The “Fatwa” is a Sleeping Bomb
By Dr. Ahmed Gumaa Siddiek
aahmedgumaa@yahoo.com
A fatwa according to (Fatwa Definition in the Islamic Glossary (learnreligions.com), is an Islamic religious ruling, a scholarly opinion on a matter of law. A fatwa is issued by a recognized religious authority in Islam. But since there is no hierarchical priesthood or anything of the sort in Islam, a fatwa is not necessarily “binding” on the faithful. The people who pronounce these rulings are supposed to be knowledgeable, and base their rulings in 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.
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. When there are conflicting opinions issued by different scholars, we compare the evidence and then choose the opinion to which our God-given conscience guides us.
So how can we understand this issue in Sudanese context, in this recent socio-political situation? The war that erupted on April 15 2023 is an absurd war, with no national agendas. It is a war between two generals, based on personal disputes. As up to this moment, neither General Burhan nor General Daglo has nothing to tell Sudanese people about the benefits of this war. In fact, the war has nothing to do with the people’s aspirations, as each one of the two men is making use of it to – practically – defend his interests to make more wealth and gain much power.
Each one of the generals has his own strategies and tactics to gain people’s support. General Dagolo is claiming to defend the revolution – which we believe is a tactic, to gain people’s support, although the people already knew Daglo as a mere Janjaweed and a killer. Burhan is talking about defending the people, using the military forces against Daglo as mutineer. He actually made a law to illegalize the Rapid Support Forces as military faction. But we believe that General Burhan is also a liar, just a tool to be used by the X-national Sudanese Party – which is behind all this mess to end the December 2019 revolution. To achieve these agendas the X- Basheer Regimes men are using the army to achieve their goals.
We believe that guns are effective machines to kill many people, but the propaganda and mass media misused can kill millions of people, when religion is misused. So, in this context such a Fatwa made by Sheikh Abdul-Hai is hazardous than million guns. Such an opinion based on religion is similar to million land mines subject to explode at any time, if trigged.
Sheikh Abdul-Hai is an important Islamic Scholar, who has great influence on some Sudanese Muslims, who may use this Fatwa as a solid ground to kill and eliminate their opponents, all claims based on the Sheikh’s religious opinion. Sheikh Abdul-Hai was once said to have given such Fatwa for the X- President Basheer to kill the third of the Sudanese population, to remain ruling the country. Making use of military power, supported with religious mandate from such authorities like Abdul-Hai, will keep the war continue for ages.