A Saudi cleric from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs offered a spirited defense of Osama bin Laden on Al-Jazeera television and attacked American Jews as the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks.
“I did not come [here] to defend bin Laden personally,” began Abdallah Bin Matruk Al-Haddal on the popular Al-Jazeera talk show, “The Opposite Direction.”
He then went on to defend bin Laden in every conceivable way.
“Bin Laden waged an Islamic jihad; he defended the oppressed people in Afghanistan,” he said in a broadcast translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute. “He expelled the Soviet Union [from Afghanistan]. The Western world focuses on Osama bin Laden and the jihad, and ignores the Muslims’ faith, their principles, and their values. Men like bin Laden will not allow the Islamic world to bow down under the infidel enemies’ tyranny, under the tyranny of the U.S. … There is no doubt that Osama bin Laden waged jihad against the infidels, against the aggressor and the oppressor. America does not want Islamic principles [to exist] on the face of this planet. It does not want the full implementation of Islam’s values and principles. … It does not want there to be a free Islamic economy.”
Al-Haddal even compared bin Laden to the Muslim hero Saladin.
“America doesn’t want to have any competitors,” he continued. “She wants to be all alone in this world. Osama bin Laden’s demands are the demands of his nation. The nation who gave rise to Osama bin Laden is a strong and great nation. It is the nation of the future. Before bin Laden, it gave rise to Salah Al-Din An-Ayyubi [Saladin]. … Osama bin Laden [caused] the West to think and read a lot about Islam. Books on Islam disappeared from the market; everybody wants to read about the kind of Islam that does not accept oppression. …”
Not only did bin Laden foster great interest in Islam, he also abided by Islamic principles, according to the official Saudi cleric.
“Osama bin Laden is a jihad warrior who implemented the principles of Islam and of faith and then reached the pinnacle by going to fight the jihad in Afghanistan,” he said. “This is a man who gave his soul for Allah, and Allah guarded his soul until he reached a point where he became a hero like Salah Al-Din An-Ayyubi [Saladin]. Like all other Muslims, bin Laden wanted to apply the Shari’a fully with its values, principles, economics, media and education. Even in sports there should be Shari’ sport.”
Since Sept. 11, the policy set by the heads of the Saudi Kingdom dictates that Saudi government employees are to refrain from expressing support of bin Laden, according to MEMRI. Al-Haddal, though, stood firmly in defense of bin Laden as well as fiercely attacking American Jews.
“I don’t believe that the attack on America [on Sept. 11] was perpetrated by bin Laden or the Muslims,” he said. “I think differently. I believe it was a scheme. What is happening now is a continuation of an ancient attack. It is a continuation of the Jewish deception and the Jewish-Zionist wickedness that infiltrates the U.S. … I am surprised that the Christian U.S. allows the ‘brothers of apes and pigs’ [meaning the Jews] to corrupt it. [The Jews] have murdered the prophets and the messengers. [The Jews] are the most despicable people who walked the land and are the worms of the entire world. They are all evil. And why? Because they are deceiving and plotting aggressors. …”
The anti-semitic tone intensified.
“Jewish fingerprints have infiltrated the U.S.” he said. “Jewish evil and deception are those who attacked the U.S. [on Sept. 11]. Osama bin Laden fought against the opposing falsehood and oppression that is generated by the evil and deceptive Jewish-Zionism. … They want to rid the world of Islam. They don’t want Islam to ever have a revival. Osama bin Laden removed oppression; even Muslims came back to their belief and their religion. He did not present a distorted picture of Islam to the West. Quite the contrary, reading about Islam became more popular in the West. Westerners read on the morality of the Prophet Mohammed, his beliefs and his values. They read about Islam, not about terrorism. …”
The program aired Jan. 22.
