The threat of a chronic and vicious wave of terrorism has taken root in a dangerous narrative that has disguised violence as virtue. This story, propagated by leaders such as the Taliban chief, Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, casts a military campaign against the Pakistani state as a just war (Jihad). Such an assertion is not only a serious misrepresentation of facts, but it is a direct contradiction to the core Islamic teachings. To make a statement of religious unity, the top scholars and Muftis of Pakistan have given statements, making it clear that the insurgency is a mere rebellion against the state that leaves nothing but mayhem and havoc.

The most critical and devastating blow to Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud’s narrative comes from the very heart of the Pakistani religious establishment. Through a unanimous declaration of all the schools of thought, the scholars have categorically stated that armed struggle against the state is Haram or against Islamic law. The fatwa states, “Use of force to impose Sharia in Pakistan, armed struggle against the Pakistani state and all other forms of terrorist activities to which our country is confronted with are ‘haram’ and forbidden under the Islamic laws.” This authoritative statement destroys the main assumption of Mehsud that the violence of his group is justifiable to the holy war. The fatwa goes on to say that such actions are considered a “rebellion against the state,” a heinous crime under Islamic law that benefits the “enemies of Islam and Pakistan.”

The fatwa also invalidates Mehsud’s ideology by expressly denouncing suicide attacks. He and his fellows have made these suicide attacks a means to martyrdom, but the religious scholars are categorical: “We the scholars representing all Masalik/schools of thought unanimously declare that suicide attacks are forbidden ‘HARAM’, in the light of Qur’an and Sunnah.” They underline the fact that the people who organize, provoke, or fund these gruesome deeds are regarded as rebels against the state. This aspect matters because it takes away the religious sanctity that extremists have tried to use to justify their violence, turning them from heroes into outlaws.

Furthermore, the fatwa strips away another layer of Mehsud’s deceptive rhetoric by clarifying the fundamental principle of state authority. It declares that the declaration of jihad that involves corporeal war is the “prerogative of the state” and that no individual or a group of individuals has the right to declare or engage in jihad. With this one aspect, the whole system of the private militia and non-state actors who profess to be waging war on behalf of Islam is demolished. According to the fatwa, any such effort is an “encroachment of the authority of the state” and a “heinous crime”.

This principle is a cornerstone of Islamic governance and a direct rebuke of Mehsud’s claim to a parallel authority. The cohesiveness of the fatwa is reinforced by the words of the major scholars of different schools of thought. According to Shaykh-ul-Islam, Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri, all five schools of thought, i.e., Hanfi, Maliki, Shafai, Hanbali, and Jafari, agree that an armed struggle against an Islamic state is an un-Islamic act. Dr. Qadri states that “such a thought falls in the category of rebellion and crushing the rebels is in keeping with the Islamic law.” Mufti Muhammad Rafiq Tahir of the Salafi school similarly holds this opinion, saying that to rebel against a Muslim ruler, even a tyrannical ruler, by armed rebellion is forbidden in the Islamic faith.

In the same spirit, both Mufti Muneeb-Ur-Rehman, a prominent figure of the Barelvi school, and Mufti e Azam Pakistan, Mufti Taqi Usmani, an internationally renowned Deobandi scholar, have already issued fatwas denouncing terrorism and armed rebellion, which confirms that there is no legal basis for such acts in Islamic jurisprudence. Mufti Taqi Usmani stated that, “Armed action against the state of Pakistan is open rebellion, forbidden, and illegal. We will never support it.”

The same agreement is evident in the Shia school of thought, where leaders such as Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri of the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) vehemently opposed any form of terrorism and armed uprising as being against Islamic values, which only contributes to destabilizing the country. This unanimous opinion proves that, though a certain group might feel that it has the justification of their actions being in good intentions, the armed struggle against an Islamic state is not acceptable under Islamic law.

To sum up, the collective voice of the ulema of Pakistan is a great intellectual and religious counterterrorism. The fatwa is a potent weapon against the ideological poison employed by such people as Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud. It clearly demonstrates that their violent course is neither approved by the Quran nor Sunnah and, on the contrary, a total contradiction of Islamic doctrine. Their so-called Jihad is just mischief in the land (Fisad-fil-Arz), a crime that destroys the basis of society. The way to a peaceful and flourishing Pakistan is not through a distortion of religion, but by restoring to its essentials of unity, stability, and honour of the state.