ABU DHABI // ISIL’s claim to a modern caliphate has no basis in Islam, says a dean from the major Sunni Muslim seat of learning.
Abdulfattah Al Owari, head of the Fundamentals of Religion College in Al Azhar University, Egypt, said the authenticity of a hadith that mentioned a modern caliphate had been disproved by scholars.
“Even if we were to agree the hadith is authentic, it speaks of a destiny issue and no legitimate mandate is based on such speech,” Mr Al Owari said.
“There is no second caliphate claiming it follows the prophetic course after the first caliphate [after the Prophet Mohammed’s death]. There is an authentic hadith that says the Prophet’s caliphates will continue for 30 years, and after that Allah will provide kingship to whoever He wants.”
Mr Al Owari was addressing a summit hosted by the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, entitled The UAE in Facing Terrorism and Extremism.
He said a caliphate, by definition, did not involve forcibly taking territory from other countries and overrunning authorities.
And extremists were also mistaken in thinking the word “jihad” meant only using weapons to spread Islam.
In the early Islamic era Muslims were ruled by one state and one ruler, while Persia was one state and so was the empire created by the Romans, Mr Al Owari said.
But with global political changes, the world was divided into countries with clear borders that should not be crossed by another country for risk of war.
“Based on that, there is nothing in Islam that enforces one single regime,” he said.
Dr Ibrahim Al Hudhud, vice chancellor of Al Azhar, gave the history of suicide bombings and how they contradicted the fundamentals of Islamic law.
“Suicide bombings began with communist parties, and Japanese parties in the fight against American imperialism, and until this day they call them suicidal operations,” Dr Al Hudhud said.
“But strangely in our countries they call them martyrdom operations, without any logical or religious reference.”
The Muslim Brotherhood used the tactics in Palestine against Israeli occupation, which drove the world to sympathise with Israel, “and with that the Palestinian cause was lost”, Dr Al Hudhud said.
“Members of the Muslim Brotherhood called for this notion because they consider it one of the greatest ways to seek closeness to Allah, and they tricked the youth into it.”
They used seven Islamic references to legitimise their acts, but all were wrongly applied and interpreted, he said.
“It is not permissible in any case, according to the Islamic Sharia, to kill civilians even if they are infidels,” Dr Al Hudhud said. “Islam also prohibits a human being to kill himself and it was never reported that a companion went to fight without the permission of the ruler. ”
There is also no reference to the term “martyrdom operations” in any religious text or scholarly book, he said.
Al Hakimiya, or the dominion of Allah, was also misunderstood by ISIL leaders until they became obsessed with takfir, where one Muslim declares another is not a true believer, said Dr Osama Al Azharey, the adviser for Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi.
Dr Al Azharey referred to the book In the Shade of the Quran, which called for Al Hakimiya to be consolidated. It was by Sayyid Qutb, a modern writer "who had no knowledge of religious fundamentalism".
When ISIL’s number two, Abu Mohammed Al Adnani started learning religion he paused at the verse that says: “Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are disbelievers”, Dr Al Azharey said.
Without studying the Arabic language, linguistic rhetoric or the fundamentalism of fiqh, he started comparing modern laws to Sharia and adopted the strategy of takfir.
Al Adnani then studied Qutb’s book thoroughly for 20 years “and his mind became filled with the philosophy of Al Hakimiya described in the book, which exudes with takfir”.
hdajani@thenational.ae
