Islamic Websites denounce British Muslim soldiers
The question of British Muslims joining the Army, said to have been a key issue behind the suspected Birmingham beheading plot, has been buzzing around the internet.
The debate was inflamed by the death of Muslim Lance-Corporal Jabron Hashmi in Afghanistan in July. A posting on a website carrying the name Hizb ut-Tahrir called him a "Muslim traitor who got what he deserved".
The site was later disowned by the radical group of the same name. Another posting on the site said one aim of the Birmingham raids was to "frighten the elders so they will pressurise their children away from Islamic activities".
On another site, Mahmud Abdul Baari, a follower of the exiled preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed, called Hashmi a terrorist, adding: "Although born Muslim [he] grew up to become an apostate traitor to Islam and professional terrorist who unlike members of al-Qa'eda took a salary."
A member of a chatroom run by the Followers of Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah, said joining the British Army or police is "clearly haram [forbidden] and a sin."
One leading member of the group said that anyone who did the following was a non-believer: "applying for jobs that are asking Muslims to join the MI5 to infiltrate the community; co-operating with the Government by asking Muslim parents to spy on their children; working with deviant sects who ask us to join the crusading British Army; swearing an oath of allegiance to the fallible Queen".
A fatwa [religious ruling] by a man calling himself Afdal al-Jihad and posted on a mainstream web community is titled "Muslims serving in an Army of Kuffar" [non-believers].
Al-Jihad says: "Muslims cannot fight under the banner of kuffar or with them; Muslims must avoid attaching themselves to nation states; Muslims must avoid harming and fighting other Muslims." On a web forum called the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, not all the visitors agreed that it was un-Islamic to join the Army.
But many said swearing allegiance to the Queen was against Islam.