“It is not permissible for any Islamic party, country, ruler or political movement to extend any military, security or economic assistance to the United States in its war against any Muslim country or any Muslim faction,” Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah said in a religious edict faxed to foreign news agencies in Beirut.
Fadlallah, a senior Shiite religious authority, is a spiritual leader of Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrilla group. He is widely regarded as influential even among moderate factions.
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His order followed a similar edict by Jordanian religious scholars. The two edicts are indicative of a growing opposition among leading Islamic authorities to the U.S.-led “war on terrorism.”
“There is no cause for Muslims to join such a war,” said Mohamad Hodhaibi, one of the leaders of a coalition of Muslim brotherhoods in Egypt. “Mr. Bush is trying to put Muslims against Muslims, and this tactic will not work.”
Muslim leaders warn that a hasty U.S. military assault on Afghanistan to kill or capture alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden would rip apart the Mideast, where anti-U.S. sentiments have grown in the last year since a Palestinian uprising began in the territories in and around Israel.
The Bush administration has yet to build a case for military intervention, Fadlallah said, even though many Arab governments are supporting the U.S. efforts.
“The rulings of the Americans are built on suspicion, not judicial proof, which makes the matter one of American political interests, as it needs to do something to restore its prestige and prove its strength,” he said.
Fadlallah has warned that exacting indiscriminate vengeance for the attacks would feed ire over U.S. Middle East policy and particularly its backing of Israel, which many Arabs see as the root cause of the suicide attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
Fadlallah, who survived an assassination attempt during Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, has assumed a largely spiritual leadership role after falling out with Hezbollah’s Iranian patrons.
The group, a major force in driving Israel from south Lebanon last year after a 22-year occupation, also pioneered the use of suicide bombings against Western targets during the civil war.
The cleric’s remarks are indicative of anger in the region against the United States, an anger that seems to have a new impetus since the terror strikes in New York and the Pentagon.
“It’s about American arrogance, and the incredible degree of anger that this causes,” said Jordanian analyst Labib Kamhawi. “When I see pictures of the plane about to hit the tower, I shudder — but I think about the kind of suffering America’s policies cause every day and how this could drive someone to commit such an act.”
Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, in what he billed as an open letter to the American people, weighed in with pre-emptive criticism of any retaliatory strike. The official Iraqi News Agency quoted him as saying that Washington is operating on the assumption that “Islam, with Arabs in the lead … are enemies of the United States.”
Saudi civil servant Ahmed Dubaikhi said: “War is not a game — the victims will be in the thousands, and this war will not resolve the question of terrorism. In fact, the number of terrorists will multiply and give justification for retaliation all over the world.”