Muslims: Judge us not by un-Islamic acts of few by Parvez Ahmed & Arsalan Iftikhar The Houston Chronicle 6:37pm 12th May, 2004   May 12, 2004,    From the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal by American soldiers to the brutal beheading of Nicholas Berg in Iraq, it would be a gross understatement to say that the situation in Iraq is spiraling out of control. As time progresses, any silver lining to the Iraqi saga slowly wanes away. The "shock and awe" of the battlefield has now given way to the "shock and awe" of gut-wrenching pictures and videos that will resonate in global memory for time immemorial.    Were it not for the powerful photographic archives of both atrocities, they would have probably been relegated to footnotes in history books. However, this war could now be perpetually defined by the despicable footage of humiliating torture and cold-blooded murderous executions. Each side may be tempted to use the others' injustices to justify their own barbaric actions and only continue the cycle of violence.    For obvious reasons, the Abu Ghraib torture is inflaming Muslim passions around the world. The passions are being inflamed domestically as more Americans are viewing the gruesome, despicable and everlasting images of Berg's execution on Internet video feeds. The potential for continued misunderstanding between the Muslim world and America is reaching troubling proportions.    Just as a handful of American soldiers committing torturous war crimes do not represent the sense and sensibilities of the vast majority of Americans, it is important to judge Muslims by the same standards. Just as America cannot be judged through the lens of its often misguided foreign policy or torturous acts of American soldiers, the world of Islam should not be held accountable for the un-Islamic and barbaric deeds of a minuscule minority of more than a billion Muslims.    America is a signatory to both the torture and Fourth Geneva Convention, and thus, any citizen of ours who violates international law must be held accountable for their crimes. The barbaric tortures also constitute gross violations of the U.S. Code of Military Justice, the paramount domestic legal and ethical guidelines for our men and women in uniform.    Muslims are also bound by a hallmark ethical and moral code. A Muslim who violates the commandments of God in the Quran or those of the prophet Muhammad must also be held accountable.    When outlining the rules of engagement for wartime, the Prophet Muhammad said on numerous occasions: "Do not kill any old person, any child or any woman;" "Do not kill the monks in monasteries;" "Do not kill the people who are sitting in places of worship;" "Do not attack a wounded person;" and "No prisoner should be put to the sword." Prophet Muhammad also prohibited the killing of anyone who is in captivity and also ordered people not to pillage residential areas or cultivated fields during war. He also outlawed the mutilating of the corpses of enemies. These clear and concise statements make any violation of these edicts during wartime a clear violation of core Islamic principles.    Islamic scholars also assert that war in Islam is purely defensive in nature (Quran 22: 39-40). Also, the Quran prohibits of killing non-combatants (2:190-192), and it advocates kindness to people of other faiths who do not have open hostilities with Muslims (60: 8).    Despite such clear injunctions, some Muslims who claim to be killing in the name of Islam are, in fact, completely defiling its essence. The extremists and militants who attempt to hide behind the veneer of Islam are, in reality, openly violating many of its core teachings. Just as their ends do not justify their criminal means, the same can be said of the criminal American soldiers and their commanders who consign human beings to leashed animals.    Just as the cruel torture of Iraqis has been universally condemned by people of all faith, the overwhelming majority of Muslims worldwide are sickened and condemn Berg's horrific death as inherently shocking, against all teachings of Islam and universally deplored by all spiritual, caring and decent human beings. Unspeakable and appalling acts perpetrated by followers of any religion should be unanimously condemned as fundamentally irreligious and unpatriotic crimes.    (Ahmed is a national board member for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Iftikhar is the director of legal affairs for CAIR in Washington, D.C.) Visit the related web page
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