Islamic Muharibun's First Target Isn't the Infidels...

Submitted by Wana 88 (United States), Aug 30, 2008 at 21:54

...but are the murtadds (fitri and milli) based on Islamic jurisprudence. The (mis)perception amongst non-Muslims is that they are the primary target of fundamentalist (Sunni) and radical (the Shia) Muslims. This isn't the case. The primary target for elimination/exterminatin are fellow Muslims who have left the faith and, thus, threaten the imperialistic agenda of the religion. Order of precedence for targeting the "enemy" of the faith:

1)The two kinds of apostates

2) Deviants (like sufis, shias, ahmedis etc)

3) Hypocrites (Muslims who are non-practicing or have gone astray or are intimate with non-Muslims)

4) Pagans and atheists

5) People of the book (Jews and Christians)

This criteria has to do with the riddah (civil war immediately after the death of Muhammad) which almost led to demise of this fledging religion. This trauma, coupled with Hussein's beheading at Karbala in 680, has made the Sunni majority very nervous from the get go: there is no room for exit if you are born into Islam due to birth to a Muslim father. Those who, without compulsion, enter the religion then cannot leave it...

As for relevancy to Obama in Osama or other Muslims' eyes, the perception is either he is very good at practicing Taqiyya and will be malleable to their agenda OR he is the worst type of human being and must be targeted or, at a minimum, be leveraged to galvanize true believers to undertake violent missions against US and Western targets. If he were to become the US commander-in-chief leading the GWOT and ups the ante for capturing bin Laden et al, his betrayal to his faith (that would be the perception bandied about) will be exploited to lend legitimacy to ANY actions against those he represents as President of the US. Everything would be on the table and marketed as justifiable because he is a traitor to the true faith. Whereas McCain as President ,or anyone else without Obama's baggage, wouldn't offer the same opportunities to exploit nor the secret hopes that the son of a Muslim will pull through for the community interests (as they see them).

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".