Muslim nations different stances over suicide bombings

Muslim nations different stances over suicide bombings

Jasbant Singh, Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur

Muslim nations took different stances on Monday on suicide bombings in Israel, with Malaysia urging an end to them and Saudi Arabia calling Palestinian suicide bombers martyrs.

The differences at the meeting of religious affairs ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference showed lingering divisions among Muslim countries since a meeting in March, when foreign ministers were unable to define what constitutes terrorism.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said holy war cannot be won with violence and suicide bombers, which achieved nothing by killing Israeli civilians except to bolster views that Palestinians are terrorists. He added building strong economies were more important in the fight against injustice.

But Saudi Arabia's minister for Islam, Sheik Salleh Abdul Aziz Mohammed al-Sheik, differed at a news conference.

"The suicide bombings are permitted," he said. "The victims are considered to have died a martyr's death."

In a speech opening the three-day conference, Abdullah said Muslims should not "allow Islam to be hijacked by those who have a flawed understanding of our faith and rally under the banner of militancy."

He also urged Muslim countries to drop the widely held belief that the religion's tenet of jihad, or holy war, meant carrying out militant attacks.

Jihad must "not be pursued with guns and bombs" but should be translated into actions that would help to lift Muslims "from the throes of poverty," he said.

The Saudi Arabian minister agreed but said that the Palestinians' armed jihad is permissible as a fight for their rightful land.

"Jihad is any effort that requires strength to better the lives of a people," Salleh said. "It can range from practicing self-control to defending your country."

Abdullah said that Muslim countries need to develop economic clout and political influence to dispel suspicions against the religion, Abdullah said.

"We must abandon mental blocks that we ourselves have erected and embrace knowledge and innovation," Abdullah said. "If Islam is equated with the acts of a minority who have hijacked our faith, the world will continue to fear and loathe Islam."

The meeting was attended by 42 of the 57 members of the conference and was expected to address ways to counter a negative perception of Islam following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

It followed an OIC conference in late March where Prime Mahathir Mohamad was unsuccessful in getting foreign ministers to adopt his call to define all attacks on civilians, including suicide bombers, as terrorism.

However, other Muslim countries felt the recent wave of Palestinian suicide bombings was the only weapon available to people crushed by harsh Israeli occupation.

The Saudi Arabian said that the U.S-led war on terror is targeting Islam because of a misperception of the religion, but said it would only be "temporary."

"After Sept. 11, there has been an upsurge, even in America, to learn what Islam is really about," Salleh said.