In this video, CIA informant-turned-bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi frames his case in explicitly Islamic terms. He warns the U.S. that “the belief in Allah…cannot be exchanged for all the wealth in the world,” speaks of the mujahedin “as Muslims,” and concludes that “our jihad, inshallah, will continue until we free our prisoners and until the word of Allah prevails.” That last bit echoes Qur’an 8:39: “And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah altogether and everywhere.”
Yet we hear constantly that the mujahedin are not Muslims, that they have twisted and hijacked Islam, and that their war has nothing to do with Islam. Can we get a clarification on this, please? Would any of the other “moderate” Muslim spokesmen in the U.S. care to explain exactly how Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal is getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong?
I know I keep asking this, and I know no one is answering or will answer, but the question is important, and I am going to keep asking it as long as we keep hearing that the mujahedin “misinterpret” and “misunderstand” Islam. For if they do, the problem of jihad terrorism is of one dimension, but if they don’t, it changes immensely in magnitude.
An update on this story. “‘CIA bomber’ shown vowing revenge,” from the BBC, January 9 (thanks to all who sent this in):
…The video shows a man alleged to be bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the Jordanian double agent and suicide bomber, explaining who he is and vowing revenge for Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud’s death.
Mehsud’s successor, Hakimullah Mehsud, appears to be sat [sic] beside him, although he is not named in the video….
