"Allah (swt) does not forbid you from being good to those who have not fought you in the religion or driven you from your homes, or from bring just towards them. Allah (swt) loves those who are just." - Surat al-Muntahana, 8
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The 22-year-old Salman Abedi was refused of a proper Islamic funeral rites by the leadership of the Manchester Central Mosque, after he killed himself by detonating a self-made bomb in the middle of an ongoing concert in Manchester, England, May 22 - a day before local Maute terror group sieged Marawi City.
Also, Khuram Shazad Butt and Rachid Redouane, who were killed by London police after the June 3 London Bridge attacks, will not be getting any Islamic burial rites after around 130 imams and Islamic leaders refused ti extend their assistance.
Through social media, the group said in a statement:
“Consequently, and in light of other such ethical principles which are quintessential to Islam, we will not perform the traditional Islamic funeral prayer over the perpetrators and we also urge fellow imams and religious authorities to withdraw such a privilege. This is because such indefensible actions are completely at odds with the lofty teachings of Islam.”
In addition, chairman of East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre, Muhammad Habibur-Rahman, as quoted by Independent UK, said that "those who perpetrate terrorism: you are against the very core teaching of Islam and of our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him."
“Your misguidance will lead you to destruction, and God willing you will utterly fail in your evil aims," he adds.
"We stand apart from you and your corruption of the religion of Islam. Terrorism has no faith."
Radicalized Muslims who resort to terrorizing non-believers were doctrined through twisted interpretations of Islam that they will "go to heaven" if they will kill non-believers or non-Muslims in the name of Allah (God), and will be rewarded in Jannah (paradise in the afterlife), such twisted orientation further fueled by the political and ideological hatred towards western countries like the United States and Europe.
Extremism, founded on twisted interprations on Islam, is not only affecting the non-Islamic world but it hurts more within the Ummah (Islamic community) and the core of Islam itself.
The extremist and violent Islamic schools of thought corrupted the religion of peace and tarnished the reputation by the Muslims who live with reverence and peaceful co-existence with the rest of the world. And thus, it is only befitting that extremism as "haram (unlawful)" in Islam and in the eyes of Allah (swt).
And one way of standing against these terrorists is refusing a proper Islamic burial, because they stopped emulating the pure teachings of Islam, and ceased to become real Muslims in the first place.
There are already numerous "fatwas (religious decrees)" issued by Muslim clerics and scholars around the world against extremism, terrorism, and violence that dates back as early as 1999.
The recent one was in March 2010, when Pakistani cleric Sheikh Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri published a 600-page fatwa, which was endorsed by Al-Azhar University, that prohibits killing of Muslim and non-Muslim civilians and destroying property and places of worship. The decree also affirmed also affirmed the unlawfulness of imposing Islam on others, and that the only permissible way in Islam to change a government is through peaceful and legal means.
Meanwhile in the Philippines, the Ulama Council of the Philippines, are planning to initiate reforms in how Islam is taught to communities especially in the rural areas to prevent wrong indoctrination and avoid creating more extremists.
May this shed light to the hearts and mind of everyone, being a Muslim in the 21st century is not only a jihad (struggle) against the worldly temptations but also a jihad against extremist teachings and false Muslims who terrorize the world.
(Nefluczon@gmail.com)