Paul
Goble
Staunton, February 1 – It is unclear
which should disturb the Kremlin more -- that Muslims in the Russian Federation
are now sufficiently angry that they are thinking about taking part in public
protests or that these same Muslims feel that they should ask not what Russian
law says about such meetings but rather what Islamic Shariat law does.
In this week’s “Chernovik,” a
Daghestani publication, Umar Gadzhiyaliyev surveys the opinions and fetwas of
leading Muslim thinkers concerning meetings, when they are permissible and when
they are not according to Islam, and even whether a Muslim can take part in
such things at all (chernovik.net/content/religiya/mitingi-i-demonstracii-soglasno-shariatu).
Not surprising to Muslims but
perhaps to others, these “contemporary Islamic legal specialists have expressed
various points of view on this subject. But if one summarizes them,” Gadzhiyaliyev
says, “one can say that the scholars permit meetings and demonstrations … if
they do not contain prohibited elements connected with external factors.”
The Daghestani writer considers the
views of several of them in detail and observes that many are concerned that
men and women do not take part in such measures together, that those
considering protests need to recognize the difference between living in a
Muslim society where such things should not be the first choice and elsewhere
where they may have no choice, and that those who participate must behave as
good Muslims and not insult the dignity of others.
“Thus,” Gadzhiyaliyev says, one can
conclude that “if meetings and demonstrations do not entail obvious harm, lead
to a positive result and do not contain prohibited elements, then at bottom they
are permitted according to Shariat law.”
But he, being a citizen of the
Russian Federation, adds the expected “postscript.” “This article,” he writes, “is not backing
for or denigration of any specific measure and concerns only general propositions
about meetings and demonstrations.”
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