So says Walid Phares at Counterterrorism Blog. If Somalia isn’t on Bush’s radar yet (which is unlikely), it will be soon.
You’ll be glad to know that clerics at Al-Azhar University, the intellectual center of Sunni Islam, issued a fatwa recently declaring suicide bombings a grave sin punishable by eternal hellfire.
Unless they’re used for jihad, in which case they’re okay:
Dr. Othman continued: “The second crime that a man who commits suicide carries out is the killings of others, while his motives are political and not religious. There is this suicide bomber who kills himself against his ruler and at the same time kills many innocent people – that is a sin. Not to mention public and personal property damage.”…
“The martyr, according to Islamic rule, is a man who fights the enemy and sacrifice his life while defending his religion, his homeland, his wives’ respect, and protecting his land. This is set in Islamic laws, and only if he dies this way, he is a martyr.”…
Dr. Ottman was quick to hint that suicide against Israeli targets is allowed.
“Those using suicide bombing against the enemy, the land robbers, and the occupier of nations, are martyrs,” he concluded.
The political/religious distinction at least puts Muslim civilians off limits, no? No, says Osama:
To those who accuse the knight of Islam of killing a certain sector of Iraq’s people, I say to them … Abu Musab had clear instructions to focus his fight on the occupiers, particularly the Americans and to leave aside anyone who remains neutral. But for those who refused (neutrality) and stood to fight on the side of the crusaders against the Muslims, then he should kill them whoever they are, regardless of their sect or tribe. For supporting infidels against Muslims is a major sin.
According to Iraqi national security advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the current whereabouts of the knight of Islam is an unmarked grave somewhere inside Iraq.
Parting shot: Did you know that Google News carries a daily pro-insurgency newsletter? It’s called the “Iraqi Resistance Report” and it’s published each morning by Uruknet.info. From today’s round-up:
The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses in Jazirat al-Khalidiyah as saying that one Iraqi soldier who was on guard duty at a military camp set up in houses robbed from the population of al-Kartan village was shot to death by an Iraqi Resistance sharpshooter. The sharpshooter’s bullet struck the Iraqi puppet army soldier directly, killing him instantly.
Maybe Google doesn’t know about the site.
