An observant Muslim scholar

Muslims upset by the terrorists' deliberately killing peaceful, civilian Iraqi Muslims have been asking if the killings can be justified under Muslim religious teaching.

A number of Muslim religion scholars, called ulema, have studied the question. They've concluded Muslim teaching does indeed justify such killings. They've provided examples of circumstances in which Muslim's may deliberately kill, say, a mother and child.

But other ulema disagree. In a NY Post column, Amir Teheri writes about one of them as well as about those telling Muslims the killings are justified.

Jassim al-Shamri, a Saudi theologian, rejects the authority of the "self-styled ulema" to reinterpret Islamic concepts for political goals.

"These gentlemen sit in air-conditioned rooms and drink iced mango juice and issue fatwas for indiscriminate killing," al-Shamri says. "We never see any of them or their children sent on suicide missions."


I like the observant al-Shamri. May the number of those like him grow.

(Before accessing Taheri's column, you may need to complete a short, free registration at the NY Post site.)