Afghan ulema issue fatwa against aggression
__ advise Taliban to exercise restraint

Frontier Post

By AIMAL KHAN
PESHAWAR - A four-day Consultative Moot of Afghan Ulema concluded in Kabul Thursday after issuing six Fatwas (edicts) after extensively debating the current situation in the country, especially the Iranian threats to Taliban.
The Afghan Ulema held their meeting, amid increasing tension at Afghan-Iran border, after Teheran deployed about 200,000 soldiers on the Afghan border.
The moot was convened by the founder of Taliban movement Mullah Mohammad Omar to take into confidence the Afghan Ulema on the Iranian threat and to seek their recommendations in this regard.
More than 2,000 prominent Afghan religious scholars, representing all spheres of life, attended the gathering and discussed in detail the emerging political situation.
Prominent among the speakers were chief of Taliban interim council Mullah Rabbani, Maulvi Abdul Kabir, Maulvi Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi, president Harkat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami and Hafiz Mohibullah. The congregation unanimously adopted a Fatwa (edict) which called upon all Afghans, irrespective of their gender, race and sects, to wage the Jehad against Iran, in case it attacked Afghanistan, reports pouring in from the Afghan capital suggested. Through another Fatwa, deep concern was expressed over the growing tension between the two Muslim neighbouring countries.
The Ulema strongly denounced the proposed Iranian war games near the Afghan borders and warned Teheran to refrainfrom creating tension in the region.
The Fatwa further said that in case Iran attacked Afghanistan, the Taliban authorities legally had a right to seek help from other countries, both the Muslim andTreasury, opposition benches trade abuses in National Assembly non-Muslim states, against any external aggression.
They warned Iran of a tough resistance like the one Afghan nation displayed in face of British and Soviet aggression in the past.
The Afghan Ulema were unanimous in attacking the United States for its missile attacks on Afghanistan on August 20 last.
The Ulema Moot also rejected the idea of a broad-based government in Afghanistan. AFP adds: The Islamic scholars urged Taliban to exercise restraint in the face of "threats" from Iran, conference officials said.
The scholars, ending a four-day meeting, recommended that the entire Afghan nation be ready for a holy war if Tehran goes ahead with its "attack threats," they said.
In a Fatwa, the meeting urged Iranian religious scholars and rulers to remember that a war between the two Muslim countries would harm the entire Muslim world.
"The ulema (scholars) advise the authorities of the Islamic Emirate (Afghanistan) to exercise restraint," the seven-point edict said. The grouping of religious leaders was to decide whether only Taliban military forces or Afghan citizens as a whole should be used to repel any attack from Iran. "In case of enemy attack, it is the obligation of every Afghan Muslim to go for Jehad," the religious leaders said, adding Islamic teachings necessitated a holy war against any invading Muslim country.
The verdict of the pro-Taliban scholars also allows the militia's top brass to request military assistance from Muslim and non-Muslim countries alike, in case of any attack. It also allows the Taliban religious army to rebuff any invasion by Iran
and to pursue invaders deep into their own territory should they decide any withdrawal was simply a tactical move to regroup.
According to the Fatwa, the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islam is fully conducive with religious principles and anyone opposing this would be considered a non-Muslim.
No representatives from the intellectual, technocrat or other levels of society were invited as Taliban authorities argued that religious scholars could represent all categories of Afghan life.
A similar gathering of clerics in southern Kandahar province three years ago bestowed the title of Amir-ul-Momenin (king of the faithful) to Mullah Omar, the Taliban's reclusive leader.