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Islamic Scholars Speak Out Against Possible War

Aired March 11, 2003 - 14:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Many Islamic scholars view an attack on Iraq as an attack on their faith. In the event of war, they are urging a jihad or holy war against the U.S. For more on this, let's go to CNN's Rula Amin joining us from Amman, Jordan.
Rula, first of all, a little bit of definition. Define jihad for us.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, according to jihad -- according to Islamic scholars, jihad doesn't mean only holy war. It means the effort, the struggle that a Muslim would do when he's trying to perform his duties towards God. For example, when it comes to an enemy that would invade an Islamic country, a male or a female, a Muslim male or female has a duty to defend its country and to fight against this enemy.

It doesn't mean that they have to pick up weapons, although this is one possibility. They can do it with donating money. They can do it with helping the injured. There are many ways, as long as they are contributing -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Rula, this latest call for jihad comes from not just any source. It is somebody who is highly respected in the Islamic community. Tell us about who this person is, and how that will be received in the Islamic and Muslim world.

AMIN: Well, the call came from the -- an academic Islamic research center, but it's part of an institution called Al-Azhar. This is a 1,000-year-old institution. It's considered the highest authority in terms of giving spiritual guidelines on how to live by the Islamic code.

We have been hearing similar calls from different Islamic scholars, from different leaders of Islamic groups, even from countries that host U.S. troops like Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia. The interesting thing is that some of the people who echo these calls are not even Islamic fundamentalists. We are hearing similar words from seculars, people who have been educated in the West, because the perception here among the population is that this is not a justified war. People have very deep suspicions in U.S. motives. They think the U.S. is doing this, attacking Iraq, in order to protect Israel's interest, in order to control the oil.

And so this is provoking a lot of anger, a lot of frustration among a very broad spectrum in the societies within the Arab world. And so this call, although it's coming from Islamic scholars, it's actually being echoed among a lot of people, including seculars -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Well, Rula, I've got to wonder what difference it would make -- there was already such tremendous outpouring of discontent about U.S. positions on Iraq, and the situation of having troops in Saudi Arabia. There was already so much of that out there. This latest call for jihad, how much difference will that really make?

AMIN: Well, I don't think it will have any immediate difference. However, for example, we heard yesterday from the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, who was warning against such an environment where he said a war against Iraq might actually deepen the rift between the different cultures.

He said that extremists on both sides, whether they are Westerners or Islamic, or Arab, they are going to use this environment, the environment of war, in order to promote their views, their extreme views, and they'll definitely have more recruits in such environment -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Final thought, Rula. Does jihad necessarily equate to terrorism, perhaps?

AMIN: Well, not in the eyes of the people here, not in their minds, because the jihad is considered a religious duty. It's a duty that people and Muslims, the faithfuls, have to perform according to their religious teachings. And to them, it's defending their faith, defending their nation, defending their honor.

So for them, it has nothing to do with terrorism. Actually, a lot of the people who -- here calling for jihad, or even defending the idea of jihad will tell you that it has nothing to do with terrorism. And actually, they condemn the terrorism -- the kind of terrorism that Osama bin Laden had promoted -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Of course, Osama bin Laden uses that term, "jihad," doesn't he?

AMIN: He does use the same term. He says, because he actually works on the same idea. He says Americans, the Westerners, the infidels, the way he describes them, are actually working against the interest of the Islamic nations, they are working against the interests of the Islamic religion. And so it's a duty on each Muslim to defend such enemies.

Now, there are a lot of people, Muslims, even some Islamic groups who would disagree with bin Laden and they don't see this conflict as inevitable.

However, in case there is a war, the fact that they will see American soldiers, American tanks inside Iraq, invading Iraq, occupying Iraq, would actually give a lot of ground for such views to spread -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Rula Amin. Amman, Jordan. Thank you very much for those insights.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired March 11, 2003 - 14:26   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Many Islamic scholars view an attack on Iraq as an attack on their faith. In the event of war, they are urging a jihad or holy war against the U.S. For more on this, let's go to CNN's Rula Amin joining us from Amman, Jordan.
Rula, first of all, a little bit of definition. Define jihad for us.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, according to jihad -- according to Islamic scholars, jihad doesn't mean only holy war. It means the effort, the struggle that a Muslim would do when he's trying to perform his duties towards God. For example, when it comes to an enemy that would invade an Islamic country, a male or a female, a Muslim male or female has a duty to defend its country and to fight against this enemy.

It doesn't mean that they have to pick up weapons, although this is one possibility. They can do it with donating money. They can do it with helping the injured. There are many ways, as long as they are contributing -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Rula, this latest call for jihad comes from not just any source. It is somebody who is highly respected in the Islamic community. Tell us about who this person is, and how that will be received in the Islamic and Muslim world.

AMIN: Well, the call came from the -- an academic Islamic research center, but it's part of an institution called Al-Azhar. This is a 1,000-year-old institution. It's considered the highest authority in terms of giving spiritual guidelines on how to live by the Islamic code.

We have been hearing similar calls from different Islamic scholars, from different leaders of Islamic groups, even from countries that host U.S. troops like Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia. The interesting thing is that some of the people who echo these calls are not even Islamic fundamentalists. We are hearing similar words from seculars, people who have been educated in the West, because the perception here among the population is that this is not a justified war. People have very deep suspicions in U.S. motives. They think the U.S. is doing this, attacking Iraq, in order to protect Israel's interest, in order to control the oil.

And so this is provoking a lot of anger, a lot of frustration among a very broad spectrum in the societies within the Arab world. And so this call, although it's coming from Islamic scholars, it's actually being echoed among a lot of people, including seculars -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Well, Rula, I've got to wonder what difference it would make -- there was already such tremendous outpouring of discontent about U.S. positions on Iraq, and the situation of having troops in Saudi Arabia. There was already so much of that out there. This latest call for jihad, how much difference will that really make?

AMIN: Well, I don't think it will have any immediate difference. However, for example, we heard yesterday from the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, who was warning against such an environment where he said a war against Iraq might actually deepen the rift between the different cultures.

He said that extremists on both sides, whether they are Westerners or Islamic, or Arab, they are going to use this environment, the environment of war, in order to promote their views, their extreme views, and they'll definitely have more recruits in such environment -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Final thought, Rula. Does jihad necessarily equate to terrorism, perhaps?

AMIN: Well, not in the eyes of the people here, not in their minds, because the jihad is considered a religious duty. It's a duty that people and Muslims, the faithfuls, have to perform according to their religious teachings. And to them, it's defending their faith, defending their nation, defending their honor.

So for them, it has nothing to do with terrorism. Actually, a lot of the people who -- here calling for jihad, or even defending the idea of jihad will tell you that it has nothing to do with terrorism. And actually, they condemn the terrorism -- the kind of terrorism that Osama bin Laden had promoted -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Of course, Osama bin Laden uses that term, "jihad," doesn't he?

AMIN: He does use the same term. He says, because he actually works on the same idea. He says Americans, the Westerners, the infidels, the way he describes them, are actually working against the interest of the Islamic nations, they are working against the interests of the Islamic religion. And so it's a duty on each Muslim to defend such enemies.

Now, there are a lot of people, Muslims, even some Islamic groups who would disagree with bin Laden and they don't see this conflict as inevitable.

However, in case there is a war, the fact that they will see American soldiers, American tanks inside Iraq, invading Iraq, occupying Iraq, would actually give a lot of ground for such views to spread -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Rula Amin. Amman, Jordan. Thank you very much for those insights.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com