Fatwa

This is a very intersting proposition within Britain:

Muslim leaders are discussing the idea of issuing a fatwa against suicide bombers to prevent similar attacks to those in London last week.

Sir Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, yesterday raised the idea when he met with other Muslim community leaders in Leeds to discuss what concrete steps could be taken by the wider Muslim community.

Another measure considered was the need for anyone in the Muslim community with suspicions that extremists were moving into an area to inform police. But Sir Iqbal stopped short of supporting a Muslim hotline for people to phone if they had suspicions of extremist activities in an area. The idea was floated by Sir Ian Blair, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police. Sir Iqbal said Muslims had no more responsibility for informing on criminal activity than anyone else.

While the informants' line could be something of a difficult thing to sell in just about any country, the idea of Muslim leaders issuing a fatwa strikes me as a correct response to these problems.

Why? Because they are a response from Islamic leaders in a cultural fashion that comes from the goals and methods of Islam. This aspect of change occuring within the community as well as from without needs to be one of the key ways to deal with this. This is also something that is good for the western perspective of Islam in the west.