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ANKARA: Islamic Scholar Gulen Rejects Bombings In The Name Of Islam

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  • ANKARA: Islamic Scholar Gulen Rejects Bombings In The Name Of Islam

    ISLAMIC SCHOLAR GULEN REJECTS BOMBINGS IN THE NAME OF ISLAM

    Cihan News Agency (CNA), Turkey
    September 26, 2013 Thursday

    ISTANBUL (CIHAN)- Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen has
    unequivocally rejected terrorist attacks and bombings committed in the
    name of Islam, adding that a terrorist cannot be branded a real Muslim.

    In a speech he delivered to his students at his house in Pennsylvania,
    Gulen spoke at length about attacks on behalf of Islam, stressing
    that a real Muslim could never commit a terrorist attack. His speech
    was published on Thursday on herkul.org, a website that frequently
    broadcasts his messages.

    Gulen's remarks came shortly after a deadly shooting and hostage
    crisis in a Nairobi mall in which more than 60 people were killed.

    This week has been particularly bloody across the Middle East,
    with church and mosque bombings in Iraq and Pakistan killing scores
    of civilians.

    "The most brutal scenes are at play in the name of Islam in a wide
    geography from Syria to Pakistan and Kenya," Gulen recalled, noting
    that perpetrators bomb mosques and churches, slitting throats after
    alleging that the Quran, holy book of Muslims, orders it. Gulen said
    the picture in the Middle East is also a shame for Muslims and that
    it stains the face of Islam.

    Gulen, who is commonly known as Hojaefendi by his followers, said the
    terrorist attacks attributed to Muslims are sometimes being undertaken
    by what he called "raw souls" who fail to fathom Islam with its depth,
    sometimes by extreme provocation of feelings of young men, sometimes
    by people disguised as Muslims and sometimes by criminals under the
    influence of drugs.

    Gulen stated that everything is being codified in Islam during both
    times of peace and war. He said while individuals cannot declare
    war by themselves and decide to kill a person during the peace time,
    those during a hot war also cannot kill women, children or the elderly.

    According to Islam, he said people also absolutely cannot attack houses
    of worship of others even during war. "Considering all these things,
    it is never possible to justify suicide attacks, suicide bombers or
    similar terrorist attacks," he underlined.

    Gulen said the Prophet Muhammad tolerated exceptionally harsh torture
    during his 13-year life in Mecca and that he only prayed for those
    who stoned him to find the right path. He said the Prophet Muhammad
    never resorted to violence despite all the oppression Muslims suffered
    and that the battles of Badr, Uhud and Kandaq were only defensive
    in nature.

    The Islamic scholar, who is well-known for his inspirational speeches
    on interfaith dialogue, said the Prophet Muhammad did his best to
    solve issues without shedding blood, breaking hearts or causing the
    enmity to unfold. He said his way of settling issues transformed
    sworn enemies into his companions, citing Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl, a
    companion of the Prophet and a leading Islamic commander, who was
    initially one of the chief opponents to the Prophet Muhammad even
    during the conquest of Mecca.

    Gulen also cited early Islamic scholar Abdullah ibn Abbas as saying
    that those who unfairly kill an innocent human will stay in hell
    forever and said terrorism is a crime the holy Quran threatens with
    the punishment of hell.

    "Suicide [bombers] would go to hell forever and they will be called
    to account for innocent people they killed," Gulen added.

    Saying that conflicts of interest, party and clique rivalry,
    anti-democratic implementations and human rights abuses in the Islamic
    geography have resulted in many "dissatisfied groups," Gulen said some
    of these groups are ignorant enough to be fooled by "certain services"
    and use them for their goals.

    Gulen said he doesn't see violence perpetrated in the name of Islam
    as one-sided, also blaming Muslims for the degradation of values
    which are then being used by others for terrorism purposes.

    Gulen said lack of spiritual and fundamental humanitarian values are
    at the root of ignorance that leads to terrorism and that some youth
    are being manipulated and exploited to "be the actors of scenarios
    written by others."

    He also urged those who have a representative position to be cautious
    in their actions and speeches and that calling on people to destroy
    churches means inviting others to destroy mosques and bomb mosque
    attendants.

    "What you sow is what you reap," Gulen said. "People should sow
    good things."

    Gulen pointed to what he described as "world paranoia" in reference to
    Islamophobia, and said it has been renewed due to recent terrorist
    attacks. In a moment of self-criticism, Gulen said Muslims also
    have made mistakes causing the spread of this problem. Saying that
    acknowledging these mistakes and rectifying them will play a very
    important role in solving the problems, Gulen recalled the mass
    deportation of Armenians from eastern Turkey during World War I as
    an example.

    Gulen cited a story of Caliph Umar bin Khattab, who asked a patriarch
    in Jerusalem to show him a place to perform his prayer. When the pastor
    told him he could pray anywhere in the church, Caliph Umar rejected
    this and preferred to pray outside the church. After finishing his
    prayer, Umar told patriarch that he deliberately avoided praying in
    the church because other Muslims may follow the suit and transform
    the church into a mosque.

    "This was us," Gulen highlighted. "Either from inside or outside, some
    spoiled us, our genes, they changed us, they made us savages." Gulen
    recalled famous remarks he made earlier -- a terrorist cannot be a
    Muslim and a Muslim cannot be a terrorist -- and said it is impossible
    for a Muslim who has fully perceived and digested Islam become a
    terrorist and that real Muslims would never intentionally commit an
    act of terror and a terrorist cannot be considered a real Muslim.

    "Can't a terrorist come out of Muslims?" Gulen asked. "There could be
    [one] but they would lose characteristics of a Muslim; they cannot be
    called a healthy Muslim," Gulen said in response to his own question.

    He said even a war has its own rules and that one cannot fight against
    those who don't fight. Whenever the Prophet Muhammad prepared his
    troops for a defensive war, Gulen said, he ordered them not to do
    anything to those who took refuge in houses of worship, or to women
    and children.

    He said it is impossible to reconcile the rules of the Prophet Muhammad
    with the acts of terrorists. (Today's Zaman) CIHAN

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