised a man who saved the life of a dog when he found it so thirsty that it ate the wet dust. And it is told that the Prophet’s successor `Umar declared his full responsibility before Allah in Madinah for a mule that stumbled in Iraq and got hurt because the way was not paved for it.

• A religion like this would never be imagined to permit shedding blood, stealing money, and committing vicious acts against the honor and the dignity of people, whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims. Allah has ordained in His Noble Qur’an [If anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or to spread mischief in the land, it would be as if he killed all mankind; and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind] (Al-Ma’idah 5:32).

Blessings and peace of Allah be upon His Messenger.