Islamic Shura Council Condemns the Sectarian Barbarism-Sort of

Muzammil Siddiqi, the head imam of the Islamic Center of Orange County and chairman of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California has partnered with his colleagues to issue a statement condemning the sectarian barbarism-their words- going on the Middle East. Before you begin clapping, read it all very carefully. The statement also refers to the Muslim Code of Honor, which they link and I am linking here as well. (I am also posting the first two paragraphs of the Code below with my comments.)

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs184/1102150755525/archive/1117702370743.html

"Among the code's guidelines are banning the practice of takfir, judging other Muslims as nonbelievers, and forbidding hateful speech about the beliefs and revered figures of all branches of Islam. We call on all communities to embrace this model of working together for mutual respect and harmony and we ask God, the Most Merciful, to grant us the wisdom to work for it." 

It is all well and good that they call for an end to the killing, but when you read all this carefully- both the statement and the Code of Honor- they are talking about the Sunni-Shia conflict. Yet I see nothing in here that refers to the Christians in Iraq and Syria (and everywhere else in the Islamic world who are under attack and living in fear for their lives.) What about the desire (and efforts)  to kill all those Jews living in Israel? What about the Baha'i who are under constant attack in Iran?

Below I have highlighted two paragraphs from the Muslim Code of Honor:

• "No group or individual shall use, spread or tolerate the rhetoric of branding others as nonbelievers (takfir) against anyone who believes in the oneness and supremacy of God, the prophethood of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah, peace be upon him, as the last of God’s messengers, and in the reality of the Last Day, agreeing on the authenticity of the Holy Qur’an and facing Makkah (qibla) in daily prayers."

That leaves out Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus-everybody else. It also leaves out Ahmadi Muslims because they believe in a latter prophet (19th century).

• "Muslims should respect one another and the people, places and events that any Muslim group or individual holds in esteem, even when they disagree about the relative importance of such people and events. Such disagreements, moreover, should only be expressed in a respectful manner, avoiding inflammatory language and insulting verbiage."

Again-it refers only to Muslims (Sunni-Shia).

The violence that we see today has two main aspects: 

1 Sunni vs Shia, which is a centuries-old dispute over who should have been the rightful successor to Mohammad after he died.

2 Muslim vs Christians and Jews

So could the Shura Council have also included in their statement that violence against Christians and Jews must also end? Could they have taken the first part of the Code of Honor above and applied it also to Christians and Jews?  You cannot argue that it is irrelevant because they are talking primarily about Iraq and Syria. In both countries, Christians are also being targeted. So why didn't they?

Because they would have been guilty of blasphemy. They would have directly contradicted verses in the Koran and certain hadiths as well. The Koran and hadith (the traditions and sayings of Mohammad) have many hateful references to Christians and Jews. For example, what about the hadith that describes the Day of Judgement, when the Jew will hide behind a tree and the tree will call out to the Muslim, "O Muslim. There is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him"?

In this link from the Jewish Virtual Library, is a list of verses in the Koran that relate to Jews and Christians. They are instructive.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/koranjews.html

So if the authors of the Muslim Code of Honor had inserted Christians and Jews in that first paragraph instead of limiting it to believers in Mohammad as the last prophet and the authenticity of the Koran, they would have been in conflict with much in the Koran. They would have been accused of blasphemy or possibly even apostasy.

Both of which are punished by death under sharia law.