Samira Salih al-Nuaimi
On September 24, over 120 Muslim scholars, academics and religious authorities released a open letter addressed to the “fighters and followers” of the so-called Islamic State. Among the signatories are Sheikh Shawqi Allam, the grand mufti of Egypt, and Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, the mufti of Jerusalem and All Palestine.
The letter is dense and scholarly, 18 pages of reasoned (and footnoted) argument. While the point is simple and crystal clear — ISIS is neither Islamic nor a state — the effort to agree on the text must have taken intense negotiation and compromise.
Few currently in ISIS likely care or can even comprehend the text. It reads like a papal encyclical, heavy on holy book citations and centuries of commentary and debate. The letter’s real audience are the overwhelming majority of Muslims who oppose violence and support human rights. This gives them something to point to when young people, the majority of ISIS fighters, feel pulled by the group’s extremist rhetoric.
As Religion News pointed out, a translated 24-point summary of the letter includes the following: “It is forbidden in Islam to torture”; “It is forbidden in Islam to attribute evil acts to God”; and “It is forbidden in Islam to declare people non-Muslims until he (or she) openly declares disbelief.”
I hope all of the countries now engaged in striking ISIS targets spend more time on fostering these efforts. Perhaps some force is needed, though like many I fear that the move to military action is often too quick and feeds the very forces we hope to isolate and defeat. Bombs also close the door on other, peaceful and more permanent ways to isolate extremists.
Few disagree that ISI must be stopped. On Monday, militants publically executed Samira Salih al-Nuaimi, a leading lawyer and human rights activist, accused of “abandoning Islam.” Al-Nuaimi had criticised the destruction of places of worship in Mosul, Iraq. Al-Nuaimi was also reportedly tortured.
Take a look at this chilling video, taken by a woman with a hidden camera, of what it’s like to live in ISIS-controlled Raqqa, Syria.
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