Fatwa Mafia asks faithfuls for Musharraf's death by beheading

Islamic Fatwa Mafia from Pakistan is back in action. This time a group of so called religious leaders have got together and issued a Fatwa for beheading of retired General Musharraf.

For readers who are not fully aware of the definition of a Fatwa: A fatwa is a religious opinion concerning Islamic law that is issued by a recognized religious authority in Islam. But since there is no hierarchical priesthood or anything of that sort (at least) in Sunni Islam, a fatwa is not necessarily "binding" on the faithful. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding. The people who pronounce these rulings are supposed to be knowledgeable, and base their rulings in their knowledge and wisdom. They need to supply the evidence from Islamic sources for their opinions, and it is not uncommon for scholars to come to different conclusions regarding the same issue.

According to Media reports

A meeting of religious scholars and political leaders, headed by chief of the Jamhoori Watan Party Nawabzada Talal Bugti, was held at Quetta last Saturday. Religious scholars and politicians, including provincial Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Abdul Mateen Akhwanzada, JUI-N leader Maulana Abdul Qadir Loni, Maulana Noor Muhammad of JUI, Abdul Quddus Sasoli, Hashim Moosavi, Wilayat Hussain Jaffery and others attended the sitting.

Now, when a Fatwa is issued as Muslims, we look at the opinion, the reputation of the person giving it, the evidence given to support it, and then decide whether to follow it or not.

Speaking on the occasion, Nawabzada Talal Bugti announced $1.3 million as head money for Pervez Musharraf, saying that it is binding on all Muslims under the statement of religious scholars to behead him (Musharraf) as soon as possible.I have written in the past that there are legitimate legal grounds to take General Musharraf to court and hold him accountable for the crimes he committed during his reign. But this is the domain of Pakistani institutions of law and justice and not for political religious party leaders working with the families who have been aggrieved by Musharraf's actions when he was in power. No person or institution other than a court of law has the right to prosecute and determine punishment for Musharraf.

In his statement Talal Bugti suggested:

According to law, religion and culture, Pervez Musharraf should be sentenced to death, the statement said.

This statement describes one of the biggest problems Pakistani society faces right now. When you put Law, religion and culture in the same sentence it becomes a recipe for a disaster.

It only takes one fanatic to take the so called politically and revenge motivated Fatwa seriously. If there was ever a time for the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take a suo moto action, it is now. In my opinion all signatories of this fatwa should be brought to court for the crime of inciting murder. So should be Maulana Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid who has more blood on his hands from the Lal Masjid debacle than Musharraf himself. So should be any other street Mullah who issues a fatwa for killing another human being and takes on the role of Judge, Jury and Executioner when it suits their local political needs.