Terrorists do not represent Islam because they defy one of the basic tenants of the religion, according to a panel of Muslim experts that gathered for a UNM forum Monday to educate people about the growing faith.
According to the teachings, or hadieths, of the prophet Mohammed, considered the founder of Islam, Muslims can only engage in war if they have a legitimate reason, said Shaikh Mahmoud Sulaiman, an Albuquerque cleric and scholar whose comments were translated by Hatim Abdullah. Sulaiman has studied at the Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, the world's oldest Muslim university.
"The essence of relationships under the umbrella of Islam in relation to their neighbors is one of peace, not one that promotes war," Sulaiman said.
Sulaiman, Abdullah and UNM professor Mohamed El-Genk participated in the panel discussion, which was organized by Father Bob Keller of the UNM Aquinas Newman Center and the Muslim Student Association.
Salim Zamir, Muslim Student Association president, said the forum, which was a continuation of a similar event Sept. 25, was organized to help educate people about Islamic laws that apply to the everyday lives of Muslims.
The discussion tackled two questions that had been brought up during the previous forum - how do Muslims handle issues of violence and war, and how do Islamic beliefs apply to women.
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Sulaiman, reading from various scriptures, said Muslims could only defend themselves if attacked, and even then they were forbidden from using any means of warfare that had not been used against them.
"Never wish to meet your enemy as long as your enemy has not started to fight you," he said. "If the war is unavoidable, a Muslim must fight with honor and dignity."
He said throughout history all wars fought by Muslims had been in defense.
Speaking specifically of the ongoing conflicts in Israel, Abdullah, an Albuquerque businessman, said the Palestinians were obligated to defend their land.
"When an Islamic state is invaded and conquered by a non-Muslim state, they must defend themselves," he said.
Through Abdullah, Sulaiman said Muslims would always stand by any treaty reached between warring parties.
"It is honorable for a Muslim to carry on and protect his treaties and oaths," he said.
Regarding Osama bin Laden, who is suspected in the Sept. 11 attacks, he added, "We have a clean record, the acts of a certain individual do not reflect an entire nation."
Responding to a question from an audience member about Islam's reaction to those who go against its tenants, Sulaiman said they would be identified and scandalized as transgressors on a day of religious judgement.
"I am free from anyone who has tricked someone with whom he had a treaty - it meant that he had exited from Islamic perspective," he said, translating from scripture.
Several in the audience, which mostly comprised members of the Aquinas Newman Center's congregation, asked questions about the word jihad, which has come to mean "holy war" in recent weeks.
El-Genk explained that the word referred to any struggle that people engage in on a daily basis.
"All of us are engaging in jihad," he said.
Sulaiman expanded on that saying the word meant much more than just fighting.
"When you're getting your kids ready for school, getting over an illness, looking away from evil, telling someone to stop doing something - the word means a struggle to do something," he said. "Returning from one of the battlefields, the prophet said, `We have now returned from the easy jihad to a more difficult one.' `What is that?' a soldier said. `To fight the evil in the soul.'"
After a series of audience questions and discussion from members of the Muslim Student Association, the second part of the forum dealt with the role of women in Islam. Sulaiman said that, like all religions, certain Muslims have misinterpreted religious code and endorsed it as law, but that traditionally, Islam regards women as equal to men.
