Islamic scholars? But doesn't that mean they have...studied Islam? And yet they are honoring bin Laden? But don't they know the true, peaceful teachings of the Qur'an and Muhammad that we keep hearing so much about? How is it that they overlooked them?

And why didn't the rest of the nation's Islamic scholars rise up against this and protest? Tiny Minority of Extremists Update: "Scholars honour Bin Laden," by Rana Jawad for [1] AFP, with thanks to WriterMom:

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Islamic scholars honoured Osama bin Laden today in response to Britain’s knighthood for Salman Rushdie, as a senior ruling party member said he would not hesitate to kill the novelist.

Meanwhile the country’s religious affairs minister, who caused outrage by remarking that the award given to the "Satanic Verses" author justified suicide attacks, announced that he may visit Britain next month.

The Pakistani Ulema Council, a private body that claims to be the biggest of its kind in the country with 2,000 scholars, said it had given Bin Laden the title "Saifullah", or Sword of Allah, its top accolade.

"We are pleased to award the title of Saifullah to Osama bin Laden after the British government’s decision to bestow the title of ’Sir’ on blasphemer Rushdie," council chairman Maulana Tahir Ashrafi told AFP.

"This is the highest title for a Muslim warrior."