Tahirul Qadri, a leading Islamic scholar and founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran, a broad-based, international, moderate Islamic nongovernmental organization, says that both extremists and the West need to understand the real meaning of jihad, commonly translated as holy war, saying extremists cannot use Jihad as a pretext for their violent agenda and the West should not equate it with terrorism.

"Islam does not permit any individual to declare jihad against any one," he told a gathering of American Muslims in Queens on May 28.

The Islamic scholar of Pakistani descent has long argued that the real concept of Jihad, as described in the Quran, does not ordain killing, fight and bloodshed. According to him, out of 35 Quranic verses that deal with Jihad, thirty one (31) describe it in various shades and meanings without having anything to do with battle and killings. He said he did not find even a single verse in the Quran in which Jihad and killing has been used together. These are two different words, he added, which the Quran has not put together at any place.

Qadri issued a Fatwa (Islamic religious ruling) in recent months, which unequivocally condemns suicide bombings and all forms of terrorism. In his Fatwa, Qadri declared the killing of innocent civilians in the name of jihad as un-Islamic.

"An individual who, in the presence of a state authority, decides to kill innocent, unarmed civilians not involved in a conflict, has nothing to do with Islam," Qadri told a packed banquet hall at SoundView Broadcasting in Queens. He said Islam did not sanction any such actions. "These are absolutely against the teachings of Islam and that Islam does not permit such acts on any excuse, reason or pretext." 

His 600-page Fatwa against terrorism has been approved by Egypt's Al-Azhar University, one of the Muslim world's most trusted seats of learning for Islamic law and jurisprudence. Qadri says his edict does not carry his personal opinion but has documented evidence from the Quran and Islamic history. He identifies different forms of Jihad, including Jihad of self-reform, 'Ijtihad' which advocates peaceful struggle against social vices, spending in the way of Allah, and defensive strategy against aggression.

Qadri said that Muslims who were attacked by outsiders had the right to self-defense and resistance. He said these rights were now part of international law and the laws of many states. He, however, clarified that Islam did not sanction fighting against non-combatant civilians even if Muslims are under attack by outsiders.

He told the audience that Muslims who felt they faced persecution and injustice in their home countries needed to act in the way that people in Egypt and Tunisia did. He believed peaceful political action was the way forward for Muslims living under tyranny.

He said the West also needed to understand the true meanings of jihad just like those who were acting violently on their own in the name of Islam. He demanded that the West delink Islam from terrorism. "There is no Islamic terrorist. A terrorist is a terrorist. He has nothing to do with faith."

Qadri said that he believed that his Fatwa might not influence those Muslims who have already become involved in terrorism, but it would certainly influence those who might be on the way to adopting the path of violence. He said Muslims needed to put their houses in order first before pointing the finger at others.