Imagine if a Christian or Jewish cleric issued a theological argument for the killing of anyone — it would be front-page in the New York Times for a week, and all over CNN. But no one will take any particular notice of this. “Prominent Salafi-Jihadi Cleric Issues Fatwa Sanctioning Killing Of U.S. Ambassadors, Including Chris Stevens,” from MEMRI, September 20 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Following the September 11, 2012 killing of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, a number of queries were sent in to the Salafi-jihadi website Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad (MTJ) regarding the legitimacy of this action. Answering on behalf of the website’s shari’a committee, Sheikh Abu Mundhir Al-Shinqiti issued a fatwa in which he approved of the killing of the U.S. ambassador and other U.S. diplomats, and refuted religious arguments raised by some Islamic scholars against such actions.