[MEMRI] Following the September 11, 2012 killing of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, a number of queries were sent in to the Salafi-jihadi website Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad (MTJ) regarding the legitimacy of this action. Answering on behalf of the website's shari'a committee, Sheikh Abu Mundhir Al-Shinqiti issued a fatwa in which he approved of the killing of the U.S. ambassador and other U.S. diplomats, and refuted religious arguments raised by some Islamic scholars against such actions.It should be noted that over the past two years, religious queries on MTJ have been fielded almost solely by Al-Shinqiti through various fatwas, despite the fact that the shari'a committee has numerous other members. This may be explained by the longstanding imprisonment in Jordan of MTJ founder and prominent jihadi holy man Sheikh Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi.
Those who submitted the questions raised two main points: first, whether a person should be killed for an act he himself did not commit or approve (hinting at the fact that the ambassador had nothing to do with the anti-Islamic film "Innocence of Mohammedans"); and second, whether an ambassador can be considered an "courier" under Islamic law, and thus be granted immunity. In addition, Al-Shinqiti was asked for advice regarding the proper response to recent events.