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| Arabia |
| Saudi cleric bans Muslims from joining al-Qaeda |
| 2010-01-13 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] A prominent Saudi scholar has issued a fatwa banning Muslims from joining al-Qaeda and labeled it a violation of Islam's teachings, press reports said on Tuesday, amid concerns about the growing strength of operatives in Yemen. Sheikh Abdul Mohsen al-Obeikan, a top religious scholar and an advisor in the court of King Abdullah, said Muslims who join the militant group and engage in terrorist operations are deviating from the right path of Islam, Saudi newspaper Okaz quoted him as saying. "Affiliation with the so-called al-Qaeda group is haram," meaning banned in Islam, al-Obeikan told the paper, adding "It is strictly prohibited to legitimatize the shedding of blood of other Muslims without having the right to do so." Obeikan reiterated the official Saudi view that Qaeda's ideology was one of forbidden "takfirism," which accuses others of apostasy to justify murdering them. Anyone who joins al-Qaeda "belongs to a group that has adopted takfir thinking," he said. Although there are no more al-Qaeda members in Saudi, the terrorist group is gaining ground in neighboring Yemen, which is now becoming the main base of their operations in the Arabian Peninsula. Obeikan, who has played a major role in rehabilitation programs of repentant militants, called on al-Qaeda members in Yemen to repent and turn themselves in to the authorities. The cleric also warned that "Muslims should not also rise against their leaders or create strife among people." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 OK but what about Hamas, Hezbollah, Lashkar-e-Toibam, Islamic Jihad, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the Taliban, Abu Sayyaf Group, etc. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2010-01-13 16:49 |
| #3 "Why's he keep winking like that? Is something wrong with his eye?" |
| Posted by: mojo 2010-01-13 13:24 |
| #2 "It is strictly prohibited to legitimatize the shedding of blood of other Muslims without having the right to do so." One law for me, another for thee TW. The concept of 'playing nicely with others' somehow missed the Muslim playground. |
| Posted by: Free Radical 2010-01-13 09:36 |
| #1 First the terror philosophers each wrote books saying they were wrong: the Muslim Brotherhood man jailed in Egypt who so upset Al Qaeda's Dr. al-Zawahiri, the group from the Maghreb, and then the conference followed closely by so many jailed jihadis. Now this, from the holy land itself. Granted, he is only one of many, many fatwa issuing clerics, but even so. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-01-13 08:12 |