“Follow the Prophet Mohammed, don’t follow bin Laden,” was the message from an anti-terrorism summer camp led by a top academic, which attracted hundreds of young British Muslims this week.
Al-Hidayah (The Guidance) was led by Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, who earlier this year issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, against terrorism.
His message to the roughly 1,300 people attending the three-day event on a university campus in Coventry, England, was clear — terrorism is anti-Islamic.
The message was welcomed by members of the British Muslim community, which has been in the spotlight since the July 7, 2005 suicide attacks on London’s public transport system killed 52 innocent people, plus the four young British Muslim extremists who blew themselves up.
“The thing he said about terrorism is a big thing to say,” Anam Nazir, a young woman who attended the event, said.
“I’m from Pakistan and I have never seen any scholar say things like that in the media because they’re too scared ... he’s brave,” she said.
The event, which ended on Monday, cost about £200 (US$320) per person to attend, including accommodation.
On the agenda were lectures about issues faced by Muslims living in the West, such as terrorism, suicide bombing and integration, as well as music and sports, plus prayers in the room, which is usually the students’ disco.
However, for many attendees, one highlight was the opening speech by Tahir-ul-Qadri, the Canadian-based founder of moderate Islamic NGO Minhaj-ul-Quran International, during which he spoke out against al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Afterwards, Tahir-ul-Qadri said Islam states that followers can only voice disagreements with laws in a peaceful manner, and that it was a religion that preached integration.
Islamic law says, “these countries that protect your life and your wealth and your honor ... are peaceful countries so you’re not allowed to become terrorists against these countries and these societies,” he said.
“This is the commandment of the Holy Prophet and Islam and Allah, to be integrated in the society where you’re living,” he said.
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