MPAC Rejects Bin Laden's Call for Global War
April 24, 2006
The Muslim Public Affairs Council today expressed its outrage at the latest message by Osama bin Laden declaring war against the whole world, including Muslims who disagree with his narrow and destructive ideology.
In the latest audiotape issued yesterday, Bin Laden exploits the legitimate grievances of Muslim masses worldwide in order to stoke the flames of hate that will only result in more suffering of Muslims themselves. Evidence of this exists in his repeated references to the situation of the Palestinian and Sudanese people. He criticizes Hamas for committing a so-called "taboo" by joining the Parliament, and the Sudanese government for agreeing to a U.S.-backed peace deal for the troubled south of the country. Both governments today responded by rejecting Bin Laden's calls for war.
"We are not concerned with any mujahideen or any crusade or any war with the international community," a Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman told Reuters. "We are keen on reaching a peaceful solution to the crisis in Darfur."
Moving attention and calls for violence to Sudan is an escalation and widening of the Iraq war. In reality, only the Sudanese people, not outsiders, can initiate a resolution to the conflict in Sudan. This is a terrible exploitation of a human tragedy, which is in need of vast humanitarian aid and support, not manipulative rhetoric intended to add fuel to the fire.
As MPAC has stated in at least three previous statements responding to Bin Laden messages, Bin Laden's distortions of core Islamic concepts -- such as jihad and defense of the Prophet Muhammad -- are merely a religious cloak for his nefarious and selfish political motives. Bin Laden falsely states that there is a "consensus" that anyone who offends or degrades the Prophet should be killed. Not only is there is no such consensus, but this claim ignores and misrepresents not only the teachings but the example set by the Prophet himself.
Most importantly, global Muslim leaders should reject Bin Laden's false claims of leadership. This message of widespread destruction and war not only feeds the notion of a clash of civilizations, but exploits the vacuum of broadly recognized Muslim leadership. Muslim leaders and scholars of all schools of thought must reinforce and amplify a united voice that can counteract this message of Islam as a destructive force while initiating political, economic and social reform that will address the grievances of the people and isolate the extremists.
