Telegraph | News | Spanish Muslims issue fatwa on bin Laden

By Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid, (Filed: 11/03/2005)

Muslims in Spain issued a fatwa against Osama bin Laden yesterday.

The ruling by the Islamic Commission of Spain, the main body representing the nation's one million Muslims, came on the eve of the first anniversary of the Madrid train bombings, which were linked to the al-Qa'eda network.

The commission's leader, Mansur Escudero, said the group had consulted Muslim leaders in other countries, such as Libya and Morocco - home to most of the suspects in the March 11 bombings.

The fatwa said that, in accordance with the Koran, "the terrorist acts of Osama bin Laden and his organisation al-Qa'eda... are totally banned and must be roundly condemned as part of Islam".

The fatwa is believed to represent the first major condemnation of bin Laden by a mainstream Muslim organisation.

The statement was intended as a move to rehabilitate the reputation of the Spanish Muslim community after the attacks, when Islamist terrorists exploded 10 bombs on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 and injuring 1,500.

The fatwa condemning bin Laden has particular resonance for Spain because after the attacks a group allied to al-Qa'eda, the Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, stated that the attacks on Spain were revenge for the loss of the Spanish Muslim kingdom of al-Andalus in 1492. The statement said: "This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader and America's ally in its war against Islam.''

There is something delicious about this fatwa from Spanish Muslims. It may be the first of its kind since 11 September 2001 from any Muslims anywhere. I do not recall any others. Most Muslims, including those living plush lives in America, have sat on their hands on their prayer rugs in silence, strengthening the idea that silence is assent.

Muslims have it in their power to put a stop to most, if not all, of this Islam inspired and directed war against everybody who is not them. They are human beings who possess the same kind of volitional consciousness that all other humans have. They have the same choice each of us has: to use that consciousness to think or not.

That single choice--to think or not--makes ALL of the difference, 100%. And that applies to each human on earth. Exercising that choice can make a profoundly positive difference in every home, every town, every country, every continent. The forms making that choice takes are as many as there are people and thoughts, and there is no guarantee of correctness or outcome. However, making the choice makes it possible to detect and correct errors, and that makes all the difference.

Whether the Spanism Muslims' fatwa affects other Muslims elsewhere remains to be seen. It could be a flash-in-the-pan, or, like the voting in Iraq, be the formative drops of what can become a big river of change. Muslims are religious robots by choice. They can become positive citizens, by choice. It hangs on a single decision repeated until the job is done: to think.