Text of Fatwa By Bin Laden Ordering Moslems to Kill Americans

What - no flag for me?

Very good find.

I heard a discussion on FOXNews about a "terrorist manual" that investigators have found in some of the recent raids. It gives common-sense instructions to "sleepers" in our land. Advice such as "shave your beard, avoid any appearance of being Islamic, do not address each other with 'Allah ahkbar(sp?)', don't park in no-parking zones, don't live near police stations, find residence in newly-built neighborhoods - where no one knows anyone else," etc... They said it has been fully translated and they were openly discussing it. I wonder if it's available online or anywhere else?

From post 38 : <
if a Muslim murders a non-Muslim, he will only pay a fine. Dr. Abdul Moumin says, "All Muslims Jurists agree that a judge should be a Muslim and it is forbidden for a non-Muslim to be a judge according to the Qur’anic verse

What was this nonsense with Afghanistan agreeing to turn over OBL if the US had "significant evidence" against him??? Yeah, sure - they 'lost" him too...

Is OBL a cleric (pardon my ignorance)? Where does he get standing (within the context of Islam) to issue something like this? Can any fanatic do so?

As I understand it, a fatwah can only be issued on behalf of a nation-state. I remember reading that any fatwah issued by an individual can safely be ignored by any moslem. (*)

The same applies, I understand, to the lesser jihad (or holy war) whereas the greater jihad (or struggle against wrong-thinking) can and should be invoked by an individual .. but it only applies to him/herself.

(*) The fatwah issued against Salman Rushdie by the late Ayatollah Khomeini was issued by the Ayatollah in his role as supreme cleric of Iran. It still stands, because Khomeini died before it could be revoked.

NB: I am NOT a Moslem, nor a true scholar of Islam .. merely a journalist who has an interest in covering all sides of this issue.

Sadim

From previous post:

On 22 February 1998 a new fatwa was issued in the name of the 'World Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders'. It was signed by bin Laden and the heads of major Islamic movements in Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

So much for the myth of Islam considering Jews and Christians as "People of the Book" and not as infidels to be destroyed. Oh, wait, I get it! Islam believes that, it's just all those people who consider themselves Muslim who don't. Well, that's a relief. If Islam really teaches the opposite of what they say they'll do and what they try to do and actually do do, then we don't have anything to worry about......

That some people actually believe this just boggles the mind. Who cares whether "true" Islam teaches this or that? That's irrelevant when there are lots of people trying to kill you for what they think is true Islam. Those folks aren't going to care what you say about the 'true meaning' of their religion, because they've already decided that its true meaning is that you should die. The only thing that counts is to find a way to stop them. And it's not going to be through a rap session on comparative religions.

This all reminds me of the argument advanced by nuclear-winter proponents. They said that since it's true that a single nuclear weapon's launch would inevitably lead to a wholesale exchange and plunge the world into certain nuclear winter, the only sane approach is to foreswear all use of nuclear weapons and unilaterally disarm. So, if we grant them for the sake of argument their scenario in all its horror, we still have to realize that if someone with a nuclear weapons arsenal doesn't believe that his actions will lead to such an outcome, he must be dealt with on the basis of his belief, not upon whatever happens to be factually true. The way to deal with him is to convince him, on the basis of his belief, that if he tries a first strike he will become immediately and completely toasted. It's on the basis of your opponent's belief that you have to deal with him, not on what you think is objectively true.

I am keenly interested in what students of the Koran have to say about Bin Ladin's Fatwa.

Here is my take on the sura from the Quran.

1) When interpreting the Quran, one must take into account the concept of "abrogation." Some suras of the Quran have been abrogated by earlier suras. The so-called moderate Muslim leaders in America and elsewhere highlight the suras of the Quran that tell Muslims to live in peace with unbelievers. These are the suras "revealed" to Mohammed in Mecca. The Meccans rejected the prophet hood of Mohammed. He fled to Medina. In Medina he received "revelations" which are the suras that tell Muslims to kill the unbelievers. The later suras revealed in Medina have abrogated those in Mecca when there is a contradiction. Or another way of looking at it (for these particular suras) is that when Muslims are a minority (like in Mecca) they are to live in peace with the unbelievers. But when they are a majority and can defeat the unbelievers (like in Medina) then they should fight against them. Mohammed later led his followers back to Mecca and thus began the Muslim conquest by the sword.

2) The verse from sura 9 which is quoted in the fatwa says, "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war". On of the important concepts in jihad is to surprise your enemy, trick them, confound them. These guys who flew these planes executed an excellent jihad according to this concept. (There is an Arabic word for this, but I cannot remember it right now.) This sura says "lie in wait for them". Note these two items:

a) Fox news reported directly from the hotel room where two or three of these guys stayed. The owner of the hotel says that when law enforcement when into the room, a painting was covered up by these guys. It was a painting of a woman wearing a dress. One shoulder of the dress was fallen down her arm revealing her shoulder. The dress also was above her knees. These guys did not want to look at this painting in the privacy of their hotel room where they said their Islamic prayers and planned the attack.

b) It is also reported that these same guys would stand outside the room of the hotel and check out all the girls on the beach. In other reports we have heard how some of them went to strip clubs and bars. Others blended into the community as good family men.

These guys were in fact confounding their enemy. They appeared on the outside to be normal guys, or in some cases just very secular, unreligious people. But in the privacy of their own homes they were Muslims who read the Quran and prayed toward Mecca. They attended mosques for their prayers. They were Muslims who were waging an effective jihad by stealth and surprise. They were laying in wait for the right time to attack. The "sins" of drinking and going to strip clubs are forgiven because it is part of the "stratagem of war". The guys were, in effect, Muslims wearing ghillie suits, blending into the normal landscape of American society and never appearing suspicious to their enemy.

Ok. Not all Muslims look at the Quran the same way. Those who are moderates in America have a duty at this time to speak clealy about these issues. Here is the challange for all moderate Muslim leaders in America: Center of Peace and Hope in Christ for Afghanistan issues challenge to moderate Muslims.

However, my post points out the fact that these guys were Muslims and waging a jihad according to what the Quran says. It is incorrect to say that these guys were not Muslims. Other Muslims may not like the idea that these guys are Muslims, but it is wrong to say they are not Muslims. It's like protestants saying the Pope is not Christian or the Pope saying Billy Graham is not Christian, etc.

What moderate Muslims wish was true about their religion doesn't make it true.

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