The Descendents of an Earlier, Violent Islamic Extreme

DALLAS (Sept. 16, 2001)--Christians are saddled with Paul Hill, who murdered a doctor outside a Florida abortion clinic in 1994. Jews are burdened by Dr. Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 people in a Hebron mosque the same year. And Muslims are shackled to Osama bin Laden.

All claimed to kill in the name of their God. And all are rejected by the mainstreams of their faith.

The tradition of mainstream Islam holds that Muslim individuals and nations are all involved in a sacred struggle--the jihad--to purify their hearts and act in accord with God's will. Sometimes the jihad is external, a battle generally defined as a war of self-defense.

But who is the enemy? And what kinds of force are justified? Extremists like bin Laden jump the track by rejecting centuries of Muslim theologians who have wrestled with these questions, many experts on Islam say.

Muslim leaders in this country and abroad--including some who are no friends of the United States--have lined up with powerful condemnations of Tuesday's attacks. U.S. law enforcement officials say they are still building their case against bin Laden and his followers. But many American Muslims say they fear that even the speculation has put their faith on trial.

Like the Bible, Islam's sacred texts frequently discuss battle and war. And like parts of the Bible, parts of Islam's texts justify fierce fighting against enemies. Judaism and Christianity have long traditions of interpretations that define a morally appropriate war. Islam has similar traditions that many Muslim scholars say have been perverted or ignored by Muslims who commit terror in the name of God.

"Anyone can prove anything from any scriptures, provided he has a two-dollar piece of equipment," said Jamal Badawi, head of the Canada-based Islamic Information Foundation. "That is enough to buy a cheap pair of scissors to cut up verses and put them together the way you want."

Most Americans understand Christianity and Judaism well enough to recognize the extremes of those religions. But despite the presence of as many as 6 million Muslims in this country, Islam is still a mystery for many Americans.

The image of Islam is not helped by news reports of Muslims--and even some Muslim clerics--who have been linked to terrorism. And some of the world's most infamous terror groups claim to be acting in the name of Islam: Islamic Jihad, Hamas (an acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement) and Gamaa al-Islamiya (the Islamic Group).

"I think they believe that what they are doing is religiously not just justified, but mandated," said Khaled Abou el Fadl, a professor of Islamic law at UCLA. "And they believe that they are sufficiently pure that they, rather than anybody else, represent Islam."

Continued on page 2: »