127.
Ninth, the citing with approval the fatwa (legal opinions) of Islamic scholars who
espouse extremist view (e.g. the Salafi-Wahabi scholar, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Baz),
or referring with approbation to notorious violent, extremist, Islamic ideologues (e.g.
Sayyid Qutb and Abdullah Azzam).
128.
Tenth, any teaching which, expressly or implicitly, encourages Muslims to engage in,
or support, terrorism or violence in the name of Allah.
Islam forbids terrorism
129.
Islam forbids terrorism. Islamic notions of terrorism (hiraba) bear similarities to the
UK statutory definition as regards unauthorised threats to the wellbeing and property
of individual citizens and to the State. The Qur’an and the Sunna, i.e. the primary
sources of Islamic Law, provide that the crime of sowing sedition and perpetrating
terror, to "cause corruption in the land" in peaceful territories is one of the most
severe crimes in Islam (Qur’an, 5:33). “Corruption” is defined as armed rebellion
against a legitimate ruler, "those who take up weapons to spread fear", highway
robbery, kidnapping and other acts that would today be classed as terrorist activity.
Muslims suffered terrorism in the first century of Islam at the hands of the Khwarij
sect.5
130.
Terrorism in Islam (hiraba or irhab) was defined by the 11th Century Chief Judge of
Muslim Lisbon, Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, as follows:
“Anyone who disturbs the free passage in the streets and
renders them unsafe to travel, striving to spread corruption in
the land by killing people or violating what God has made it
unlawful to violate, is guilty of terrorism [hiraba], be he a
Muslim or a non-Muslim, free or slave, and whether he actually
realises his goal of taking money and killing or not.”
131.
Thus, the “9/11” and “7/7” bombers would have been guilty of terrorism (hiraba)
under Islamic law.
Statutory definition of terrorism
132.
The current statutory definition of “terrorism” is to be found in section 1 of the
Terrorism Act 2000 as amended:
“1) In this Act “terrorism” means the use or threat of action
where —
(a) the action falls within subsection (2);
(b) the use or threat is designed to influence the government
or an international governmental organisation or to
intimidate the public or a section of the public and
(c) the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a
political, religious or ideological cause.
5 Khwarij means, literally, ‘those who left the mainstream body of Islam’. The Khwarij were a violent
sect who opposed the political leadership of the Caliph ‘Ali through violent insurrection in the first
century of Islam. They claimed that no human leadership had the political right to lead Islam which
belonged to God alone. (c.f. Dr Wilkinson, para. 10.2).
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