Are modern Muslim fatwas (religious orders issued by leaders of Islam) fueling Islamic extremism?

In Islamic jurisprudence, fatwa is an |Islamic religious ruling, a scholarly opinion on a matter of Islamic law. This opinion is not without reasoning. The Mufti, who is authorized to pronounce Fatwa, has to support his Fatwa with reasoning, derived from the sources of Islamic jurisprudence.

Unlike Christians, there is no hierarchical priesthood in Islam, hence it is not necessarily binding. Rather the Holy Book of Muslims i.e. Quran urges its followers to get the maximum knowledge of sources of Islamic law which are: Holy Book (Quran), sayings and traditions of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and rulings of earlier Scholars of Islam (Ijtihad).

Unlike Bible, which has numerous versions, there is only one version of Muslim’s Holy Book (Quran) which is the primary source of Islamic jurisprudence. Hence it is impossible for a Mufti to go beyond the teaching of the Holy Book.

In order to answer this question the next thing to do is to have a bird’s view on the teachings of Islam. The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) made it clear that those who do not practice universal love and affection have no place in the brotherhood of Islam. As a matter of fact, a Muslim is an ambassador of affection and love, peace and harmony for the entire world.

Quran and Sunnah provides that killing of an innocent is equal to the killing of whole humanity. and breaking of the heart of a human being is greater sin as compared to destroying of Kaaba (holiest place for Muslims). The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon Him) in his life had forgiven his enemies on number of occasion who had intense desire to kill him. The Holy Prophet was forced to migrate from his motherland to safe his life, but when he returned as a conqueror to his motherland, he used to forgive all his foes. There was no bloodshed, genocide or annihilation. Is there any example like that in the history of whole world?

In view of above, extremism in Muslims can only prevail when the Muslims fell away from their religious law that they declined in tolerance and other evidences of the highest culture.

Quran explicitly pronounce that there is no compulsion in religion. The Holy Quran confirms the truth of all that was revealed before them, and those who disbelieve in them to the point of opposing the existence of a Prophet and a revelation are really opposed to the idea of Allah's guidance - which is the truth of all revealed religions.

It would also be not out of place to quote some sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in this context:-

“People are God’s family. The dearest to God is the person who is kind to His family.”

“God is merciful to kind people. Be kind to those on earth, the One in the Heavens will be kind to you.”

“God has no mercy on him who is not kind to people.”

If West had made some efforts to known Islam, utterly fanatical outbreak known as the Crusades could not have taken place in the history, because they were based on a complete misapprehension of this Divine Religion.

According to Islam, the basis of society or its main cohesive influence is not the power of the state or any other coercive authority, but the common submission of all, strong and weak, to the will of God. It is not obedience of any external authority, but loyalty to our own ideal nature which is created after the pattern of Divine Nature.

In the end we should say that extremism lies in the hearts of non-Muslims as it is a historical facts that not a Muslim was left alive in Spain or Sicily or Apulia by the Christian conquerors. How the Muslims of the Balkan peninsula, once the majority, have been systematically reduced with the approval of the whole of Europe and how the Christian under Muslim rule have been urged on to rebel and massacre the Muslims?

So far as the present era is concerned we should not forget who is usurper in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan? If all the aspects about 9/11 are considered as correct(as propagated by the US Government and media), even then is there any justification of bombardment on civil population, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent children and women just for the reason that they were Muslims?

Inter-alia many others, this query should also be replied that who get the advantage of 9/11 incidence and who was the looser. Had there been no 9/11 the American economic would have colapsed a decade before as even the occupation of Iraq and its wealth could not stop this colapse. On the other hand, the Muslim countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia etc. are on back foot.