Egypt Islamic Jihad Founder Rethinking Violence and Jihad

Here's an interesting story that I saw on Al-Jazeera today. (I can't find the link on Al-Jazeera.Net but I did find the story on Islamonline - Egypts Jihad Rethinks Militancy)

The founder and top ideologist of Egypts' Islamic Jihad, Dr. Sayed Imam, says he was wrong about the use of violence in Jihad.

Sayed Imam is the author of a book that helped mould many militant group ideologies, including Al-Qaedia. In the 1990s Al-Qaeda's second in command, Ayman El-Zawahiri, was Dr. Sayed Imam's right-hand man. Al-Jazeera reported that El-Zawahiri is furious with Sayed's calls to limit violence.

His document calling for a review of the interpretation of Jihad focuses particularly on Muslim-on-Muslim violence in Muslim countries but it could go as far as calling for an end to the slaying of civilians in 'occupied countries'.

I won't get too excited about this, nevertheless I do believe it is a story worth following. (Perhaps messrs Chomsky, Fisk and Finkelstein will convince Imam to drop the calls for change?)

Comments

[Hard Rain]

"The document is primarily aimed at preventing future violent operations or bombings in Arab and Muslim countries, which are not under foreign occupation," he said.

Naturally. I wonder if he regards Iberia as "Muslim land under foreign occupation" as his compatriot El- Zawahri certainly does. I wonder if he regards all of Dar al Harb as "Muslim land under foreign occupation". And we won't even mention Israel.

This policy reeks not of some introspected evaluation of Islam or denouncement of jihad, rather of a revival of Pan-Arabianism or, more sinisterly, a step towards improving unification in the Islamic world. Can anyone say "caliphate"?