Content area
Full Text
(ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)
Introduction
Three decades after introduction of the religious militancy by USA to defeat USSR in Afghanistan and later US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/1 1 many armed groups have resurfaced in Afghanistan to resist US-led NATO occupation. As a fallout some groups have rebelled against the state of Pakistan on the pretext of establishing Shari'ah rule. Known as Taliban, they consider the rulers and other Muslims to be disbelievers, apostates who must be killed unless they return to the rule of "their brand of extremist ideology"; this claim is rejected by Muslim scholars on the grounds of heretic extremist Takfiri doctrine of Khwarij of early days of Islam. It is considered as a doctrinal deviation [bid'at], heresy. Leaders such as Hassan alHudaybi (died1977) and Yousuf al-Qaradawi reject Takfir' as un-lslamic and marked by bigotry and zealotry. Dr. Tahir ul Qadri has issued a comprehensive edict (fatwa). Such narrow mindedness has exacerbated the evil of sectarianism and the resulting intolerance among the masses has led to a dangerous trend towards sectarian militancy. Recently even the Saudi, Salafi scholars condemned and strongly rejected the Takfir' doctrine.
The Muslims have always been ruled by the Islamic law [Shari'ah] in the empires and Caliphates till end of Ottomans in 1918. Even the Moghul in India known for their tolerance of non Muslims adhered to Shari'ah. In the book, The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State', Noah Feldman, a Harvard Law professor, writes: "The scholars exercised control over meaning of Shari'ah, interpreting the divine law and acting as a restraint on the caliph's power. The caliph relied on the scholars for legitimacy and divine sanction, which created an institutional balance of power that gave stability and longevity to the Islamic state'. Feldman argues that this institutional balance of power is what ensured justice in the Ottoman Empire, and that it is also exactly what is lacking in today's Islamism".
After the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate, the Tatar (Mongols) abided by the law that they inherited from their king Genghis Khan who wrote Al-Yasiq for them. This book contains some rulings that were derived from various religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Many of these rulings were derived from...