This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3487
June 5, 2008
King Abdullah |
"The event, the biannual meeting of the Muslim World League, a non-governmental organisation engaged in the propagation of Islam, has been described as an interfaith conference, although its location makes it strictly off-limits to non-Muslims...
Abdullah's understanding of interfaith dialogue differs from the one held by the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz Al al-Sheikh, who said dialogue with other religions was a way to bring non-Muslims into Islam. The cleric, who is the highest official of religious law, told the delegates that converting people to Islam was the ultimate goal of dialogue, a point made several times. "It is the opportunity to disseminate the principles of Islam. Islam advocates dialogue among people, especially calling them to the path of Allah."
The brochure advertising the event cites verses from the Qur'an that tell Muslims to "invite all to the way of the lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching and argue with them in the ways that are best and most gracious".
MIM: The Grand Mufti mentioned above stands behind the da'wa initiative of King Abdullah:
"Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, the Saudi grand mufti, endorsed the king's project and said the whole Ummah was looking up to the benevolent king to take the lead and bringing different communities of the world together.
"He has taken this step with good intention and this is the only way of propagating the real values of Islam," Al-Asheikh said, adding: "We cannot live in an isolation. We need to cooperate with others to make the most of advancement in all aspects of life."
For more on the Saudi interfaith hoax see:
The Saudis Deceptive Religious Reform Proposal
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3405
Muslim World League-Al Haramain - Saudi Wahabist groups fund terror and flourish in Canada
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/242
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Mecca talks stress religious tolerance
· King Abdullah calls for better interfaith relations
· Saudi highlights dangers of Islamist extremism
More than 500 delegates from around the world gathered in the Islamic holy city of Mecca yesterday with the aim of fostering better relations between Muslims and followers of other faiths. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia opened the three-day conference in Al-Safah Palace, a stone's throw from the Grand Mosque, by stressing the need for better understanding and cooperation between monotheistic religions.
The king urged his audience to promote the true message of Islam and said the Islamic world faced great difficulties in the form of extremists whose "aggressions and excessiveness" targeted the tolerance of the religion.
The event, the biannual meeting of the Muslim World League, a non-governmental organisation engaged in the propagation of Islam, has been described as an interfaith conference, although its location makes it strictly off-limits to non-Muslims. It is understood that Abdullah seeks greater unity among different Islamic schools of thought, so that summits with other religions can take place more easily. The king held talks in November with Pope Benedict XVI and in March announced plans to host a meeting between the three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam - an initiative welcomed by the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder.
The move is a departure from Saudi government practice, which does not allow the public practice of other religions in the kingdom.
Abdullah's understanding of interfaith dialogue differs from the one held by the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz Al al-Sheikh, who said dialogue with other religions was a way to bring non-Muslims into Islam. The cleric, who is the highest official of religious law, told the delegates that converting people to Islam was the ultimate goal of dialogue, a point made several times. "It is the opportunity to disseminate the principles of Islam. Islam advocates dialogue among people, especially calling them to the path of Allah."
The brochure advertising the event cites verses from the Qur'an that tell Muslims to "invite all to the way of the lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching and argue with them in the ways that are best and most gracious".
The conference organisers have insisted that speakers will focus on religion, not politics. However the former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who shared the stage with the Saudi monarch, only touched on the need for greater respect between Sunni and Shia Muslims, preferring instead to accuse western governments of hegemony in conflict zones.
Rafsanjani, a last-minute addition to the programme, said: "Without Islam the world is nothing. We control 20% of the world's resources. We don't want to waste these and it is our duty not to hand over what we have. Muslims are authorised to defend themselves in a good manner."
He told the audience to "think about Iraq", describing the presence of US troops as a threat to all neighbouring regions. "Iraqis have a responsibility not to let the Americans impose their diplomatic mission on Islam. Iraq has a great heritage and America wants to exploit it. We should not allow this exploitation and subjugation to continue. It is unofficial colonisation."
While Rafsanjani's remarks may not surprise people familiar with his anti-western tirades, his address will have darkened the mood of an event designed to encourage scholars to promote dialogue with different religions. His attendance, at the invitation of the king, will also sit uneasily with the Saudi clerics who denounced Iranian Shia last Sunday.
