For Islam, suicide attacks legitimate self-defense<\/p>\n
Michel Sailhan, Agence France-Presse, Cairo<\/p>\n
While Islam universally bans suicide as a crime against oneself,
\nit allows it in defense of Muslims and their land, and celebrates
\nas \"martyrs\" those who make the sacrifice.<\/p>\n
The Arabic term for kamikaze-style acts is not \"suicide
\nattacks\" but \"martyr operations,\" underscoring that they fall
\nunder the Muslims' sacred duty to wage jihad, or holy war, when
\nthey come under attack.<\/p>\n
A martyr, or \"shaheed\" in Arabic, describes both those who die
\nwhile fighting and civilians killed by the enemy.<\/p>\n
There is a consensus that \"martyr operations\" can be resorted
\nto when the defenders have no other options or when the invader
\nhas an overwhelming force -- such as the U.S.-led coalition
\ninvading Iraq, the Israeli army against the Palestinians, or
\nRussian troops against the Chechens.<\/p>\n
In 1983, suicide bombings of U.S. and French army positions in
\nBeirut killed hundreds and forced the two nations to withdraw
\nfrom Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Muslim scholars, from both the Sunni and Shi'ite branches,
\nreject martyr operations when their forces have the advantage.
\nThey also stress that self-sacrifice should be motivated by the
\nfight, not to escape personal problems.<\/p>\n
However, eve a leading moderate Islamic scholar, Syria's Grand
\nMufti Sheikh Ahmad Kaftaro, has called for \"martyr operations\"
\nagainst the U.S. and British invaders in Iraq.<\/p>\n
Kaftaro rose to fame in May 2001, when he walked with Pope
\nJohn Paul II into Damascus's historic Omeyyads Mosque, marking
\nthe first visit by a head of the Catholic Church to a Muslim
\nplace of worship.<\/p>\n
\"I call on Muslims everywhere to use all means possible to
\nthwart the aggression, including martyr operations against the
\nbelligerent American, British and Zionist invaders,\" Kaftaro said
\nlast Thursday.<\/p>\n
\"Resistance to the belligerent invaders is an obligation for
\nall Muslims, starting with (those in) Iraq,\" the mufti said.<\/p>\n
Two days later, an Iraqi officer driving a taxi carried out a
\nsuicide bombing at a U.S. checkpoint near the Shi'ite Muslim holy
\ncity of Najaf, some 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of Baghdad.
\nBesides himself, the U.S.-led coalition says he killed four U.S.
\ntroops, while Baghdad says he killed 11.<\/p>\n
Iraq warned the coalition last Saturday that more than 4,000
\nvolunteers had come from every Arab nation \"without exception\",
\nready to follow in the footsteps of the Iraqi officer who carried
\nout the suicide attack, Ali Jaafar Musa Hammadi al-Numani, whom
\nPresident Saddam Hussein awarded two top posthumous medals of
\nhonor.<\/p>\n
The Palestinian radical movement Islamic Jihad also said last
\nSunday it had sent a first batch of its suicide bombers to
\nBaghdad.<\/p>\n
And the militant movement Ansar al-Islam, which Washington
\nlinks to al-Qaeda and has attacked repeatedly in Iraqi Kurdistan
\nduring the war, has redeployed and is preparing suicide attacks
\nagainst coalition forces, a statement on an Islamist website said
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
Last Saturday's attack near Najaf prompted the U.S. forces to
\ncurtail the movements of Iraqi civilians and impose stricter
\nsecurity measure that could harm their proclaimed effort to win
\nover the \"hearts and minds\" of Iraqi civilians.<\/p>\n
But showing that the incident has made troops nervous, U.S.
\nofficials admitted that seven Iraqi women and children had been
\naccidentally shot dead at a checkpoint near Najaf on Monday
\nafternoon.<\/p>\n
Still, General Vincent Brooks at the U.S. Central Command's
\nforward base in Qatar discounted suicide attacks as \"a terror
\ntactic\" that \"won't be effective\" in checking coalition plans to
\nremove Saddam.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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