The Anti Terror Fatwa: But Who Is Listening?

By Salil Kader

This public denouncement of terrorism as anti-Islamic, coming soon after the February 2008 Deoband conference where a similar stand was taken sans the fatwa, also answers a question raised often from various quarters: ‘Why don’t Muslims condemn terrorism or do Muslims ever condemn terrorism?’ Though this question has been answered effectively several times at different fora, it somehow keeps coming back for revalidation. Probably those asking such questions never wait to listen to the answers and quickly pronounce the whole Muslim community guilty of not condemning acts of violence being carried out in the name of Islam.