Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti strongly defended Islam against terrorism charges made in the West in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States. 'It is unfair to associate Islam with terrorism,' Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh told more than two million Muslims gathered near Makkah for the annual pilgrimage in a sermon broadcast live on Saudi state television. 'Terrorism equals tyranny and injustice, and these are alien to Islam,' he said. 'How can terrorism be linked to a religion which orders respect for human life ... (a religion which advocates) justice and promotes peace rather than war?' Sheikh Abdul Aziz asked.
Well, we might dwell on the difference between word and deed. Empirical evidence would seem to indicate that those committing the atrocities were Muslims, motivated by a Muslim or pseudo-Muslim doctrine, to including wild-eyed shrieking muftis demanding death to infidels. Cause and effect being a Western idea, the connection might be too subtle for the grand mufti to catch. |