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Scholars Clarify Fatwa on Muslims Fighting in U.S. Military
WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (IslamOnline) - A
fatwa, or religious decree, issued recently by prominent Muslim scholars from the Middle East, ruled that Muslims belonging to the U.S. military can fight against whomever they are ordered to, but only as long as they have "legitimacy" for doing so, a U.S. Muslim scholar clarified Monday.
"Muslims can fight if they get legitimacy for what they are going to do, if a certain people… or country are judicially indicted," Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hanooti, of the Fiqh Council of North America, said.
"Up to this moment I don't see any evidence or proof to tell me which is which, who is who, what is what… we cannot take action as we see without judicial indictment."
Al-Hanooti spoke alongside other scholars at a press conference of the American Muslim Council (AMC) last Friday.
The fatwa was issued on September 27th by renowned scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, according to a
Washington Post report, in response to a question put forth by a Muslim chaplain in the Armed Forces who wanted to know if Muslims could participate in military efforts if it meant combating other Muslims.
The Post article said that the ruling allowed Muslims to fight in a war even if against other Muslims. According to traditionally interpreted Islamic law, Muslims are generally not to go to war against each other, but are required to defend themselves if attacked. Muslims living in a non-Muslim country are also required to abide by the laws of that country as long as they do not go against the laws of Islam.
Taha Jaber Alalwani, another scholar speaking at Friday's news conference, said Monday that Muslim soldiers, like other American citizens, had the right to become conscientious objectors to a war if they feel it is unjust, but he did not give a specific ruling on U.S. Muslims fighting in the war against Afghanistan.
Alalwani, who is president of the Fiqh Council, took the chaplain's question and turned it over to Al-Qaradawi, who sent his response back to Alalwani.
He echoed Al-Hanooti's call for a judgment or indictment to decide if a person, group or nation deserves to be attacked, saying that "I can give an opinion, but to judge something needs a lot of process which we don't have.
"That's why I like the people to differentiate between the fatwa and the judgment," he said.
"Fatwa is only opinion according to the question."
Al-Hanooti said, "I know there is a crime done. The people who did it are criminals, but who should decide their indictment? A judge."
"I disagree with anyone who supports the President of the United States without this kind of indictment."
Al-Hanooti said that Qaradawi also felt this way, and his thoughts were echoed in the
fatwa statement, which said that it was "necessary to apprehend the true perpetrators of these crimes, as well as those who aid and abet them through incitement, financing or other support. They must be brought to justice in an impartial court of law and [punished] appropriately."
The Pentagon estimates there are more than 4,000 Muslims serving in the U.S. military, according to the
Post article. The chaplain who first posed the question, Army Capt. Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad, said that there might be three times as many.
Muhammad, a chaplain at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the first Muslim ever to be appointed as an Army chaplain, told the
Post, "soldiers would come to us to claim conscientious objector status and commanders would seek us out for advice… I needed the jurists to give me the Islamic advice in this matter."
Alalwani said that if anyone attacked the United States, "regardless [of] his religion or ethnicity or color, language, whatever - we all as Americans, we should protect ourselves and our country… Muslims and non-Muslims."
The fatwa statement concluded, "To sum up, it's acceptable, God willing, for Muslim American military personnel to partake in the fighting in the upcoming battles, against whomever their country decides has perpetrated terrorism against them. Keeping in mind to have the proper intention, as explained earlier, so no doubts would be cast about their loyalty to their country, or to prevent harm to befall them as might be expected."
The "proper intention" was described by the statement as "to fight for enjoining of the truth and defeating falsehood… to prevent aggression on the innocents, or to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice."
According to the AMC's press release on the news conference, Al-Hanooti reiterated that any given
fatwa, from the Fiqh Council or any other source, is only one legal opinion, not a standing religious command.
Alalwani said that the Fiqh Council was an independent body of scholars, experts and volunteers, and "we are doing our best to answer the needs of the community, the questions of our community, related with their lives in North America."
"We need to be united to face the problems together as one body and to protect our institutions and our community," he said. "This is our mission here."
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