Yes, Jordanians say here, the bombings were wrong, but Jordan does indeed have to get back on the path of Islam. I.e., ditch the “moderation.”
Again and again we see the Salafi appeal that they represent “pure Islam.” Yet we are supposed to believe that the incorrectness and impurity of their Islam is self-evident to the vast majority of Muslims worldwide. I hope it is, but the evidence of that has not been available in abundance. From AFP, with thanks to Twostellas:
ZARQA, Jordan: Residents of the impoverished Jordanian town where fugitive extremist Abu Mussab Al -Zarqawi was born said yesterday that the hotel bombings in Amman occurred because Jordan had “strayed from Islam”.
One of Zarqawi’s brothers and his sisters living in Zarqa refused to comment on the possibility one of their own may have masterminded the bloodiest attack in the kingdom’s history that claimed the lives of at least 57 people and wounded about 100….
“Glory to God!” is scrawled in red on a wall near the family home of Zarqawi, who was born Fadel Nazzal Al Khalayleh before changing his name in 1991 when he joined the radical Salafist Islamic group. His brother Mohammed was not home and two of Zarqawi’s seven sisters speaking through an intercom system said they had nothing to say. “Please go away,” said one in a soft voice….
“Those who care about the country”s security and peace should strive to build the umma (Islamic nation) according to God’s tenets,” the mosque’s imam, or preacher, said in his sermon without once directly condemning the attacks. “What befell the umma happened because it strayed from Islam.”
He said Muslim blood should not be spilled and that Muslims “should instead direct their spears against God’s enemies” like America and Israel. Jordan, one of Washington’s staunchest allies in the region, is one of just three Arab countries to have diplomatic ties with its Jewish neighbour.
Many prayergoers condemned the attacks while lamenting what they perceived as the declining Islamic values in the country, whose 5.5 million population is almost 93 per cent Sunni Muslim. “Only 29 per cent of the people are true Muslims and the rest are just so by name,” said Mohammed Musa, 27, a school teacher. Jordan’s King Abdullah II has called for a more tolerant interpretation of Islam.
Further east in Zarqa’s Nuzha neighbourhood and past a courthouse and the Jihad (holy war) driving school is the home of Sayel Al Khalayleh, the eldest of Zarqawi’s three brothers. “I will say nothing, nothing, nothing!” said the craggy-faced man.
Outside his two-storey home a young bearded neighbour wearing a black skullcap and dark robes condemned the attacks but hoped his countrymen would be more pious. “Even though these hotels had bars and brothels, nothing justifies the killing of women and children,” said Ibrahim Baarat, 19, who works at a paint factory and studies Islam.
“We can preach change. This country needs reform and needs to get back on God’s path.”