Of course, as for those of non-Muslim countries, he does not say one way or the other. But the Islamic tradition regarding the property of unbelievers is clear:
“I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah’s Apostle, and offer the prayers perfectly and give the obligatory charity, so if they perform a that, then they save their lives an property from me except for Islamic laws and then their reckoning (accounts) will be done by Allah” (Sahih Bukhari 1.2.24).
And:
“If you embrace Islam, you will be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to expel you from this land. So, if anyone amongst you owns some property, he is permitted to sell it, otherwise you should know that the Earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle” (Sahih Bukhari 4.53.392).
In addition, this story lends credence to the idea that jihadists’ pledges to fight piracy will involve a great deal of hair-splitting about when piracy is “really” piracy, not unlike apologists’ hair-splitting with respect to when jihad is “really” jihad.
“Islamists say they’ll fight Somali pirates,” by Mohamed Sheikh Nor for the Associated Press, November 21:
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A radical Islamic group in Somalia said Friday it will fight the pirates holding a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil.
Abdelghafar Musa, a fighter with al-Shabab who claims to speak on behalf of all Islamic fighters in the Horn of Africa nation, said ships belonging to Muslim countries should not be seized.
“We are really sorry to hear that the Saudi ship has been held in Somalia. We will fight them (the pirates),” Musa told AP Television News.
In the past two weeks, Somalia’s increasingly brazen pirates have seized eight vessels including the huge Saudi supertanker. Several hundred crew are now in the hands of Somali pirates. The pirates dock the hijacked ships near the eastern and southern Somali coast and negotiate for ransom.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said Friday that the Saudi government was not negotiating with pirates and would not do so, but that what the ship’s owners did was up to them. […]