By IOL Cairo Staff

CAIRO, September 10 (IslamOnline) – Islamic scholars refuted justifications given by members of Al-Qaeda for the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities, in a tape aired by Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel Tuesday, September 10.

In a fatwa to IslamOnline, Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi, the Vice-President of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, said that  “To hijack a civil airplane in which women, children, senior citizens, Muslims, and non-Muslims are traveling is forbidden, because this terrorizes people, and this is forbidden except in times of war, and only against fighters.

“If we add that the hijackers used these airplanes full of civilians to hit the World Trade Center in New York City, where there are thousands of workers, all of them non-fighters, in which there were women and senior citizens, and Muslims… we can then see the magnitude of the violation of Shari’a that the hijackers have fallen into. This is especially true since they meant to kill civilians, and these civilians were not killed in cross-fire,” he added.

Sheikh Mawlawi continued, saying that “to kill the civilians even of an enemy state is forbidden in Islam, because this is a violation of rights and the killing of innocents.”

On his part, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi told IslamOnline that “Islam respects the human soul and has given it its inviolability. It is therefore forbidden to attack this sanctity, and to do so would be one of the major sins.”

Sheikh Qaradawi added that “To kill thousands of peaceful civilians who are working for their living – like those who were killed in the [September 11] attacks – is considered a major crime in Islam.”

Other Muslim scholars refuted the justification that the September 11 attacks targeted non-Muslims, saying that this alone is not enough to justify such attacks. They pointed out that the only justification would be if these non-Muslims were attacking and killing Muslims. 

The Fatwa Section of IslamOnline said that there could be no justification for killing the innocent, such as those killed in the September 11 attacks.

Following the tape, which was aired by Qatari-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel on Tuesday, September 10, where the Al-Qaeda members allegedly claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks and declared war on the ‘infidels’, IslamOnline’s fatwa section said that it is not permissible for any individual or organization to take the law into their own hands.

Sayed Ameen, from IslamOnline’s Fatwa Department, said that in a bid to avoid anarchy and chaos, even disputes among Muslim individuals are to be set amicably among themselves. If not, those Muslim individuals are to resort to legal channels and they are not allowed to take the law into their own hands.

“Declaring war against non-combatant infidels and innocent civilians is categorically rejected by Islam,” he said.

In a previous fatwa on IslamOnline, renowned Muslim scholar, Atiyyah Saqr, said that: “one of the rights Islam has made inalienable for man is the right to live. This indicates that taking someone’s life without any due cause is one of the most abhorrent crimes in Islam. The reason for this is that killing renders children orphans and wives widows. It spreads chaos and instability in the society.

“Moreover, unlawful killing mars the comfort and serenity enjoyed by members of the society; it outlaws the society’s etiquette and violates people’s rights. All this may turn the whole community into a place where the law of jungle governs everything.

“It is normal in all religions and among all rational people that taking others’ lives by assault without any right is unlawful and totally condemned.”

Another scholar Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, said in the past that “Islam holds every soul in high esteem and does not allow any transgression upon it. It does not allow people to take the law in their own hands and administer justice, because doing so will be leading to chaos and lawlessness.”

In a live dialogue on Monday, September 9, Muzammil Siddiqui, the president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), was asked about the justification of those who support the September 11 attacks and he responded saying: “There is no justification for the evil action like the one committed on 9/11. It was totally against the teachings of Islam.

“Leading Muslim scholars and respectable Islamic organizations throughout the world have unanimously condemned it. Islam forbids killing non-combatants, armless people. The Qur'an clearly says that killing one innocent person is like killing all humanity (al-Ma'idah 5:32).”

He added that those who committed this crime committed a great sin against Allah and against humanity and that those who justify it are giving a bad name to Islam.

On Tuesday, September 10, Al-Jazeera aired video-clips in which it says Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Al-Jazeera also broadcast footage of militants which it said were among those Al-Qaeda members who carried out the 9/11 attacks. The video showed them pouring over flying manuals and aerial maps of the Pentagon, one of the group’s targets along with New York’s World Trade Center, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The militants were filmed in the Afghan city of Kandahar “a few months” before heading to the United States to carry out the attacks that left about 3,000 dead, the station claimed.

Meanwhile, over still photos of the hijackers, what was said to be Bin Laden’s voice was heard naming some of the attackers in the September 11 strikes, including Egyptian Mohammad Atta who he said “led the group which destroyed the first tower” of the World Trade Center.

Describing the attacks as “the New York and Washington raids,” Bin Laden praised “the men who changed the course of history and cleansed the (Arab-Islamic) nation from the filth of treacherous rulers and their subordinates.”

But many people in Islamic circles and the Arab world cast doubt on it as being inauthentic or doctored.