Tuesday, July 12, 2005
"The term 'civilians' does not exist in Islamic religious law"
Host: "The question, in short, is whether the religious scholars... Sir, the religious law assembly in Mecca at the end of last month issued a fatwa forbidding the killing of civilians. Should we follow it or Osama bin Laden?"
Al-Siba'i: "These assemblies resemble the assemblies of the Church. These assemblies forbid young people from going to Iraq to fight the Jihad. These assemblies... The Higher Religious Authority [in Saudi Arabia] are the ones who allowed the presence of Crusader forces in the Land of the Two Holy Places (Saudi Arabia). These assemblies..."
Host: "Mr. Hani, make no mistake. The same assembly ruled that Jihad in Iraq is allowed against soldiers. Even Sheik Osama [sic.] Al-Makdisi, Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi's mentor... Okay. Abu Hani, okay... He asked Al-Zarqawi not to kill civilians and to attack only the Americans... I mean, only soldiers..."
Al-Siba'i: "The term 'civilians' does not exist in Islamic religious law. Dr. Karmi is sitting here, and I am sitting here, and I'm familiar with religious law. There is no such term as 'civilians' in the modern Western sense. People are either of Dar Al-Harb or not.
"These institutes, like the Islamic Association [of Britain], represent white-collar people, the effendis, people with 'prestige.' They only represent their own interests and do not mix in society. They don't know... Ask other Muslims... People see them only on their TV screens. They don't participate in the demonstrations for the poor. They are not interested in people's problems. We invite them, and they don't show up."
Host: "The Muslim Association of Britain represents 400 Islamic organizations..."
Al-Siba'i: "These are all interest groups. With all due respect, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Sheik Moududi group do business with one another."
Host: "Are you claiming they are not Muslims?"
Al-Siba'i: "They are behind all these movements. They promote some people nobody has heard of. Then they promote some journalists."
Host: "Excuse me, who do you want to promote? Those who want the banner of 'There is no god but Allah' over the Queen of England and Buckingham Palace? Those who want to establish a caliphate and turn the Queen of England into a captive? Those who say [England] is Dar Al-Harb and property there can be plundered? Are those the kind of people you want?"
Al-Siba'i: "These associations do not represent the Muslim public. They collaborate with the British police for certain interests. They want an 'English Islam,' and not the Islam that was sent to the Prophet Muhammad. If Al-Qa'ida indeed carried out this act, it is a great victory for it. It rubbed the noses of the world's eight most powerful countries in the mud. This victory is a blow to the economy..."
The part about Islamic law not recognizing the difference between infidel civilians and infidel soldiers would have been a handy bit of information to know back about 1993. In 2005, it is obvious. Still, it would be helpful if bona fide experts in Islamic law carefully explained why Al-Siba'i's construction of Islamic law is inaccurate. If it isn't, one wonders how any Muslim signatory to the Geneva Convention can consider himself or his country bound by its restrictions.
It also raises an interesting question: if there is no difference between civilians and soldiers under Islamic law, what exactly is the objection to the incarceration of avowed Islamists who do not actually take up arms? It seems to me that Al-Siba'i is himself a "civilian" who supports the war against the West in his heart even if he does not personally wage it. Since we apparently are not obligated to consider the difference between civilians and soldiers, what is the objection to locking him up? Or must we distinguish Muslim civilians and soldiers, even if no such distinction is allowed for "infidels"?
Al-Siba'i is more than a little notorious. For example, back in 2002 he claimed knowledge of the survival of Ayman al-Zawahiri -- bin Laden's second-in-command -- after Western intelligence thought he was dead:
Hany al-Sibai, the director of the al-Maqrizi Center for Historical Studies and a man who the F.B.I. alleges is a former member of Islamic Jihad (he denies this allegation), told the London Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat that Zawahiri married the two women after the death of his own wife, Azza Nowair, and two of his six children in an American bombing raid on a fortified cave complex near Jalalabad last winter. Sibai said that Zawahiri's son and one of his daughters were killed in the raid, but that at least two daughters escaped. Sibai also said that he had received confirmed information from several sources that Zawahiri was in good health.
How would he know that? Why, under his own legal reasoning, should we allow him to walk the streets?
Saw the MEMRI link on Power Line, which has lots of other interesting stuff.
5 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Jul 12, 05:01:00 PM:
Aug 6 - 20
Ampersand Bay Boat Club in Saranac Lake.
Stephen Sherman,
aka The Commissar
By , at
Tue Jul 12, 05:02:00 PM:
That's on LOWER Saranac Lake, very near the town of Saranac Lake.
By , at
Tue Jul 12, 05:45:00 PM:
You might be interestd in the airshow at Adirondack airport. Aug 20-21. I think it's Warbirds.
By 
TigerHawk, at
Tue Jul 12, 08:44:00 PM:
Tragically, I haven't yet. My paper remains in its baggie. I'll turn to it forthwith.
By , at
Tue Dec 13, 03:27:00 PM:
INCORRECT QUOTE:-
Al-Siba'i: "The term 'civilians' does not exist in Islamic religious law. Dr. Karmi is sitting here, and I am sitting here, and I'm familiar with religious law. There is no such term as 'civilians' in the modern Western sense. People are either of Dar Al-Harb or not.
CORRECTED QUOTE:-
"... There is no such term as 'civilians' in the modern Western sense. People are either Combatants or non-Comabatants. Islam is against the killing of innocents. The innocent person cannot be killed according to Islam."
This issue was raised by Dr al-Sibai... and an official statement on his website clarifies this position.
The statement was brought to the attention of both MEMRI and The Times newspaper...
MEMRI mistranslated Dr. Sibai's words his position regarding this has always been consistent - Non-Combatants are not targets.
MEMRI have now corrected the translation on this video clip.
Dr. Sibai is a Historian, Political Commentator and a Scholar. He simply articulates these matters from the "other side", these are not always his personal opinions. All he does is make the public understand the Jihadist mindset.
http://www.almaqreze.com/Byanat/statmentmedia.htm
