In the weeks prior to Nov 2, 2020, France has been stricken with two jihadist attacks. French teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded and 3 people in a church were killed, including an elderly woman who was decapitated. American Imam Yasir Qadhi, a world renowned Islamic leader, is responding to the backlash.
Interview with ‘The Thinking Muslim’ Podcast: Difficult Questions About the Situation in France Premiered Nov 2, 2020
The following description is from Imam Yasir Qadhi’s youtube channel:
Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi speaks about the French Policy towards Muslims, the potential for the ‘French model’ to be exported to other countries where Muslims are a minority. He also touches on the Islamic justifications for violence, how we should defend the honour of the Messenger of Allah. (SAW) Below is an excerpt of the lecture.
“Again I reiterate our loyalties are to our creator not to our nation state. As for France, I’ve only been three times, I think. I agree with you. And of course I have met many French Muslims. I agree with you the xenophobia, Islamophobia, I really don’t know of any other Western country in the world that is more blatantly Islamophobic than France. I do not know of any other country. Now that is frightening because France has the highest percentage of Muslims of any – the entire Western world. Those two facts together do not bode well for the future. That’s all I will say – do not bode well. If you study history, and the exacerbations going on, tit for tat, at what point do the Muslims say enough is enough?” Video Excerpt
Shaykh Yasir Qadhi is a Pakistani-American Islamic scholar, theologian and preacher. Since 2001, he has served as Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute, an international Islamic educational institution with a center in Houston, Texas. He also taught in the Religious Studies department at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He is currently the resident scholar of the East Plano Islamic Center in Plano, Texas.
Qadhi has written numerous books and lectured widely on Islam and contemporary Muslim issues. A 2011 The New York Times Magazine essay by Andea Elliott described Qadhi as “one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam.
Qadhi was previously affiliated with the Salafi movement but has since left the movement and now identifies as a Sunni.
The following are excerpts from Islam Q&A academic, educational and da‘wah website supervised by Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid, dealing with the topic of execution for insult or blasphemy.
Defaming the Prophet PBUH is a kind of kufr. If that is done by a Muslim then it is apostasy on his part, and the authorities have to defend the cause of Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) by executing the one who defamed him.
If a Muslim hears a Christian or anyone else defaming the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) he has to denounce him in strong terms. It is permissible to insult that person because he is the one who started it. How can we not stand up the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)? It is also obligatory to report him to the authorities who can carry out the punishment on him. If there is no one who can carry out the hadd punishment of Allaah and stand up for the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) then the Muslim has to do whatever he can.
That is because there is no room for compromise with regard to the rights of Allaah but there is room for compromise when it comes to the rights of human beings.
from al-Adaab al-Shar’iyyah (1/237-238)
The ruling of execution because of a word that somebody utters is what the Muslim scholars call al-riddah (apostasy). What is apostasy and what constitutes apostasy? What is the ruling on the apostate (al-murtadd)?
