Women who wish to take part in a holy war against enemies of Islam now have the blessing to strap bombs on themselves.
The Jerusalem Post reports a leading global Muslim scholar has issued a Fatwa (religious order) permitting women to carry out suicide attacks.
Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian, serves as the dean of Islamic Studies at the University of Qatar.
He reportedly gave the green light in response to last week’s bombing in Afula, which was carried out by a 19-year-old female student from the northern West Bank.
“Women’s participation in the martyrdom [suicide] operations carried out in Palestine given the status of the land as an occupied territory, in addition to a lot of sacrilegious acts perpetrated by the Jews against the sanctuaries is one of the most praised acts of worship,” Qaradawi said, according to the Post.
“Also, the act is a form of martyrdom for the cause of Allah, and it entitles them, inshallah, to the same reward earned by their male counterparts who also die in the cause of Allah.”
He said Muslim jurists have come to a unanimous conclusion that jihad (holy war) becomes the individual duty of all when Muslim territories are attacked by enemies.
This obligation reaches a certain extent that a woman should go out for jihad even without the permission of her husband, and the son without the consent of his parents. …
When Jihad becomes an individual duty, as when the enemy seizes Muslim territory, a woman becomes entitled to take part in it alongside men. Jurists maintained that: When the enemy assaults a given Muslim territory, it becomes incumbent upon all its residents to fight against them to the extent that a woman should go out even without the consent of her husband, a son can go too without the permission of his parent, a slave without the approval of his master, and the employee without the leave of his employer.
He went on to say women could violate some Islamic teachings, even foregoing head coverings when conducting a terrorist act.
“Even when necessary, she may take off her hijab in order to carry out the operation, for she is going to die in the cause of Allah and not to show off her beauty or uncover her hair. I don’t see any problem in her taking off the hijab in this case. I think the committed Muslim women in Palestine have the right to participate and have their own role in jihad and to attain martyrdom.”
