In using deception to lure Rabbani to his death, this Muslim was imitating Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, who once took offense to Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf, a poet who had mocked him, and asked his followers: “Who is willing to kill Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?” One of the Muslims, Muhammad bin Maslama answered, “O Allah’s Apostle! Would you like that I kill him?” When Muhammad said that he would, Muhammad bin Maslama said, “Then allow me to say a (false) thing (i.e. to deceive Kab).” Muhammad responded: “You may say it.” Muhammad bin Maslama duly lied to Ka’b, luring him into his trap, and murdered him. (Bukhari, volume 5, book 59, number 369)
Of course, Muhammad also famously said, “War is deceit.”
More on this story. War Is Deceit Update: “Afghan president: Rabbani’s killer staged a ruse,” by Amir Shah and Deb Reichmann for the Associated Press, September 22 (thanks to Bill):
KABUL, Afghanistan””The suicide bomber who killed Afghanistan’s former president, Burhanuddin Rabbani”‹, gained access to him by presenting officials beforehand with an audio recording of a purported Taliban peace offer, President Hamid Karzai said Thursday….
The assassin, who hid a bomb in his turban, killed the 70-year-old former Afghan leader Tuesday at his home in Kabul.
Karzai said that before he left for New York last weekend, one of his advisers, Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, told him that the Taliban had a message for the Afghan peace council. Stanekzai is a top peace council official who was wounded in the attack that killed Rabbani.
“Stanekzai brought me a message that someone had come from the Taliban movement and brought with them an audio CD in which there was a message from a Taliban representative,” Karzai said.
The president said he listened to the audio before leaving to attend the U.N. General Assembly. The voice on the recording spoke respectfully about Rabbani, he said. “There were a couple of questions and suggestions mentioned regarding peace.”
Karzai said he then talked with Rabbani, who rushed back home from a trip to Iran to listen to the recording.
“It was not a peace message. It was a trick,” said Karzai, speaking at a podium set up in a courtyard of the presidential palace. “The messenger was the killer.”
Shafiqullah Tahiri, a spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service, said officials believe Rabbani’s killing had been planned for four months and that the Afghan Taliban’s governing council known as the Quetta Shura, named after the city in Pakistan, was behind the assassination….
Rahmatullah Wahidyar, a member of the peace council who had brought the bomber to Rabbani’s house, told reporters that when the attacker entered the room, Rabbani stood up and went to hug him.
“There was a bang,” Wahidyar told reporters at a news conference held by the intelligence service. “I have small fractures on my face and right side.”
Shortly after Karzai’s remarks, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker pledged support from the United States and international community for Afghan peace efforts, and called Rabbani’s killing a “brutal murder.”…
He also said that Rabbani’s death “raises very serious questions” as to whether the Taliban and those who support them have any real interest in reconciling with the Afghan government.
No kidding, really?