Malaysian Islamic Party Leader Says its 'Haram' to Help U.S.
JAKARTA, Jan. 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Chief Minister of Terengganu, the Malaysian northern state run by the opposition Party Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), Abdul Hadi Awang, said it was haram (forbidden) for Muslims and Islamic nations to help the United States in its attacks on Afghanistan.
Awang's latest declaration is bound to create havoc in “secular” Malaysia.
The official Terengganu state government bulletin, Warta Darul Iman, quoted him Friday as saying that it was compulsory for Muslims to help other Muslims in trouble and haram for them to help the enemies of Islam.
Awang said Muslim scholars across the world have made a similar edict, indicating that helping the U.S. in its strikes against Afghanistan was anti-Islamic.
He named, among others, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi from Qatar, the Ulama Council of Jordan, and the Ulama Council of Al-Azhar, as well as the Mufti of Pakistan.
Awang reportedly said that even if Osama bin Laden is killed by the American forces and their sophisticated weapons, there would be "a thousand more Osama's born."
The U.S. has accused Bin Laden for allegedly plotting the hijackings in New York and Washington that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
Awang said that the attacks on Afghanistan made it incumbent on neighboring Muslims and neighboring Muslim nations to carry out their personal religious obligation to help Afghanistan.
He added that the United States was also a terrorist nation that supplied arms and protection to Israeli aggressors in Palestine.
The PAS has called for a jihad (struggle) against the U.S. and its allies when they started the onslaught against Afghanistan.
The PAS has been labeled the "Taliban of Malaysia" by the UMNO, and the opposition party has retaliated by calling UMNO the "U.S. of Malaysia."
