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Posted on 02/01/2004 12:03:43 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez
MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's top cleric called on Muslims around the world Saturday to forsake terrorism, saying those who claim to be holy warriors were an affront to the faith.
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In a sermon that was remarkable not only for its strong language but also its timing — at the peak of the annual hajj — Sheik Abdul Aziz al-Sheik told 2 million pilgrims that terrorists were giving their enemies an excuse to criticize Muslim nations.
"Is it holy war to shed Muslim blood? Is it holy war to shed the blood of non-Muslims given sanctuary in Muslim lands? Is it holy war to destroy the possessions of Muslims?" he asked.
A large number of the victims of suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq (news - web sites) and elsewhere have been been Muslims.
Al-Sheik, who is widely respected in the Arab world as the foremost cleric in the country considered the birthplace of Islam, spoke at Namira Mosque in a televised sermon watched by millions of Muslims in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
The mosque is close to Mount Arafat, where the pilgrims converged Saturday for the climax of their annual trek. This year's hajj has been carried out amid heightened security after a year of terror attacks in the kingdom.
In speaking of terrorists who killed fellow Muslims, al-Sheik was clearly referring to the Prophet Muhammad's final sermon, delivered on Mount Arafat 14 centuries ago.
It contained the line: "Know that every Muslim is a Muslim's brother, and the Muslims are brethren. Fighting between them should be avoided."
Al-Sheik also criticized the international community, accusing it of attacking Wahhabism, the sect whose strict interpretation of Islam is followed in Saudi Arabia.
"This country is based on this religion and will remain steadfast on it," he said.
"Islam forbids all forms of injustice, killing without just cause, treachery ... hijacking of planes, boats and transportation means," he said.
Saudi Arabia came under Western pressure after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.
The Saudi government conducted a crackdown on extremist groups after suicide bombers attacked housing compounds inhabited by foreigners in May. Saudi and U.S. officials blamed the attack, and a similar suicide bombing in November, on groups linked to al-Qaida, which is led by the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden (news - web sites).
On Thursday, suspected terrorists shot dead six Saudi security personnel in a shootout in a house in suburban Riyadh.
In total last year, bombings in Saudi Arabia killed 51 people, including eight Americans. Saudi and U.S. officials have blamed the bin Laden's al-Qaida network. Bin Laden is a Saudi exile.
U.S. officials have been encouraging Saudis to crack down on financing for terrorism via religious charities and curtail teaching of religious extremism in schools as well as mount a campaign to undercut popular support al-Qaida.
Liberal intellectuals in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait also called for such revisions in the teaching of Islam in schools and mosques.
Governments in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan have taken steps toward purging school books of terms offensive to other religions, and reformers argue that change should start by lessening the religious grip on education.
Al-Sheik warned against "changing the religion's basics" in school curricula.
"The minds of youth in the Islamic nation need to be shielded with Islamic sharia (law) and good manners and deeds. The nation's future generations will only be reformed by what reformed the past generations," he said.
Pilgrim Mustafa al-Shawwaf, a Canadian of Syrian origin, said he agreed that terrorists had tarnished Islam. He criticized Muslim fundamentalists, including the Wahhabis, for practicing an exclusive form of the faith.
"Such rigidity of thought needs to be changed," he said.
The pilgrims arrived at Mount Arafat in the early hours of Saturday. Worshippers of all ages and origins, moving slowly, shoulder-to-shoulder, shaded themselves from the sun with white umbrellas, chanting in unison "at thy service, at thy service, oh God."
Emergency workers directed the crowd as it converged 12 miles southwest of Mecca, in a ritual believed to represent the Day of Judgment, when Islam says every person will stand before Allah, or God, and answer for his deeds.
Temperatures approached 86 degrees. The sunshine made parasols a popular purchase at $1.30 each, and street vendors sold fruit, prayer mats and drinks. Along the path to Mount Arafat, sprinklers mounted on poles cooled worshippers. Free water and milk were handed out.
