Reinterpreting the Qur’an and Jihad

The Jihadists “Extrapolate” Islamic teachings

'Now those calling themselves “Jihadi Muslims” in Iraq, and some other places, are killing many innocent lives (without guilt according to the Qur’an), and they are killing other Muslims (Shiites) calling them apostate and giving themselves the authority to punish them and their relatives by death! More than that, these Jihadis, who are called terrorists by others, are killing themselves and therefore placing themselves face to face against the rules of the Qur’an which, as we have seen, prohibits the killing of self in very strong terms. How can they justify all these acts of murder?

One must look at the broader scene to see how these young people, motivated by fanatic scholars, have come to interpret the rulings of self-defense in the Qur’an to justify their current practice of suicide missions. If the Muslims were strong militarily and able to face their enemies in battle, even these fanatic scholars would have had no justification to interpret self-defense to include suicide operations. If these young men were not under the sway of Wahhabism, which is the only contemporary doctrine that permits killing other Muslims, they would not have considered other Muslims (particularly Shiites) as apostates. But Wahhabis are so intolerant that they consider the flimsiest of practices (such as clipping the beard, let alone shaving it) as reason enough to make a person become a non-Muslim or an apostate who should be liquidated without further deliberation! Visiting graves of relatives or religious figures is another deadly sin. At this juncture one cannot stop marveling on how the Saudi Royal Family could be adherents to the Wahhabi creed and at the same time keep such strong relations to the United States and other “infidel” Western countries! There seems to be a dichotomy in Saudi Arabia between what the government allows the Wahhabi clerics to do and say and between what the government itself is practicing in foreign relations.'

--Munaf Yassiri, What Is Happening in Iraq?