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| Olde Tyme Religion |
| More scholars join calls for stopping supplications against non-Muslims |
| 2011-01-12 |
| [Arab News] The number of religious scholars calling for a stop in supplications against non-Mohammedans has increased with renowned Saudi scholar Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Fouzan Al-Fouzan joining them. "These supplications are an aggression against non-Mohammedans," said Al-Fouzan, who is also a member of the Saudi Human Rights Commission. "This is against the spirit of Islam. The imams should instead pray to Allah to guide them toward the path of righteousness," said Al-Fouzan, while describing supplications against non-Mohammedans as unjust. Supplications against non-Mohammedans are often made by some imams of mosques following the second Friday sermon. This is especially the case following developments in volatile regions across the world when passions run high. The practice has, however, been deemed wrong by numerous scholars. Al-Fouzan said the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to pray to Allah to guide people and show them the road to monotheism and righteousness. "The Prophet used to say he was not sent to people (with the message of Islam) as a preacher of curse but as a man of mercy," Al-Fouzan said. He also said he believes people should be called toward Islam through righteous conduct and firm faith, not by cursing or malediction. "We should not generalize our praying to Allah against all non-Mohammedans including Jews and Christians but should only focus our prayer on those who have done us injustice," he said. Other leading Saudi scholars have previously issued fatwas asking people not to supplicate against non-Mohammedans. Sheikh Salman Al-Oudah and Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Nasser Al-Barak consider it haram to supplicate against non-Mohammedans. Al-Oudah has ruled that supplicating for the destruction and total annihilation of non-Mohammedans is totally against Islamic law, which calls for all people, regardless of faith, to be treated fairly and properly, unless they are transgressors. Saad Al-Din Hilali, professor of comparative Fiqh at Azhar University in Egypt, also supports scholars who consider supplicating against non-Mohammedans as haram. "We should pray to Allah to guide non-believers to Islam. We should only make supplications against them if they attack us," he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 but should only focus our prayer on those who have done us injustice," he said. There's the out - every infidel and some muslims can be said to "have done us injustice". We should only make supplications against them if they attack us," he said. And, of course, all infidels and some muslims are believed to be attacking islam. These two sentences were probably the base of the arabic version. |
| Posted by: swanimote 2011-01-12 13:19 |
| #2 It would be interesting to know what he really said in Arabic. tipper, I didn't see anything about it on the MEMRI.org site. Perhaps it is still being translated. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-01-12 12:37 |
| #1 It would be interesting to know what he really said in Arabic. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2011-01-12 00:23 |