The conference, which ends tomorrow, will also hear from Dr Ali Bardakoglu, president of Turkey's Diyanet, the highest Islamic authority in the country, and the grand imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar mosque, Muhammad Sayed Tantawi . http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/05/religion.islam
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King Abdullah Inspires Scholars Siraj Wahab & Badea Abu Al-Naja, Arab News | ||||||
MAKKAH, 4 June 2008 — Dialogue is the best way to move forward, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah said yesterday as Muslim scholars led by Saudi Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh endorsed his call for opening a dialogue with people of other faiths at the start of a historic three-day summit at the Royal Al-Safa Palace. The king started his address with a prayer to Almighty Allah for the determination and strength to take up the Islamic mission of cordial dialogue with other faiths even if the other side is hostile. The king cited Chapter 16, Verse 125 of the Holy Qur'an: "Invite to the Way of the Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious." The king said in his opening speech that those amidst Muslims that hold extremist ideologies have compounded the challenges faced by Islam. "The enemies of Islam target the salient goals of Islam such as tolerance and justice. That is why your brother invited you to assemble here in order to find ways to counter the challenges of isolation, ignorance, narrow vision and convey to the world the broad Islamic messages based on humanitarian principles and away from hostility and aggression." King Abdullah reminded scholars and thinkers of the purpose of the conference. "You gathered today to say to the world around us, with confidence, that Allah bestowed upon us," he said. "We are the voice of justice and human moral values, and we are the voice of rational and just coexistence and dialogue, the voice of wisdom and admonition. Allah says, ‘Invite all to the Way of Thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best' and InshaAllah, we will do so." The Muslim world, he said, should take steps to counter the forces against human progress. "This invitation from your brother is to counter challenges of rigidity, ignorance, narrow-mindedness and to make the world accommodate the concepts and the prospects of the kind message of Islam without enmity or antagonism... Islam's greatness founded the concepts of dialogue and sets its milestones, which are reflected in Allah's saying, ‘Were Thou severe or harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about thee'." He also said that hearts are filled by faith, tolerance and love. "Yes, the way to the others is through shared values advocated by the divine messages, which were revealed by Allah for the benefit of humanity to preserve their dignity and promote the ethical values and dealings, which certainly are not in conformity with deception," he said. "These values, which reject treason, alienate crime, combat terrorism and despise lying. These lay the bases for good morals, honesty, truthfulness and justice, and enhance the concepts of family values and its cohesion and ethics, which are slowly diminishing at present and disintegrating ties, and where human beings are distancing themselves from their Lord and the teachings of their religion." He stressed the importance of the task at hand. "From the vicinity of the Holy Mosque of Makkah, we begin — with the Will of Allah, and, from there, we will move in our dialogue with the others in confidence derived from our faith in Allah and then from knowledge sought from our tolerant religion," the king said. "We will argue in ways that are best; what we agree upon we accept it in our hearts, and what we disagree about we refer to the sublime, saying ‘Lakum Deenakum Waliya Deen' (To you, be your way and to me mine)." Former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani welcomed the king's proposal of engaging people of other faiths but cautioned that Muslims have to close their ranks and not allow their "enemies" to exploit differences among the Islamic schools of thought. "I am a Shiite, and I spent all my life studying Islam," he told the audience. "And let me tell you here that we (Shias and Sunnis) have 95 percent in common. Why should we then allow the difference of five percent to let our enemies play havoc with?" Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, the Saudi grand mufti, endorsed the king's project and said the whole Ummah was looking up to the benevolent king to take the lead and bringing different communities of the world together. "He has taken this step with good intention and this is the only way of propagating the real values of Islam," Al-Asheikh said, adding: "We cannot live in an isolation. We need to cooperate with others to make the most of advancement in all aspects of life." The summit has brought together some of the most influential scholars, academics and organization leaders in the Muslim world, who all expressed hope and optimism that this meeting of the minds would help improve relations with people of different religious backgrounds or Islamic schools of thought. "This conference is a historic opportunity," said Muslim World League Secretary-General Abdullah Abdulmohsen Al-Turki. "It brings together leading Islamic scholars and thinkers from across the globe." "This conference offers a new channel to strengthen cooperation among Muslims," said Al-Azhar University Grand Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi. "It is essential to reduce differences and promote understanding." In attendance at the inaugural ceremony were many leading scholars of the Muslim world, including Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi from Qatar, Lebanon's Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Rasheed Qabbani, Darul Uloom Deoband's Marghoobur Rahman, Organization of the Islamic Conference Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed and chief of Indian Jamaat-e-Islami Syed Jalaluddin Umri. Some 600 Muslim intellectuals and academics are attending the summit to work out the details and parameters of the interfaith dialogue. http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=110609&d=5&m=6&y=2008&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom |
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Delegates Explore Interfaith Dialogue Priorities at Summit Siraj Wahab, Arab News | ||||||
