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Article: Jihad and just war. (Opinion).
- Article from:
- First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
- Article date:
- June 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Institute on Religion and Public Life. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In February 1998, long before the September 11 terrorist attacks on America, Osama bin Laden and four other leaders of radical Islamist groups in various countries issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, calling for jihad against "the crusader-Zionist alliance" in the following language:
In compliance with God's order, we issue the following fatwa to all
Muslims: the ruling to kill the Americans and their allies--civilians and
military--is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any
country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa
Mosque [Jerusalem] and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in
order for ...