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The Real Jihad
| Article
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23364 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1991 |
280 Words |
| Author
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Marvin Gordon is emeritus professor of geography and regional
science at George Washington University. |
Almost from the beginning, Saddam Hussein tried to characterize his bloody seizure of Kuwait as a jihad—a holy war—against the West. His cynical attempt to rally Arabs to his side (even claiming that infidels were defiling holy places in Saudi Arabia) failed as badly as did his bombing of Israel in the vain hope that Israeli retaliation would force Arab nations, such as Syria, to leave the U.S.-led coalition.
It remained for Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi, the mufti of Egypt, to put the question of a holy war into its proper perspective. Tantawi declared that it was Saddam who was clearly the aggressor in the Persian Gulf War and that his removal was a religious duty.
The mufti said that anyone who worked to overthrow the Iraqi government was waging jihad since the invasion of Kuwait was unjust by all known standards. He suggested that the sternest punishment for Saddam was appropriate because "we do not know of any evil worse than that perpetrated by the rulers of Iraq against Kuwait."
Sheikh Dhamed Hashem Al-Hidiya, the president of the Ansar Al-Sunna Association of Sudan, added that the Iraqi treasury was liable for all losses resulting from the invasion of Kuwait, including the costs of the allied campaign to drive Iraqi forces out.
A Muslim cleric from Brazil, Ahed Al-Saifi, conceded that it was painful to see the suffering inflicted on the Iraqi people in the war. "But jihad is inevitable and the Iraqi people must be rid of the likes of Saddam Hussein."
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