Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz, Head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs of Turkey:
"Any human being, regardless of his ethnic and religious origin, will never think of carrying out such a violent, evil attack. Whatever its purpose is, this action cannot be justified and tolerated." Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz, "A Message on Ragaib Night and Terrorism," September 21, 2001,
http://www.diyanet.gov.tr/duyurular/regaibing.htm
Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar), Turkish author:
"Islam does not encourage any kind of terrorism; in fact, it denounces it. Those who use terrorism in the name of Islam, in fact, have no other faculty except ignorance and hatred." Harun Yahya, "Islam Denounces Terrorism,"
http://www.islamdenouncesterrorism.com
Shaikh Muhammad Yusuf Islahi, Pakistani-American Muslim leader:
"The sudden barbaric attack on innocent citizens living in peace is extremely distressing and deplorable. Every gentle human heart goes out to the victims of this attack and as humans we are ashamed at the barbarism perpetrated by a few people.
Islam, which is a religion of peace and tolerance, condemns this act and sees this is as a wounding scar on the face of humanity. I appeal to Muslims to strongly condemn this act, express unity with the victims' relatives, donate blood, money and do whatever it takes to help the affected people." "Messages From Shaikh Muhammad Yusuf Islahi,"
http://www.icna.org/wtc_islahi.htm
Abdal-Hakim Murad, British Muslim author:
"Targeting civilians is a negation of every possible school of Sunni Islam. Suicide bombing is so foreign to the Quranic ethos that the Prophet Samson is entirely absent from our scriptures."
"The Hijackers Were Not Muslims After All: Recapturing Islam From the Terrorists,"
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/masud/ISLAM/ahm/recapturing.htm
Syed Mumtaz Ali, President of the Canadian Society of Muslims:
"We condemn in the strongest terms possible what are apparently vicious and cowardly acts of terrorism against innocent civilians. We join with all Canadians in calling for the swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators. No political cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts." Canadian Society of Muslims, Media Release, September 12, 2001,
http://muslim-canada.org/news09112001.html
15 American Muslim organizations:
"We reiterate our unequivocal condemnation of the crime committed on September 11, 2001 and join our fellow Americans in mourning the loss of up to 6000 innocent civilians."
Muslim American Society (MAS), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Muslim Alliance of North America (MANA), Muslim Student Association (MSA), Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), Solidarity International, American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice (AMGPJ), American Muslim Alliance (AMA), United Muslim Americans Association (UMAA), Islamic Media Foundation (IMF), American Muslim Foundation (AMF), Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations (CCMO), American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ), Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA), October 22, 2001,
http://www.icna.org/wtc_pr.htm
American Muslim Political Coordination Council:
"American Muslims utterly condemn what are apparently vicious and cowardly acts of terrorism against innocent civilians. We join with all Americans in calling for the swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators. No political cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts."
http://capwiz.com/cair/issues/alert/?alertid=49818&type=CU&azip=
Dr. Agha Saeed, National Chair of the American Muslim Alliance:
"These attacks are against both divine and human laws and we condemn them in the strongest terms. The Muslim Americans join the nation in calling for swift apprehension and stiff punishment of the perpetrators, and offer our sympathies to the victims and their families."
http://www.amaweb.org/AMA Condemns.html
Hamza Yusuf, American Muslim leader:
"Religious zealots of any creed are defeated people who lash out in desperation, and they often do horrific things. And if these people [who committed murder on September 11] indeed are Arabs, Muslims, they're obviously very sick people and I can't even look at it in religious terms. It's politics, tragic politics.
There's no Islamic justification for any of it. ... You can't kill innocent people. There's no Islamic declaration of war against the United States. I think every Muslim country except Afghanistan has an embassy in this country.
And in Islam, a country where you have embassies is not considered a belligerent country. In Islam, the only wars that are permitted are between armies and they should engage on battlefields and engage nobly. The Prophet Muhammad said,
``Do not kill women or children or non-combatants and do not kill old people or religious people,'' and he mentioned priests, nuns and rabbis. And he said, ``Do not cut down fruit-bearing trees and do not poison the wells of your enemies.''
The Hadith, the sayings of the Prophet, say that no one can punish with fire except the lord of fire. It's prohibited to burn anyone in Islam as a punishment. No one can grant these attackers any legitimacy. It was evil."
San Jose Mercury News, September 15, 2001,
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/local/center/isl0916.htm
Nuh Ha Mim Keller, American Muslim author:
"Muslims have nothing to be ashamed of, and nothing to hide, and should simply tell people what their scholars and religious leaders have always said: first, that the Wahhabi sect has nothing to do with orthodox Islam, for its lack of tolerance is a perversion of traditional values; and second, that killing civilians is wrong and immoral."
"Making the World Safe for Terrorism," September 30, 2001,
http://66.34.131.5/ISLAM/nuh/terrorism.htm
Muslims Against Terrorism, a U.S.-based organization:
"As Muslims, we condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Ours is a religion of peace. We are sick and tired of extremists dictating the public face of Islam."
http://www.muslimsagainstterrorism.org/aboutus.html
Abdulaziz Sachedina, professor of religious studies, University of Virginia:
"New York was grieving. Sorrow covered the horizons. The pain of separation and of missing family members, neighbors, citizens, humans could be felt in every corner of the country. That day was my personal day of "jihad" ("struggle") - jihad with my pride and my identity as a Muslim. This is the true meaning of jihad "struggle with ones own ego and false pride." I dont ever recall that I had prayed so earnestly to God to spare attribution of such madness that was unleashed upon New York and Washington to the Muslims. I felt the pain and, perhaps for the first time in my entire life, I felt embarrassed at the thought that it could very well be my fellow Muslims who had committed this horrendous act of terrorism. How could these terrorists invoke Gods mercifulness and compassion when they had, through their evil act, put to shame the entire history of this great religion and its culture of toleration?"
