With Europe descending into anarchy, the French Islamic community has belatedly issued this
fatwa. My admittedly loose translation of this theological document follows:
A fatwa concerning the disorders affecting France:
In several verses of the Holy Koran, God condemns destruction and disorder and rejects those who accomplish them. It says in verse 64 of Sura 5 "Allah does not love sowers of disorder"; it says in verse 60 of Sura 2 "do not sow disorders on the ground like troublemakers". (see also 2/27; 2/205; 7/56; 28/77 etc.).
In addition God calls the Moslems to an unblemished respect for life, honor and the property of others.
He forbids to Moslems both disobedience and injustice "…and do not transgress for God does not love the transgressors" 2/190.
These lessons abound in the sunna of the Prophet Muhammad, blessing and salutations upon him. These are considered by all the legal schools of Islam to be fundamental and untouchable.
The Islamic religion believes a person’s needs do not abolish the rights of another. As such, the need to express distress or malaise does not undo the rights of the innocents who have seen their cars and businesses burn.
In view of the growth and the gravity of the events which are shaking many of Parisian suburbs and which now seem to extend to other provincial towns, events which disturb the general peace, endanger safety and property and even lives; ' Dar el Fatwa' [The Land of Fatwa] issues the following Fatwa. It applies to all Moslems, and prescribes a great condemnation:
"It is formally forbidden for any Moslem seeking blessings and grace to participate in any action or blind attack on any property, public or private, or which may endanger the life of another. To contribute to these exactions is an illicit act [which emerges far stronger in Islamic terms, it is the equivalent of Mortal Sin in Catholicism].
Any Moslem soul in France, be he French citizen or living in France has the right to claim the moral respect for himself, his dignity and his convictions and to act for more equality for social justice.
But any action undertaken in a concerted or spontaneous way must in no wise be done in contradiction with these Told Lessons [referring to the above Koran passages] and the right which guides the communal existence".