Fort Hood Shooter No Hero: Scholars

"What this Army Major did was against the laws of Islam, even though news accounts say he was an observant Muslim," Abdul Rauf told IOL.

"What this Army Major did was against the laws of Islam, even though news accounts say he was an observant Muslim," Feisal Abdul Rauf, a New York imam and Chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, told IslamOnline.net.

Major Hasan, an army psychiatrist, is the sole suspect in last week’s shooting spree at Fort Hood army base in Texas, which killed 13 soldiers and wounded more than 30 others.

Investigators have so far failed to uncover the motives behind the shooting as some reports suggested a link between Hasan and Anwar Al-Awlaki, an American-born imam of Yemeni background said to have radical views.

Al-Awlaki preached in 2001 at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., where Hasan used to pray. Two of the 9/11 attackers reportedly prayed at the same mosque.

Some reports suggested that the imam, who now lives in Yemen, praised what Hasan did and described him as a "hero."

But prominent scholars insist the killing spree is unjustified under Islam.

"We must remember that [Fort Hood] is a camp--this is not war. This is not an act in the middle of a war," explains Akbar Ahmed, a noted Islam scholar.

"Islam is very clear in the rules of war. Our first Caliph Abu Bakr laid down the rules of war--you cannot kill women, you cannot kill priests, you cannot kill or burn down vegetation."

For Imam Zaid Shakir, a prominent imam at the Zaytuna Institute in California, the issue is crystal-clear in the Qur’an.

"Killing innocent humans, the essence of terrorism, is equated with murdering all of humanity," he told IOL.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) repudiated any praise for the Fort Hood tragedy.

"To call the alleged killer a 'hero' makes a mockery of every Islamic principle of justice," CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement.

"The twisted and misguided views in al-Awlaki's posting are not those of American Muslims and do not reflect mainstream Islamic beliefs or sentiments."

"I am very concerned that this incident is igniting negative reaction from too many Americans against the Islamic faith and Muslim Americans," Imam Rauf told IOL.

Generalization

Ahmed, also the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, said the tragedy had to be seen as a human tragedy, something horrible an individual did because of immense pressure being placed on soldiers involved in a long, drawn-out conflict, and in the context of a suspicious, post 9/11 America.

"Everything these days is seen in terms of terrorism and plots and conspiracy," he told IOL.

"And in that light people are painting Maj. Hasan to be part of a larger conspiracy and part of homegrown terrorism, which is far from the truth."

Ahmed regrets that the American public and politicians are taking emerging details about Hasan and using them to unfairly paint sweeping red flags over the entire Muslim community, estimated at seven millions.

"Muslims by definition are compassionate people."

The FBI has asserted that the shooting spree was not part of a broader terrorist plot and that there was no evidence of any co-conspirators.

Officials said communications between Hasan and Al-Awlaki were investigated in December and found to be explainable by his research.

Imam Rauf, who has worked for years in multi-faith, bridge-building projects, said a rush to judgment against the larger American-Muslim community is not what the media and public should be engaging in right now.

"I am very concerned that this incident is igniting negative reaction from too many Americans against the Islamic faith and Muslim Americans," he said.

"Our fellow Americans should understand that every major American Muslim organization has condemned it in no uncertain terms," Rauf recalled.

"Thousands of American Muslims serve in the US armed forces, and they are essential to the US goal of bringing peace, stability and democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan."