PROGRESS? – AT 7:38 P.M. ET:  According to the Jerusalem Post, a fatwa is about to be issued in London that can be a step forward, and away from terrorism, for Islam:

LONDON – A revered mainstream Muslim scholar is set to announce in London on Tuesday a fatwa (Muslim ruling) against terrorism and suicide bombing in the name of Islam.

Sheikh Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri, a widely recognized and respected authority on Islamic jurisprudence, will issue a comprehensive fatwa prohibiting terrorism and suicide bombing at a press conference in Westminster, central London.

The Pakistani-born Dr. Qadri has authored an unprecedented, 600-page fatwa on why suicide bombings and terrorism are un-Islamic and scripturally forbidden. The ruling is the most comprehensive theological refutation of Islamist terrorism to date.

The fatwa will also be posted on the Internet and in English, making it readily accessible. It will also set an important precedent and allow other scholars to similarly condemn the ideas behind terrorism.

Dr. Qadri has used texts in the Koran and other Islamic writings to argue that suicide and other terrorist attacks are “absolutely against the teachings of Islam” and that “Islam does not permit such acts on any excuse, reason or pretext.”

The fatwa condemns suicide bombers as destined for hell, refuting the claim used by Islamists that such terrorists will earn paradise after death.

COMMENT:  Let's see if it has any effect, and if Tahir ul-Qadri survives.  There have been other statements by Muslim leaders condemning terrorism and suicide bombing, but they seem to have had little impact.  Extremists do their own "scholarship" and come up with their own interpretation of Islam.  But at least this new fatwa is encouraging.

March 1, 2010