04-23-2008, 00:47 AM
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#3 (permalink)
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Burgomaster
Join Date: 08-02-03
Location: Minneapolis
Country: 
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Quote:
Killing of Innocents
Al-Qa’ida is often accused of unjustifiably killing fellow Muslims, many of whom have nothing to do with supporting Arab regimes or local security forces. Historically, al-Qa’ida has been at its theologically weakest and ideologically most defensive in trying to justify the killing of innocents. Zawahiri’s 9 July 2005 letter to Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi, for instance, warned of the negative impact attacks on Muslim civilians would have in the Middle East. Zawahiri’s warnings proved prescient months later when Zarqawi attacked three hotels in Amman, Jordan.5 Popular support for al-Qa’ida in Jordan plummeted from 56% in 2003 to 20% in 2007.6 Not surprisingly, many questioners asked Zawahiri to clarify his position on attacks that kill Muslims. Zawahiri was intractable on the issue:
…We haven’t killed the innocents; not in Baghdad, nor in Morocco, nor in Algeria, nor anywhere else. And if there is any innocent who was killed in the Mujahideen’s operations, then it was either an unintentional error, or out of necessity as in cases of al-Tatarrus.”
'Mas'alatut al-Tatarrus (the issue of non-Muslims taking Muslims as human shields) offers the Jihadist movement its most reliable religious safeguard from charges of apostasy for killing Muslims. Zawahiri employs the al-Tatarrus defense, but offers nothing new to the debate, instead referring to a compendium on the topic assembled by Abu Yahya al-Libi. In that book, Abu Yahya defines al-Tatarrus as “the instrument of war known as the human shield as a way of protecting someone from the attacks of an enemy.” Abu Yahya explains that there are two types of al-Tatarrus, the first being when a non-Muslim enemy forces innocents (often times Muslim prisoners) as a shield in order to deter an attack. The second type is when Muslims willingly choose to conduct business or occupy a non-Muslim venue. 7
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A bit of a tangent, but does the term al-Tatarrus derive from the Mongols, or is it a false friend/cognate?
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The Buck Stops Here
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