Thread: Algeria: IAs who drown are 'martyrs', says imam

Algeria: Illegal immigrants who drown are 'martyrs', says imam

Algiers, 29 April (AKI) - Algerian immigrants who drown in the Mediterranean Sea on their way to Europe should be considered 'martyrs', according to a prominent imam.

According to the local daily, Ennahar, Sheikh Shamsedin Bourubi issued a fatwa, or religious edict, on Monday saying that the Muslim faithful should pray for their souls.

"The immigrants who leave Algeria by sea in a bid to reach Europe and die by drowning in the Mediterannean are 'martyrs' and are not committing suicide," he said.

"So it is legal to conduct funeral prayers for their souls."

The Bourubi's fatwa appears to contradict a preceding fatwa issued by the Algerian ministry of religious affairs.

According to the government body, immigrants who leave the country illegally and die in the ocean are committing suicide and should not be given prayers that are in violation of Islamic doctrine.

The ministry had therefore banned illegal immigration, saying it was against Islam.

But Bourubi disagreed with the government's stance.

"The illegal immigrants that leave by sea face enormous risks and pay enormous sums of money to improve their living conditions," he said.

According to the Algerian theologian, it is important to understand the social motivation that pushes young people to immigrate.
http://www.adnkronos.com:80/AKI/English ... 2117912557

The illegal immigrants that leave by sea face enormous risks and pay enormous sums of money to improve their living conditions," he said.

If they are capable of paying "enormous sums of money" it would seem their living conditions must not be all that bad since they would have to have means which to generate such money.

Perhaps then it's not economic depravity they are fleeing from, but rather the insanity that an islamist state produces and promotes..

"The immigrants who leave Algeria by sea in a bid to reach Europe and die by drowning in the Mediterannean are 'martyrs' and are not committing suicide," he said.

So now if someone takes risks, pays fees or whatever it takes to make their life better they are a martyr. Puzzling. I thought that meant they were just like the rest of the human race.

"So it is legal to conduct funeral prayers for their souls."

The Bourubi's fatwa appears to contradict a preceding fatwa issued by the Algerian ministry of religious affairs.

According to the government body, immigrants who leave the country illegally and die in the ocean are committing suicide and should not be given prayers that are in violation of Islamic doctrine.

Good Lord. Don't they have plain old agnostics over there?

Oh no!!! Conflicting fatwas?!? What's your average Muslim extremist to do???!!!