The latest aviattion terror threat may signal Islamic ideological struggle
August 10, 2006 (Press Release) --
International air travelers languishing in British airports as they wait for bookings for trans-Atlantic flights to the United States are the latest pawns in the ongoing War on Terror. Their inconvenience is of little consequence when compared to the horrible fate they may have suffered had the scores of terrorist conspirators not been foiled by British counter-terror operatives.
Though reportedly planned for some time, it seems the timing may signal a struggle for supremacy within the fanatical fringe of fundamentalist Islam. As Sheik Hassan Nasrallah gains hero status within the Arab world by directing his Hezbollah faction against Israel, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri seemingly fade into insignificance, said Robert T. Jordan, co-author of the new book Terror - Is America Safe?
It does not go without notice that as al-Qaeda and the Taliban struggle to maintain inertia of their terrorist activities within Afghanistan and Irqaq, Shia factions in Iraq and Lebanon became more militant and aggressive, he said.
The rift between Al-Qaeda's Wahhabist Sunni organization and Hezbollah's militant Shias became even more evident when Al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader issued a worldwide call for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Israel and join the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza until Islam reigns from “Spain to Iraq.” In the message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, Ayman al-Zawahri, second in command to Osama bin Laden, said that al-Qaeda now views “all the world as a battlefield open in front of us.”
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah's Shiite militia, Hezbollah, and Al-Qaeda, until now were sworn enemies, each believing that the other's view of Islam as being heretical. Wahhabi theology advocates a puritanical and legalistic stance in matters of faith and religious practice. Wahhabists see their role as a movement to restore Islam from what they perceive to be innovations, superstitions, deviances, heresies and idolatries. There are many practices that they believe are contrary to Islam.
Nasrallah rebuffed Zawahri's call to arms, adding that Hezbollah did not subscribe to al-Qaeda's global aspirations for world dominance.
One of Saudi Arabia's leading Wahhabi sheiks, Abdullah bin Jabreen has issued a strongly worded religious edict, or fatwa, declaring it unlawful to support, join or pray for Hezbollah, the Shiite militias lobbing missiles into northern Israel.
A Sheik Hamid al-Ali, a Sunni, issued an informal statement titled “The Sharia position on what is going on.” In it, the Kuwaiti based cleric condemned the “imperial ambitions” of Iran regarding Hezbollah's cross border raid. A Saudi cleric also reportedly issued a similar “fatwa.”
Despite this seemingly fragmented focus of Islamic terrorist factions, Western powers are no less safe from terrorist attacks. In fact, as the various sects strive to inflict horrific attacks as they jockey for supremacy in order to draw converts to their causes and to seek greater recognition through the media no-one is safe..
Though reportedly planned for some time, it seems the timing may signal a struggle for supremacy within the fanatical fringe of fundamentalist Islam. As Sheik Hassan Nasrallah gains hero status within the Arab world by directing his Hezbollah faction against Israel, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri seemingly fade into insignificance, said Robert T. Jordan, co-author of the new book Terror - Is America Safe?
It does not go without notice that as al-Qaeda and the Taliban struggle to maintain inertia of their terrorist activities within Afghanistan and Irqaq, Shia factions in Iraq and Lebanon became more militant and aggressive, he said.
The rift between Al-Qaeda's Wahhabist Sunni organization and Hezbollah's militant Shias became even more evident when Al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader issued a worldwide call for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Israel and join the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza until Islam reigns from “Spain to Iraq.” In the message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, Ayman al-Zawahri, second in command to Osama bin Laden, said that al-Qaeda now views “all the world as a battlefield open in front of us.”
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah's Shiite militia, Hezbollah, and Al-Qaeda, until now were sworn enemies, each believing that the other's view of Islam as being heretical. Wahhabi theology advocates a puritanical and legalistic stance in matters of faith and religious practice. Wahhabists see their role as a movement to restore Islam from what they perceive to be innovations, superstitions, deviances, heresies and idolatries. There are many practices that they believe are contrary to Islam.
Nasrallah rebuffed Zawahri's call to arms, adding that Hezbollah did not subscribe to al-Qaeda's global aspirations for world dominance.
One of Saudi Arabia's leading Wahhabi sheiks, Abdullah bin Jabreen has issued a strongly worded religious edict, or fatwa, declaring it unlawful to support, join or pray for Hezbollah, the Shiite militias lobbing missiles into northern Israel.
A Sheik Hamid al-Ali, a Sunni, issued an informal statement titled “The Sharia position on what is going on.” In it, the Kuwaiti based cleric condemned the “imperial ambitions” of Iran regarding Hezbollah's cross border raid. A Saudi cleric also reportedly issued a similar “fatwa.”
Despite this seemingly fragmented focus of Islamic terrorist factions, Western powers are no less safe from terrorist attacks. In fact, as the various sects strive to inflict horrific attacks as they jockey for supremacy in order to draw converts to their causes and to seek greater recognition through the media no-one is safe..
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