---

Et positivt skridt som vores medier ikke har bemærket, skriver en moderat
muslim, om den sammenkomst af verdens mest fremtrædende muslimske
repræsentanter for de otte mest udbredte lovskoler. Så jeg vil da hjælpe ham
med at udbrede den gode nyhed:

Nu må shiaer og sunnier ikke mere udnævne hinanden til at være "frafaldne"
og derfor dræbe hinanden. Alle verdens muslimer skal samarbejde og anerkende
hinandens "skoler", så længe man overholder islams "fem søjler". Samtidig er
man enige om, at det er forbudt at modernisere islam ved at starte nye
"skoler". Man vil ikke tale om at tage afstand fra vold fra islamiske
militante, - 'for så måtte man også tage afstand fra amerikansk vold i Irak
og israelsk i "Palæstina".

Enhver som tilhører en af de otte skoler, - såvel som dem, der tilhører de
militante salafier er accepterede som ægte muslimer, og derfor er "deres
blod, ære og ejendele hellige", - det gælder altså ikke for os
ikke-muslimer, og da slet ikke for "de ækleste kreaturer i verden", som
Koranen siger: dem der slet ikke tror på nogen gud.

Læg mærke til hvem der deltog i mødet, som omfattede muslimer fra 40
forskellige lande, det er virkelig toppen af kransekagen i de muslimske
lande.



Another positive step, which has not been publicized in the mainstream
media much. I wonder why?

Link: http://asmasociety.org/home/

AMMAN, Jordan, July 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Leading Muslim clerics on
Wednesday endorsed religious edicts (fatwas) forbidding the declaration
of any Muslim an apostate (takfir) and limiting the issuance of
religious edicts to qualified Muslim clerics in the eight schools of
Islamic jurisprudence.

The endorsement of the edicts was part of a general statement emanating
from the International Islamic Conference convened by His Majesty King
Abdullah in the Jordanian capital, Amman. The joint statement,
collecting signatures from scholars and clergy of the eight schools, is
the first of its kind.

The statement, issued in the presence of King Abdullah, forbids
declaring any adherent to any one of the eight schools of jurisprudence
or to Sufism, an apostate; acknowledges the agreement among the eight
schools on the fundamental principles of Islamic belief and practice;
instructs the eight schools to establish a mechanism by which only
qualified clergy could issue religious edicts and forbade the issuance
of edicts by unqualified clergy; affirms the necessity and benefit of
dialogue among the eight schools and urges Muslims to eschew discord
and instead unite and fortify affinity among Muslim people and states.

The statement's terms of reference included religious edicts issued by
ten of the most preeminent members of the global Islamic clergy ahead
of the conference, which condemned the doctrine of takfir, among other
things. The edicts were issued by Their Eminences Grand Imam Sheikh Al
Azhar Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi; Grand Ayatollah Al Sayyid Ali Al
Sistani; Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Jumaa; a compendium of Shi'i clerics
(both Ja'fari and Zeidi); Grand Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman Ahmad
Bin Hamad Al Khalili; the Islamic Fiqh Academy in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia; the Grand Council for Religious Affairs, Turkey; Grand Mufti of
the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Sheikh Izzeddine Al Khateeb Al Tamimi,
and the members of its National Fatwa Committee; and Sheikh Dr. Yusuf
Al Qaradawi.

Other elements of the statement were drawn from King Abdullah's address
to the conference, which urged more than 170 scholars and clerics from
the different schools of Islamic thought to unify the global Muslim
community against threats to its integrity from both Muslims and
non-Muslims. The King said that divisions within the global Islamic
community, acts of violence and terrorism and accusations of apostasy
and the killing of Muslims in the name of Islam violate the spirit of
Islam and generate global turmoil because they give justification to
non-Muslims to judge Islam according to acts that Islam disavows, and
subsequently interfere in Muslims' affairs.

The King said it was unacceptable to call an adherent to any one of the
eight schools of jurisprudence an apostate. All schools recognize the
fundamental principles of Islamic belief and uphold the five pillars of
Islam, he said, and therefore practice true Islam. The mutual
acknowledgment of all schools of Islamic jurisprudence would permit the
emergence of a fundamental methodology in the issuance of religious
edicts in order that those issuing edicts would be "qualified for this
undertaking," the King said.

"This," he said, "would end the practice of defaming others as
apostates and close the door on ignorant people who practice killing
and terrorism - of which Islam is innocent - in the name of Islam."

http://www.usnewswire.com/
2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/




"Participants at the conference said had the issue of condemning violence by
Islamic militants been brought up, then condemning the violence of the U.S.
forces in Iraq and the violence of the Israeli forces in Palestine could not
be ignored.

However, the statement clearly referred to the "takfeer" approach adopted by
militants and their religious guides.

It said that anyone belonging to one of the eight schools of thought in the
Sunni and Shiite sects, as well as those who practice "true Sufism" (banned
in most Muslim countries) is considered a Muslim and cannot be declared an
apostate and therefore "his or her blood, honor and property are
sacrosanct."

And what appears to be an attempt to avert the wrath of the Salafi militants
and to try to attract them to the teachings of "true Islam," the scholars
said it was also "not possible to declare whosoever subscribes to true
Salafi thought an apostate.""