Norway: "You can't oppose capital punishment and be Muslim"
Fahad Qureshi and Islam Net make the news every so often with radical statements and preachers. This article gave Norwegian Muslims an opportunity to voice their disagreement. See also: Oslo: "They've taken my religion and are using it in a way that scares me"
Via VG (Norwegian):
Norwegian news site VG NETT reports that Fahad Qureshi, head of the Islamic mission organization Islam Net, supports capital punishment.
Kristian Meisingset, cultural editor of the conservative magazine Minderva, found an online discussion on Islamnet.no, where Qureshi writes that a Muslim can't oppose capital punishment.
In a discussion forum on Islamnet.no, Qureshi writes: "a person who says that he's principally opposed to capital punishment, is opposing principles prescribed by Allah (...) A person who think that he knows better than Allah about what is best for people isn't Muslims because the definition of a Muslim is one who submits to Allah. (...) This is something Muslims have agreed upon forever. This is so simple (...) that there is no doubt about it."
This was written in a discussion on whether the laws of Allah are absolute and whether it's possible to interpret them based on today's reality. Qureshi was answering somebody who wrote that he principally opposed the death sentence and wished to reform Islam so that it upheld human rights.
This person was asked by several other participants whether he was an infidel.
Qureshi wrote: "Allah prescribed capital punishment in Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (...) practiced this. Do you think you know better than Allah (...) and the Prophet's practice? Answer YES or NO, don't try to avoid it."
The VG NETT article got many comments from Norwegian Muslims who say they oppose capital punishment, and don't think Qureshi or anybody else can decide for them whether they're really Muslims or not.
The most 'liked' comment says: "on behalf of a lot of Muslims, I'm sorry that such people like him exist. (...) It's extremely dangerous and this is the ideology of a lot of terror organizations, who namely justify their terror, based on whether you aren't a proper Muslim or not, if you deserve to live or not. This is exactly what we see in Afghanistan and Iraq, Pakistan.. and many other countries where Muslims kill each other based on exactly this religious interpretation. My answer to him is, you can be Muslim if you don't follow precisely what it (sharia laws) say, if whether you agree or not. It's up to God to decide that. As long as he's chosen to live here in this country, he should follow Norwegian laws. This is an extreme attitude."
