Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, President of the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS), vehemently denounced the suicide attack, which happened during New Year’s Eve outside the Al-Qiddissine (The Saints) church on Saturday, killing 21 people and wounding 80 others.
Al-Qaradawi stressed that “the perpetrators of this crime are criminals, assassins and non-Muslims because Islam asserts the sanctity of human life and strongly prohibits aggression against it. Islam does not condone the killing of the innocent civilians of any nation or nationality except for a prescribed penalty. Murdering the civilians of any nationality by a group, individual or even nations at random, especially if they are celebrating in a place of worship could never be viewed as jihad and is undoubtedly against the teachings of the Qur’an and the Sunnah”.
The Qur’an, along with other divine scriptures, states that [Whosoever kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind] (Al-Ma’idah: 32)
Islam considers killing others as one of the gravest of sins in the sight of Allah. This heinous sin and abominable crime leads to Allah’s curse in this world and His severe punishment in the Hereafter.
The International Association of Muslim Scholars (IAMS) is appalled to see the bloody incidents that left behind great numbers of innocent civilian casualties who were killed in cold blood without any sin committed on their part.
The ethical constitution of legitimate warfare in Islam dictates that it is prohibited to kill anyone except those who are engaged in fighting. In this legitimate war, fighting is restricted to face-to-face confrontation between Muslims and the army of the aggressors. Upon seeing a woman killed in the battlefield, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) renounced the act and forbade killing women, children, the aged, monks in their hermitages, farmers in their lands, and traders. All of these are protected, so how could it be permissible to kill people who worship Allah in a religious event? This is never permitted by Islam.