"Where Was God on September 11?,"
http://www.virginia.edu/~soasia/newsletter/Fall01/God.html
Ali Khan, professor of law, Washburn University School of Law:
"To the most learned in the text of the Quran, these verses must be read in the context of many other verses that stipulate the Islamic law of war---a war that the Islamic leader must declare after due consultation with advisers. For the less learned, however, these verses may provide the motivation and even the plot for a merciless strike against a self-chosen enemy." "Attack on America: An Islamic Perspective, September 17, 2001,
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forum/forumnew29.htm
Muqtedar Khan, assistant professor of political science, Adrian College, Michigan, USA:
"What happened on September 11th in New York and Washington DC will forever remain a horrible scar on the history of Islam and humanity. No matter how much we condemn it, and point to the Quran and the Sunnah to argue that Islam forbids the killing of innocent people, the fact remains that the perpetrators of this crime against humanity have indicated that their actions are sanctioned by Islamic values. The fact that even now several Muslim scholars and thousands of Muslims defend the accused is indicative that not all Muslims believe that the attacks are unIslamic. This is truly sad. ... If anywhere in your hearts there is any sympathy or understanding with those who committed this act, I invite you to ask yourself this question, would Muhammad (pbuh) sanction such an act? While encouraging Muslims to struggle against injustice (Al Quran 4:135), Allah also imposes strict rules of engagement. He says in unequivocal terms that to kill an innocent being is like killing entire humanity (Al Quran 5:32). He also encourages Muslims to forgive Jews and Christians if they have committed injustices against us (Al Quran 2:109, 3:159, 5:85)."
"Memo to American Muslims," October 5, 2001,
http://www.ijtihad.org/memo.htm
Dr. Alaa Al-Yousuf, Bahraini economist and political activist:
"On Friday, 14 September [the first Friday prayers after 11 September], almost the whole world expressed its condemnation of the crime and its grief for the bereaved families of the victims. Those who abstained or, even worse, rejoiced, will have joined the terrorists, not in the murder, but in adding to the incalculable damage on the other victims of the atrocity, namely, Islam as a faith, Muslims and Arabs as peoples, and possibly the Palestinian cause. The terrorists and their apologists managed to sully Islam as a faith both in the eyes of many Muslims and non-Muslims alike."
Interview with the International Forum for Islamic Dialogue, London,
http://www.islam21.net/pages/keyissues/key7-6.htm
Dr. S. Parvez Manzoor, Swedish-based Muslim author:
"If these acts of terror indeed have been perpetrated by Muslim radicals or fundamentalists, they have reaped nothing but eternal damnation, shame and ignominy. For nothing, absolutely nothing, could remotely be advanced as an excuse for these barbaric acts. They represent a total negation of Islamic values, an utter disregard of our fiqhi tradition, and a slap in the face of the Ummah. They are in total contrast to what Islamic reason, compassion and faith stand for. Even from the more mundane criteria of common good, the maslaha of the jurists, these acts are treasonous and suicidal. Islamic faith has been so callously and casually sacrificed at the altar of politics, a home-grown politics of parochial causes, primeval passions, self-endorsing piety and messianic terror."
Interview with the International Forum for Islamic Dialogue, London,
http://www.islam21.net/pages/keyissues/key7-6.htm
Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian Islamic activist and former deputy prime minister:
"Never in Islam's entire history has the action of so few of its followers caused the religion and its community of believers to be such an abomination in the eyes of others. Millions of Muslims who fled to North America and Europe to escape poverty and persecution at home have become the object of hatred and are now profiled as potential terrorists. And the nascent democratic movements in Muslim countries will regress for a few decades as ruling autocrats use their participation in the global war against terrorism to terrorize their critics and dissenters. This is what Mohammed Atta and his fellow terrorists and sponsors have done to Islam and its community worldwide by their murder of innocents at the World Trade Center in New York and the Defense Depart-ment in Washington. The attack must be condemned, and the condemnation must be without reservation."
Anwar Ibrahim, "Growth of Democracy Is the Answer to Terrorism," International Herald Tribune, October 11, 2001,
http://www.iht.com/articles/35281.htm
See also:
Bernard Haykel, assistant professor of Islamic law at New York University:
"According to Islamic law there are at least six reasons why Bin Laden's barbaric violence cannot fall under the rubric of jihad: 1) Individuals and organizations cannot declare a jihad, only states can; 2) One cannot kill innocent women and children when conducting a jihad; 3) One cannot kill Muslims in a jihad; 4) One cannot fight a jihad against a country in which Muslims can freely practise their religion and proselytize Islam; 5) Prominent Muslim jurists around the world have condemned these attacks and their condemnation forms a juristic consensus (ijma') against Bin Laden's actions (This consensus renders his actions un-Islamic); 6) The welfare and interest of the Muslim community (maslaha) is being harmed by Bin Laden's actions and this equally makes them un-Islamic."
The Dawn newspaper, Karachi, Pakistan, October 8, 2001,
http://www.dawn.com/2001/10/08/op.htm#2
See other collections of statements:
Omid Safi, Colgate University, "Scholars of Islam & the Tragedy of Sept. 11th,"
http://groups.colgate.edu/aarislam/response.htm
Tim Lubin, Washington and Lee University, "Islamic Responses to the Sept. 11 Attack,"
http://home.wlu.edu/~lubint/islamonWTC.htm
The Becket Fund, "Osama Bin Laden Hijacked Four Airplanes and a Religion," October 17, 2001,
http://www.becketfund.org/other/MuslimAd.html
Islam for Today, "Muslims Against Terrorism,"
http://www.islamfortoday.com/terrorism.htm
