We Destroy One Of His Buildings - He Destroys One Of Our Countries

Dr. Fadl, one of the highest scholarly authorities behind Al-Qaeda realizes the error of his terrorist ways:


Lawrence Wright, author of the Looming Tower, a best-selling account of the beginnings of al-Qaeda, may now be chronicling its end. In a 14-page article in the New Yorker, Wright describes the revolt of al-Qaeda's theological pillars against its version of the Jihad.

The most prominent Jihadi intellectual to turn against al-Qaeda is Sayyid Imam al-Sharif (AKA Dr. Fadl), an Egyptian surgeon and Islamic scholar, who among other things mentored Ayman al-Zawahiri and was the spiritual mentor of fighters in Afghanistan in the late 1980s. Dr. Fadl's 'Guide' "begins with the premise that jihad is the natural state of Islam. Muslims must always be in conflict with nonbelievers, Fadl asserts, resorting to peace only in moments of abject weakness." Subsequently Fald went on to author a monumental tome, "The Compendium of the Pursuit of Divine Knowledge", in which Dr. Fadl says:

... salvation is available only to the perfect Muslim. Even an exemplary believer can wander off the path to Paradise with a single misstep. Fadl contends that the rulers of Egypt and other Arab countries are apostates of Islam. “The infidel’s rule, his prayers, and the prayers of those who pray behind him are invalid,” Fadl decrees. “His blood is legal.” He declares that Muslims have a duty to wage jihad against such leaders; those who submit to an infidel ruler are themselves infidels, and doomed to damnation.” Anyone who believes otherwise is a heretic and deserves to be slaughtered.

Dr. Fadl was as bloodthirsty as they came and could quote from the Sacred Texts to prove it, a fact which recommended him highly to the fighters in the field and made him an authority within the movement. He was so gruesomely brilliant that he threatened to put Zawahiri in the shade, a condition which Zawahiri plotted to reverse by subtly putting Dr. Fadl down and issuing distorted versions of the master's magnum opus. This set the stage for Lawrence Wright's major narrative: the "revisions" of Dr. Fadl, who now asserts that al-Qaeda's brand of bloodshed has no legitimate place in Muslim theology.

Fadl's eventual about-face had several roots. The first was his resentment of Zawahiri. The second was the outrage over al-Qaeda's many murders of Muslims in in different countries. The third, sad to say, was regret over how it had all turned out. The triumphal march Dr. Fadl had envisioned had gone wrong. After 9/11 Dr. Fadl was arrested in Yemen and extradited to Egypt, and may never be released. While in prison, he wrote a series of "revisions" to the Jihadi doctrine. This is the primary intellectual basis for the "revolt against al-Qaeda".

One senior Egyptian cleric regarded as the model of Islamic moderation by Westerners told Wright that he understood Fadl's change of heart because one had to adapt to the times. "We accept the revisions conditionally, not as the true teachings of Islam but with the understanding that this process is like medicine for a particular time". Dr. Fadl located the roots of his newfound pacifism much more directly:

"People hate America, and the Islamist movements feel their hatred and their impotence. Ramming America has become the shortest road to fame and leadership among the Arabs and Muslims. But what good is it if you destroy one of your enemy’s buildings, and he destroys one of your countries? What good is it if you kill one of his people, and he kills a thousand of yours? . . . That, in short, is my evaluation of 9/11."