Suhaib Webb – Fatwa & Nuclear Weapons

			Few of my students today brought up the
		

			issue of nuclear weapons and what is the
		

			ruling on nuclear weapons, the initial ruling of
		

			scholars.
		

			And that's something that we actually studied in
		

			a class on modern fic issues in Al
		

			Azhar. I remember it. And I'm just gonna
		

			summarize what I recall that based on numerous
		

			texts
		

			that forbid wonton killing, like the prophet saying
		

			that it's not allowed, alayhis salaam, to poison
		

			the water supply of people because that would
		

			lead to wonton killing. The killing of children,
		

			of of women, of the elderly,
		

			of religious figures. That wanton killing, when it's
		

			brought together, would lead us to believe that
		

			weapons of mass destruction are forbidden, specifically the
		

			atom bomb or the nuclear bomb in this
		

			discussion. So initially, scholars across the board, Sunni
		

			and Shia,
		

			largely said that these things were forbidden. It
		

			wasn't really till the Cold War takes off
		

			and you have the proliferation of nuclear weapons
		

			that you see a change. And here, scholars
		

			actually clearly say that as a means of
		

			defense and to protect one's sovereignty,
		

			there's no choice but to have them. However,
		

			it's not allowed to use them as, like,
		

			offensive weapons. It's just to me, it's to
		

			balance power. So it's very interesting, and we
		

			ask Allah to give us and to help
		

			us to be allies to the earth, not
		

			enemies to it.
		

			But I hope that helps.