"This is the worst day for the devil, when he sees thousands of Muslims gathered in such a show of force and piety," said Egyptian Abdel Aziz al-Jezairi.
Fatima Farouk, a Nigerian, said that despite the demanding journey, she was thrilled "because after Mount Arafat, you're almost promised heaven."
Sounds hopeful. Let me know when you run across a headline that reads, 'Moderates Succeed In Excising Terrorism From Islam.' Thanks.
Dental exams for palace dwellers, and the unemployment line for thuggy clerics is too high a price for having AQ in their country. And they're starting to get that.
Trust me, these guys want the world to go back to the way it was, stuff that genie back in that bottle. But it's not going to happen. Until they get rid of AQ, we're going to be in their face, in their mouths, and in their countries. And yes, we'll tell their women how foolish they are to be willingly treated so awful. We'll tell their sons that unemployment comes from the twisted social system, not us. Yep, definitely on the run...
I don't trust any of them. I don't think they can trust each other, for their cultures and religion value lying.
I didn't realize that moderate Islam needed to be modified, unless you are inferring that terrorists are springing from the moderates. I think it's clear that the hi-jackers of Islam are not really of Islam, but only wrapping themselves in the trappings of Islam to gain a modicum of support from the world of Islam.
Should that be the case, there would be no need to expect Islam to modify itself, but only to bathe in the rinse water now that it has itself all lathered up and has finally recognized who the true enemies of Islam are -- the terrorists and extremists, of course, who are slandering the name of Allah in ways that even the unbelievers would be unable to accomplish, not knowing Allah.
I think an immediate fatwah would be the way to go, rather than just vocalizing their dis-pleasure with the hi-jackers of Islam. The broadcast of an immediate fatwah would no doubt help to quieten those who would condemn moderate Islam -- those who are willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Would you agree?
But if it turns out that terrorism is but an aspect of moderate Islam, I would not expect to see any changes in terrorist activities regardless of how loudly the Islam community publicly denounces it. It will not take long to see if the terrorist activity continues and the admonishions of those who speak on behalf of Allah remain unheeded.
And it won't take long to see who wields the power over the world of Islam.
What I said stands, try using the scroll button, and take your meds...
Ishaq:324 “Allah said, ‘Leave Me to deal with the liars. I have fetters, fire, and food which chokes.”
Qur’an 68:44 “Then leave Me alone with such as reject this Message and call Our pronouncements a lie. Systematically by degrees, step by step, We shall punish them in ways they can not even imagine.”
Qur’an 73:11 “Leave Me alone to deal with the beliers (those who deny My Verses). Respite those who possess good things for a little while. Verily, with Us are heavy shackles (to bind), a raging fire (to burn), food that chokes, and a torturous penalty of a painful doom.” Qur’an 104:4 “He will be sure to be thrown into that which breaks him into pieces, flung to the Consuming One. And what will explain that which Breaks him into Pieces, the Consuming One? It is the fire kindled by Allah.” [Allah is in hell, kindling the fire.]
Qur’an 89:12 “All made mischief so your Lord poured on them the disaster of His torment, a scourge of diverse chastisements. Most surely your Lord is in laying in wait, watching.”
Qur’an 89:21 “Nay, when the earth is made to crumble the Lord comes, His angels rank upon rank, and Hell is brought face to face, man will remember, but how will that avail him? For His Chastisement will be such as no other can inflict. None punishes as He will punish! None can bind as He will bind.”
Qur’an 67:16 “Are you so unafraid that He will not open the earth to swallow you, pelt you with showers of stones, or let loose on you a violent wind so that you shall know how terrible is My warning? But indeed men before them rejected My warning. They denied, so then how terrible will be My punishment of them and My wrath.”
Real nice guy...
Qur’an 8:2 “The only believers are those who feel fear and terror when Allah is mentioned.”
So I guess you are not a believer?
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