Islam and Terrorism (19 page)

Al-Salem allotted a large portion of his book to the Islamic methods of war and jihad: attacks, murders, deceit, perfidy, foul play, treachery, and breach of faith. He also explained how women, children, and all other material possessions of the enemy belong to the Muslims and their military; Muslims should exterminate anyone who fights back.

T
HE
N
EXT
S
TEP

Al-Jihad had its foundation in place. Its hope was to follow the path of Iran and create the next truly Islamic state. Al-Jihad needed to raise funds, and its members decided to copy Muhammad’s methods. In the next chapter you will learn what they did.

Chapter 19

AL-JIHAD PREPARES AND ATTACKS

Christian Businesses Robbed to Raise Funds

A
S AL
-J
IHAD PREPARED
for war in the 1980s, they needed guns, bombs, weapons, and transportation. They found themselves under tremendous pressure to come up with large sums of money. The Muslims were not committed enough to give this amount of support.

According to the Egyptian court records, an investigation found that the movement received a personal donation from Abod Al-Zomor of four thousand Egyptian pounds, several automatic machine guns, six tear-gas bombs, four RBG bombs, seven Russian bombs, Russian Kalashnikov guns, and several hand guns. These were donated from his personal cache. But these donations and many others were not enough to support the movement. They had to find another source of support.

T
ERRORIZING THE
C
HRISTIAN
M
INORITY

A criminal Islamic solution was presented by Ali Sharif, the leader of Quna and Nagh Hamadi regions. He suggested that the movement should take the possessions of the Egyptian Christian minority (15–17 percent of the population) and use them for support. His idea was nothing new. The el Kharij movement of the seventh century had the same philosophy: “Their women and all possessions are our rights.” The idea went all the way
back to Muhammad killing his enemies and plundering their cities.

This hellish idea created not a question of morality but of execution—how? How can we get the Christians’ possessions? Should we rob them, enforce the
jizyah
(special taxation for unbelievers), or use extortion? Should we target the possessions of the Christian citizens only or of the churches also?

The Christian citizenry dominated several different industries in Egypt, one of these being the production of gemstones and jewelry. The idea was to attack the businesses, kill the Christians, and confiscate all money and merchandise.

After the committee heard this idea, there was a long silence. The Asyut region leader, Najeh Ibrahim, broke the silence by saying, “This is nothing but a heavenly inspiration.”

Then the Al Minya region leader, Karim Zohdi, added, “We should start with any business that supports the churches and their ministry.” The committee agreed, and Ali Sharif became responsible to plan the first attack.

From the records of the court’s sessions we can hear the testimony from one man who witnessed an attack:

On July 26, 1981 at noon I was in the jewelry store of Nabi Masud Askaros, in the city of Nagh Hamadi. The owner, his workers and a few customers were in the store. I heard several shots at the door of the store. I immediately hid under a table. I saw two men carrying automatic machine guns. They were wearing facemasks and gloves. They fired at the owner and also at Zarif Shinooda. They took all of the merchandise and money and, while fleeing, continued firing their guns. In the meantime, I found out that they did the same thing to Fouad and his brother, Fah’iz, Masud’s jewelry store. Six men were killed and two were injured in that store. The two robbers got in a Peugot and took off.

The Christian community lived in great terror during this time because many were killed, and they wondered who would be next.

The court record indicates that the movement got a lot of support from Egyptian Muslims who worked in oil-producing countries. The donations that were discovered included 21,000 in dollars, 10,400 in German marks, 26,000 in Egyptian pounds, and much more. All of this wasn’t enough money, so they started stealing vehicles belonging to Christian church personnel. These vehicles were then transported to the desert, disassembled, and sold as used parts so that the police would not be able to track them down.

Al-Jihad killed, robbed, and stole from Christians as they were taught by the Quran regarding the People of the Book—Jews and Christians.

