Rash of Suicide Bombings in Israel Sparks Debate Among Muslim Clerics

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)--Nafez Saleh al-Nazar appeared nervous as he faced the camera to read a prepared statement and chant Islamic verses. At times he seemed to pause too long. At times he gazed at the camera. And no wonder: The 26-year-old Palestinian father of two was taping an announcement that he was going to die.

Al-Nazar, a member of the Islamic militant group Hamas, drove a truck laden with explosives toward an Israeli army post in the Gaza Strip on July 9. In a video released by Hamas, the vehicle evaporates in a huge explosion before it reaches the army post, killing al-Nazar but harming no one else.

Palestinian suicide bombings were first carried out against Israel in 1994. The past 10 months of fighting has seen 15 suicide bombings in which more than 30 Israeli civilians have been killed. In the last major attack, 22 young people, including the bomber, were killed outside a Tel Aviv disco on June 1.

As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict drags on, Muslim clerics and commentators from across the Arab world and beyond have begun debating the tactic.

The issue has highlighted the distinction between so-called ``official'' Islam--which has tended to support negotiations with Israel--and a ``popular'' Islam that does not have government support, opposes peacemaking, calls for Israel's destruction and views every Israeli man, woman and child as a legitimate target.

The debate began when the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheik Abdulaziz al-Sheik, declared in April that ``any act of self killing or suicide is strictly forbidden in Islam'' and consequently ``the one who blows himself up in the midst of the enemies is also performing an act contrary to Islamic teachings.''

Suicide bombers, the theologian added, should not be buried with Islamic rituals and should not be buried alongside other Muslims.

Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, grand imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar mosque, mainstream Islam's top seat of learning, then issued an opinion saying the bombings were legitimate, but only if directed against Israeli soldiers, not women and children.

The edicts of al-Sheik and Tantawi--who are government appointees but are considered to be Sunni Islam's top theologians--came as the mainly Muslim Arab world was seething over what it regards as Israel's excessive use of force against the Palestinians.

Many other clerics issued opposing points of view.

Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian clergyman highly respected among the world's 1.2 billion Muslims, said the rulings against suicide bombings were issued by ``people who are alien to Sharia (Islamic laws) and religion.''

Continued on page 2: »