MAKKAH, 6 June 2008 — Delegates to the Muslim World League's Interfaith Dialogue Summit expressed a variety of views and priorities yesterday in preparing Islam's position in upcoming talks with leaders of other religions. "We are working on opening communication and channels of dialogue with followers of divine messages and Eastern ideologies with a view to realizing the message of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)," said MWL Secretary-General Dr. Abdullah Al-Turki. Followers of divine messages clearly referred to Jews and Christians, and Eastern ideologies referred primarily to Hinduism and Buddhism. During yesterday's sessions, delegates stressed that dialogue with people of other faiths should not be confined to religious leaders. "Yes, we should talk to different independent religious groups, but we should also talk to various personalities who are influential in their respective fields, such as media personalities, intellectuals and academics," said Al-Turki. He said the idea is to let people of other faiths understand that Prophet Muhammad was sent as a messenger of glad tidings to all of mankind as mentioned in the Holy Qur'an. Al-Turki said Muslim scholars and academics have acknowledged that followers of other religions have presented good solutions to the many crises facing mankind. "They cannot and should not be ignored. When we start talking we will be able to build a better mechanism of understanding," he said. "With dialogue we can confront the forces that instigate people against Islam and consider it an enemy of contemporary civilization." According to Al-Turki, dialogue is a response to Qur'anic order and a follow-up to Prophetic guidance. "Dialogue is deep-rooted in our culture ... Islam has clearly explained the principles of dialogue and areas where dialogue is prohibited. The Prophet's guidance is the best example of translating and achieving this dialogue," he said. Al-Turki said the Makkah-based MWL, which is organizing this historic event at the urging of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, is a nongovernmental organization engaged in clearing misconceptions about Islam. "The MWL strives to unite the ranks of Muslims and promote understanding among followers of other cultures. We reject all acts of violence and terrorism," he added. Delegates were divided on the possible outcome of the process. "Do whatever you want to do; those who are against Islam will continue to remain so. Their animosity is deep-seated, and they will continue to abuse our religion and our beloved Prophet," said Dr. Aamer Liaquat Hussain, producer and anchor of a popular program called "Aalim Online" on Pakistan's Geo television. He referred to the controversial films and blasphemous cartoons that have angered the Muslim world. "I am appalled by the severity and the insulting nature of the attack. We Muslims believe in all the Prophets of Allah. We name our children Yaqub and Ishaq," Hussain said. "Can the followers of other religions show us one example of they naming their children Muhammad or Ahmed?" Shaukat Piracha, a news anchor on Pakistan's Aaj TV, said Muslims have to follow the policy of engagement. "It will pay in the end. Western societies are educated societies. It is the job of our intellectuals to make them understand our sensitivities." He said disrespect was not reserved just for Islam. "Western societies are highly secular in nature. They make fun of all religions, including their own," Piracha said. "Cracking jokes about religious heroes and prophets is a norm in those societies. ... Through dialogue, we can urge them to understand our point of view. We need to make them realize the intensity of our love for our beloved Prophet (pbuh). We need to sensitize them about our religion. Talking will help." Professor Akhtarul Wasey of India's Jamia Millia Islamia University felt Muslims should not focus on fringe elements. "There are extremists in all societies, but they are in a minority. We should not hold ourselves back in the face of their onslaught. In fact, we should double up our efforts to reach out to those who are willing to understand our point of view," he said. At the conference, Wasey underscored the need for learning from the 1,000 years of dialogue that Muslims have been engaged with in Asia. "Here is a fine example in India and Indonesia where multicultural, multilingual, multiracial communities have coexisted for centuries. The Muslim world can make the most of this experience as it goes ahead with process of dialogue with people of other faiths." Hassan Saleemi and his wife, Habeebah Elahee, who host the popular "Hassan and Habeebah Show" on the UK-based Islam Channel, said the process of dialogue should not involve religious people of other faiths but should instead focus on the secularists and the agnostics. "In the UK, we face problems not from the religious people. They are not insulting Islam ... It is these agnostics and atheists who are problematic," Saleemi said as his wife nodded in agreement. "We are part of many local initiatives, and we interact with many Christian priests ... They are not the problem at all. Of course, there may be some exceptions, but by and large the religious people are not the problem. The problem is this large section of Godless people who insult Islam and criticize Islam. We should devise a way to engage them," he said. Saleemi said Muslims in Britain and the US should be at the forefront, giving practical shape to all that is being said at the conference. "We are an integral part of those societies; we understand them; we know the problems; we know the cultural sensitivities; therefore, we are in the best possible position to conduct this dialogue." Saleemi said there should be funding to train journalists of high caliber who can then carry the message of Islam in the mainstream media. "Funding is lacking," he said. "That is one area that needs to be examined." One American delegate, who gave an impassioned presentation at one of the sessions, said King Abdullah cannot be thanked enough for this historic initiative. "We in the West are bearing the brunt of this attack on Islam," he said. "We understand the need for dialogue because we are suffering. Those living in Muslim majority states may not fully grasp the importance of such a conference. We do, and we thank King Abdullah." http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=110636&d=6&m=6&y=2008&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom |
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http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jx6EJXkChQTVYkLQEhIzuU8yhG3g
Islamic scholars urge centre for inter-faith dialogue
3 hours ago
MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Leading Islamic scholars proposed on Friday creating a centre that would promote relations among different religions, Saudi Arabia's state news agency SPA reported.
