Cheikh Ferkous issues religious Fatwa outlawing disobedience or armed revolt against country rulers

One of the leading religious figures of the Salafist trend in Algeria, Cheikh Mohamed Ali Ferkous, who is also the officiating Imam of one of the mosques of the district of Kouba in upper Algiers has issued a Fatwa forbidding any civil disobedience or armed revolt against the rulers of any Islamic country.

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• Cheikh Ferkous said that civil disobedience or armed opposition by any party or dissenting group of peoples against the rulers of their own country was utterly counterproductive as it could also spawn anarchy, desolation and discord within the Muslim society and the country as a whole.
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• He stressed that the most appropriate way to ward off such damaging drifts was to be in good terms with the rulers, even if the latter are often liable to be blamed in some respects for their lapses or questionable governance, he explained.
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•  Cheikh Ali Ferkous also pointed in his Fatwa to the illegality of “Jihad” launched by ill-advised armed groups in Muslim countries stressing that the majority of religious scholars in the nation agreed that carrying arms against the Muslim rulers or fellow Muslim citizens was not at all permissible.
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• Cheikh Ferkous substantiated his arguments with several authentic hadiths from the Prophet of Islam Mohamed, God’s peace and blessings be upon him.
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• “Enthusiasm for religion is not carrying arms; rather, it is by preaching with leniency and avoidance of exaggeration”, he noted.
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• Cheikh Ferkous further emphasized that peace was priceless and its pursuit is highly recommended by all sensible and wise Muslims in line with the holy Koran and hadiths from the venerated Prophet of Islam.
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• He thus condemned all acts of violence including terrorism which do nothing good for Islam and Muslims, arguing that Algeria’s people are Muslims whose blood-letting is strictly prohibited under Sharia proofs and arguments, he stressed.