Wa `alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Dear questioner, thanks for your important question, and we implore Allah to guide us all to the best and to help us understand the peaceful teachings of Islam.

Islam—which came as a mercy for all mankind; and in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings 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.

Islam considers killing others one of the gravest of sins in the sight of Allah. Islam, which prohibits killing innocent civilians, also prohibits terrorizing the secured and terrifying the peaceful. No doubt, aggression against innocent people is a grave sin and a heinous crime, irrespective of the victim's religion, country, or race.

No one is permitted to commit such a crime, for Allah Most High abhors aggression. Islam does not permit aggression against innocent people, whether the aggression is against life, property, or honor, and this ruling applies to everyone, regardless of post, status, and prestige.

Regarding the recent bloody attacks, the Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA) in its third annual conference held July 21–25, 2005, 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).

Finally, this is our urgent call to anyone who is involved in any such criminal acts in all religions and sects in the world to hasten to repent to Allah the Almighty, and to come back to the truth that shines with its signs and its proofs, and to come back to the truth rather than be involved in mischief and disruption.

Last, we pray to Allah the Supreme to protect the whole of this Ummah and to keep it intact against acts of mischief and temptation, and to guide all humanity to His right and straight path.