Wrapping up a three-day international conference in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, the scholars urged the creation of the King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz International Centre for Connection between civilisations" in honour of their Saudi host.
They also called for the creation of an international prize named after the king for "figures and international organisations that contribute to advancing the dialogue in order to reach its objectives," a final statement said.
The scholars called on the king to bring together specialists from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions and other beliefs "to agree on a format for a fruitful world dialogue that would contribute to solving problems faced today by mankind."
In March, Abdullah proposed talks among the three largest monotheistic religions in a first for the kingdom, which is home to two of the three holiest shrines in Islam.
Despite this call, Saudi Arabia remains the only Arab Muslim country to ban all non-Islamic religious practices on its soil, despite having a large population of non-Muslim foreigners working there. These include Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.
"The difference between nations in beliefs and cultures are God's will, so they should use their common values as a base for cooperation that would be for their benefit," the statement said.
But the scholars insisted that dialogue should not mean abandoning their principles and their religion's fundamentals.
"A constructive dialogue and peaceful coexistence and cooperation between the followers of (God's) messages and others does not mean abandoning the axioms, or giving up the religion fundamentals," the statement said without explaining what it meant.
The statement does not address the question of how Jewish scholars and clerics from Israel, a country Saudi Arabia does not recognise, might participate in any meetings the new centre might hold in Saudi Arabia.
The participants also called upon the Mecca-based Muslim League, which hosted the conference, to set up an international Islamic committee to put together a common strategy for the inter-faith dialogue.
King Abdullah warned at the opening of the conference that among the major challenges now facing Muslims is combating a growing extremism among them.
The Saudi monarch, whose ultra-conservative kingdom has endured years of struggle with the homegrown extremists of Al-Qaeda, said that his call for dialogue among religions is "to face up to the challenges of introversion and ignorance ... so that the world understands the principles of the good message of Islam."
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MIM: Information on the Muslim World League
Founded in 1962 by Islamic representatives from 22 countries, the Muslim World League (MWL), also called Rabita, is an Islamic non-governmental organization based in Saudi Arabia and controlled and funded by the Saudi government. Its objectives are "to disseminate Islamic Dawah and expound the teachings of Islam," and "to defend Islamic causes in a manner that safeguards the interests and aspirations of Muslims, solves their problems, refutes false allegations against Islam, and repels inimical trends and dogma which the enemies of Islam seek to exploit in order to destroy the unity of Muslims and to sow seeds of doubt in our Muslim brethren." All MWL leaders are of Saudi descent, and the organization's current Secretary General is Dr. Abdullah Al-Turki.
MWL promotes Wahhabism, the extremist form of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia. In the 1980s, the League's Pakistan office was run by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood and brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden. Khalifa was the co-founder of the Benevolence International Foundation and he helped to finance Operation Bojinka, a foiled 1995 plot that would have simultaneously detonated bombs aboard eleven U.S.-bound airliners, blowing them up in mid-flight over the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea.
In addition, two members of an al Qaeda sleeper cell based in Boston worked at MWL's Pakistan office. One worker, Nabil al-Marabh, number 27 on the FBI's list of wanted terrorists, was arrested by federal agents in Detroit shortly after 9/11; it was reported that he "intended to martyr himself in an attack against the United States." The other operative, Raed Hijazi, was apprehended and tried in Jordan on charges that he planned to blow up a hotel filled with Americans and Israelis on New Year's Eve in 2000.
In his book The Two Faces of Islam, Stephen Schwartz reports: "In 2000, the Muslim World League (a provider of funds to Osama bin Laden) hosted 100 prominent American Islamic personalities on hajj [a pilgrimmage to Mecca]. They were accompanied by a delegation of 60 Latin American 'academics and specialists.' All expenses for the latter were paid by Prince Bandar, Saudi ambassador to the United States."
