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02/05/2004
The Grand Mufti Speaks
The other day, Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz
Al-Sheikh spoke before up to 2 million Muslims in Mecca as part
of the Haj, the pilgrimage required of all able-bodied believers.
In the speech, significantly, Al-Sheikh (I’m using the Arab
spelling) condemned terrorists.
Following are two Saudi reports on the event.
The Saudi Gazette:
“Terror and violence must be mercilessly crushed,” (said Al-
Sheikh) in a special Haj sermon delivered at the site of Prophet
Mohammed’s last sermon 14 centuries ago
“(Al-Sheikh declared): ‘Islam has forbidden violence in all its
forms; it has forbidden hijacking airplanes, ships and other
means of transport and has forbidden all acts that would
undermine security.’
“He warned the pilgrims not to go astray, that God says ‘the
penalty of those who fight God and his Prophet and spread
violence and terror is to be killed, crucified or have their hands
and legs chopped off.’
“ ‘Islam has also called for the killing of anyone who attempts to
undermine legitimate rulers or divide Muslims,’ he reminded
them .
“Raising the question of why Islam is branded by some as the
religion of terror given its strong opposition to terror, the Grand
Mufti said: ‘You must know of Islam’s firm stance against all
these terrible crimes that are attributed to it.’
“He cautioned the pilgrims not to exploit the Haj by raising
slogans. This contradicts the proper goals of Haj, he said. ‘Haj
should be exclusively for worshipping Almighty God.’
“The mufti who had recently strongly condemned Saudi women
for appearing unveiled at a recent international conference in
Jeddah, also stressed the role of women in Islamic society.
“ ‘Women should be grateful to the respectful role accorded to
them by Islam as mothers,’ he said. ‘Their dialogue must remain
from behind the veil.’”
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Arab News interviewed some participants.
“As the sheikh was speaking, tears rolled down the cheeks of
many pilgrims. ‘I agree with him,’ said Hajik Abdul Qader of
Dagestan. ‘Our image as Muslims has taken a beating. We need
to close ranks and fight this menace with all our might.’
“His elderly relative, Dana, however, disagreed. ‘This is a canard
against Muslims. There are other people in the world whose
hands are drenched in blood yet nobody talks about them,
nobody dares call them terrorists,’ he declared and then stopped
immediately. ‘I am sorry. We are not supposed to discuss
worldly affairs on these hallowed plains,’ Dana said
apologetically.”
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CNN reported that while governments in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait
and Jordan have taken steps toward purging school books of
terms offensive to other religions, Al-Sheikh warned against
“changing the religion’s basics” in school curricula.
“The minds of youth in the Islamic nation need to be shielded
with Islamic sharia (law), and good manners and deeds,” he said.
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From an Op-Ed in The Saudi Gazette:
Speaking of the Haj, Dr. Ahmad Ibn Saifuddin writes, “Recently,
more Western media and people are seeing it in the light of the
world events and mostly from a biased Western perspective.
Frankly speaking, I have seen and heard through the ears and
eyes of those media that many pilgrims have been motivated in
the Haj by Osama Bin Ladin and his brand of Islam. What a
great fallacy and deception!
“Bin Ladin is a very recent phenomenon that has come out of
political grudges with the West and particularly with the United
States. He has chosen, with a very small group of his fanatics, to
use violence and terrorism to achieve his goals. But for the
Muslim population throughout the world, his views do not
represent anyone other than himself. To them, Haj is a great trip
and a lifetime journey to earn the pleasure and forgiveness of the
Almighty. Had it not been for the Western media’s constant and
saturated coverage of Bin Ladin and the so-called Al-Qaeda,
many Muslims would not have heard of him at all."
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Al-Sheikh gives quite a few speeches and one from August 22,
2003 was illuminating.
“One of the fallouts from extremism in understanding Islam is
that some people call for jihad for the sake of God without
justification. These people raise the banner of jihad to draw the
young into their ranks and not to fight for God.”
Militants use Islam as a rallying cry, justifying attacks by saying
they are doing God’s will.
“Young Muslims must try and better themselves and their
country but not through violence, because Islam is not a violent
religion, it is a merciful religion. A Muslim must understand his
religion. It is the duty of the young and the whole Muslim world
to know that violence is not a way to achieve reform.”
The grand mufti emphasized that the struggle against a perceived
evil should not lead to a greater evil.
“The Prophet (peace be upon him) told us to combat evil. But
there is a general rule to look at both advantages and
disadvantages. And if fighting an evil leads to a greater one,
then that fight is forbidden.”
Al-Sheikh said one of the reasons some people attacked and
frightened others was ignorance.
“Ignorance is a killer disease because a person thinks that he is
right when he is wrong One of the reasons also is mistrust of
our scholars. It is people’s duty to trust their scholars and
leaders.”
[Source: Arab News]
It needs to be noted, that despite the above seemingly moderate
talk, Al-Sheikh is a vigorous defender of Wahhabism.
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Hott Spotts will return February 12.
Brian Trumbore
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