Clerics to meet in Kabul to declare suicide attacks ‘un-Islamic’

Muslim scholars from across the world will meet in Afghanistan next month to condemn suicide bombings as running counter to the peaceful teachings of Islam.
“Many times, scholars in Pakistan and Afghanistan have made statements but had no influence,” Mufti Shamsur Rahman Firotan, a cleric in Kabul told the Christian Science Monitor. “This one will have influence, and will give the idea to the people that suicide attacks are forbidden.” Muslim scholars from around the world will hold a major conference in Kabul late January to condemn suicide bombings used by the Taliban. “The message is for all: in Iraq, in Pakistan, all these militant jihadist groups,” said Firotan. The conference comes amid rising civilian casualties from bombing attacks by the Taliban, which has been engaged in a protracted warfare against US-led forces. A new UN report this month revealed that civilian casualties in Afghanistan rose by 28 percent in the last four months. The report showed that at least 967 civilians were killed and 1,590 others were injured during the third quarter of the year. Around 56 percent of the casualties were incurred following roadside explosions and suicide bomb blasts. “Practically every family has suffered some form of attack by these suicide bombings or IEDs, and they don’t look at it very kindly,” says Massoumeh Torfeh, the director of strategic communications for UNAMA in Kabul. Opponents reject the Taliban argument that suicide bombings are being used to fight foreign forces in Afghanistan. The holy Quran makes clear that self-defence is acceptable providing “there is no other way to live, but that is not the situation now”, Firotan said. He opines that there are other methods to fight foreign forces in the Muslim country. “But this is not the way – to go to mosques, banks, bazaars, or shops. There are 100 percent, some Taliban who are also against these actions.” Organisers hope that the scholars’ position against suicide bombings would help decrease violence in the country. “Afghanistan is a religious country, and absolutely the majority are listening to their religious scholars,” Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a former Taliban ambassador to the UN who is now a member of High Peace Council tasked by the government with talking to the Taliban, told The Christian Science Monitor.