MWL at one time oversaw Rabita Trust, a now-defunct charity whose professed purpose was to give aid to Afghani refugees in Pakistan. The Trust came under investigation by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee based on evidence that it had knowingly funded terrorist groups.
Today MWL oversees the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), one of the vehicles through which the Saudi government finances Islamic extremism and international terrorism.
In January 2006, MWL called for United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to denounce a derisive cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed that had recently appeared in Danish and Norwegian newspapers. A letter sent by MWL Secretary General Al-Turki to Annan noted that Muslims around the world were offended by the cartoon and that international laws "prohibited scorning religions and other hatred-provoking practices."
MWL is an observer member of the Organization of Islamic Conferences, an inter-governmental coalition dedicated to "liberating Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa from Zionist occupation." MWL also has "Category A" observer status in the United Nations, and consultative status in the UN Economic and Social Council. Moreover, MWL is a member of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). The League is also a founding member of the International Supreme Council for Dawah and Relief, an Islamic recruiting center based in Cairo. http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7347
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http://www.investigatemagazine.com/nov03terror.htm
"On March 11, the Treasury Department announced with great fanfare that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia had jointly blocked the funds of the Bosnia and Somalia offices of the "private, charitable, and educational" Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation because it was diverting funds to terrorists. This action, according to Treasury, "opened a new phase in international cooperation to destroy terrorist financing" and proved the "strength of the anti-terror coalition."
In reality, Al-Haramain — alongside the World Muslim League — is the Saudis' largest Islamist front organization, controlled directly by the minister of religious affairs and in charge of spending huge amounts of (mostly government) money to promote the radical-Islamist agenda worldwide. It has offices in over 50 countries and operates through Saudi embassies in another 40; as for its Bosnia and Somalia operations, business even there is continuing as usual, despite additional evidence of terrorist ties unearthed by Bosnian police in a raid on June 3. Al-Haramain's director, Aqeel al-Aqeel, noted with satisfaction in early September that "America has tried to establish a link between terrorism and Islamic charitable societies and failed" — and went on to assert that Al-Haramain's donations and activities both have intensified since 9/11. Indeed they have: Al-Haramain has opened three new offices since then."
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MIM: In 2006 The Muslim World League planned an aggressive campaign against Western organisations and individuals who "abuse Islam and its Prophet Muhammad".
MWL Wants Lawsuits for Abuse of Islam and the Prophet P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News |
JEDDAH, 28 December 2006 — A two-day conference organized by the Makkah-based Muslim World League yesterday called for a consultative commission in order to take legal action against those who abuse Islam and its Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Islamic sanctities, at local and international courts of justice, the Saudi Press Agency said. The conference titled "In Defense of the Prophet" called upon Islamic countries and governments to stand united to defend the Islamic faith and its Prophet. It denounced the smear campaigns to tarnish the image of the Prophet and urged Muslims to make all-out efforts to project the true picture of Islam and the great divine teachings of the Prophet. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, who presided over the conference, called upon Muslims to follow the Prophet's teachings. "Our enemies are exploiting Muslims' weak adherence to the Prophet's Sunnah," said Al-Asheikh. "We should not be ashamed of implementing his Sunnah. On the other hand, all Muslims must observe his teachings in all walks of their life." MWL Secretary-General Abdullah Al-Turki said the attack on the Prophet was an expression of enmity toward Islam. "The whole Muslim Ummah, including its leadership, scholars and ordinary people was outraged by such attacks and this again shows the lofty position the Prophet has in their hearts," he said in reference to the Muslim response to cartoons depicting the Prophet. MWL plans to launch an international program to introduce the Prophet and the conference called for setting up a fund to support the program. "The anti-Islam campaign also intends to trigger a cultural conflict between the Islamic world and the West and create a situation of clash and conflict in place of dialogue and peaceful coexistence," the MWL chief said. Al-Turki called upon Western countries to protect human rights of Muslim communities and take action against those who create unnecessary fear about Islam by linking it with terrorism and violence. "The creation of such fears will lead to violating human rights of Muslims and threats to their freedom and security," he said. "It will also have other long-term negative impacts." Jamal Badawi, a Canadian-Muslim expert on Islam, spoke about the Prophet's outstanding influence on human history. "There is no other personality who has made such a positive impact on history," he told the conference. http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=77639&d=28&m=12&y=2006 |
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3487