Fight against . . . those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the
Jizyah
[tax] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

—S
URAH
9:29, T
HE
N
OBLE
Q
URAN

The application of this verse would have been difficult in Egypt because of the large Christian population—there were too many Christians to kill them all. However, this was still the movement’s goal—to apply the Islamic law
and force Christians to pay a high taxation to Muslims, or they would be killed.

Now al-Jihad was ready and able to go in for the first major confrontation with the Egyptian government and its system. They planned to overturn the system and submit Egypt to be the base of the worldwide Islamic nations’ revolution.

During this time the committee of counselors added eleven new members, but they felt that they needed one man to lead them through this major historical operation. After much thinking they decided to elect Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the professor of Quranic science that I sat under at Al-Azhar University. Though blind, he was more than capable of leading such a movement.

P
RESIDENT
S
ADAT
A
SSASSINATED

Sheikh Abdel Rahman issued a
fatwa
that President Sadat and his government were apostate infidels who all must die.

The plan to overturn the country included these steps:

1.   Kill the president.

2.   Gain control over strategic places in Cairo, such as the defense department, national security department, and the national radio and TV stations.

3.   Take over the Asyut region in South Egypt and call the Muslim Egyptians to come out for a new Islamic revolution.

For their sharpshooter, al-Jihad commissioned Khaled al-Islambouli, who was a soldier in the Egyptian military
and the national champion in long-range shooting. He was also an active member of al-Jihad.

Everything started out according to plan. On October 6, 1981, the president was shot and killed during an annual military celebration of winning the 1973 Israeli war. The Asyut region was in the hands of the movement, but they did not succeed in taking over Cairo.

After the assassination of Sadat, Vice President Mubarak immediately ordered the military to go and liberate the Asyut region from the movement’s control. The government was able to arrest the leadership of al-Jihad, including Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. They all stood before Egypt’s highest military court.

The question now was, how could the legal system in an Arabic, supposedly Islamic, country deal with these Muslims who obeyed the call of Islam according to the Quran? Let’s look at the court record of perhaps the most crucial case in Egyptian history.

Chapter 20

JUSTICE LOSES, QURAN WINS

Sheikh Uses Quran to Defend Assassination and Win Release

I
T WAS
S
HEIKH
Omar Abdel Rahman’s moment to show his talents to the court.

He stood before the court to defend the philosophy of the al-Jihad movement. He had the floor twice—once to explain to the jury the mind-set of jihad, and once to respond to the questions of the attorney general. When you read carefully the court transcript and his answers, you will see Islam’s true colors. Sheikh Abdel Rahman, the scholar of the Quran and Islamic law, put his expertise to work for the movement in a way that no one ever expected.

(Courtesy of Sinai Publishing, Cairo, Egypt)

Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman appearing before the Egyptian Supreme Court after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat.

He led the attorney general to play the game that he mastered all of his life. He succeeded in turning the table of accusation and putting the attorney general on the defense. Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman set the stage for himself in the
first round. He made the following Islamic principles clear to the court:

•   Justice should be according to what Allah has set for the Muslims only. Allah’s lordship should be acknowledged by all Muslims, and no one can deny it because Allah created everything and everyone. He has the absolute right to his creation.

•   The people who carry out Islamic justice should be faithful believers who obey Allah’s commands and the prophet Muhammad’s teaching. If the justice system is not run according to the Quran, Muslim believers should not submit themselves to its laws.

•   The imported laws from infidel countries, “USA and Europe,” are man-made and not according to Allah’s laws. The existing law of Egypt is influenced by men who compromise Allah’s law in many areas such as adultery, gambling, homosexuality, alcoholism, and theft. Anyone who modifies Allah’s laws is an apostate infidel. Anyone who submits to these laws is also an apostate infidel.

Sheikh Abdel Rahman established the authority of his words by claiming, “What I’m saying is not opinion or one person’s spiritual ideas, but it is what Allah’s book says.”

Following is a portion of the court transcript during the final court session, when the attorney general questioned the sheikh.
¹