Despite what you may have heard, OBL is not Islam
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Glenn has a transcript excerpt from Osama Bin Laden’s “fatwa” to “jihad” against Americans. Those are snort quotes, not scare quotes, because in this essay I want to discuss how OBL’s statement was (a) NOT a fatwa, and (b) a call to harabah, not jihad.
A fatwa is a religious pronouncement, a call to religious duty. By its very definition, therefore, it can only be invoked by a religious authority. OBL has no such authority, and in fact usually fatwas are issued by councils of clerics (in the Sunni tradition) or by religious imam (in the Shi’a). OBL’s family may have built many mosques, but it is certainly doubtful he ever led prayers in one, or ever acted in a religious advisory capacity. If anything, OBL is a pretender to religious authority. The notion that his pronouncements can be labeled fatwas is intrinsically ludicrous. Even the ruling Saudi family dares not lay claim to the authority to issue fatwas (though in their case, they just let their Wahabi symbiotes do it).
OBL’s ignorance about Islam and the laughability of his claim to religious authority is well-illustrated by his own words:
Read the whole thing, it is very enlightening.
