The 9/11 Commission Report: Bin Laden’s Appeal In The Islamic World

In February 1998, Osama Bin Ladin and Ayman al Zawahiri,arranged from their Afghan headquarters for an Arabic newspaper in London to publish what they termed a fatwa issued in the name of a “World Islamic Front.” A fatwa is normally an interpretation of Islamic law by a respected Islamic authority,but neither Bin Ladin, Zawahiri, nor the three others who signed this statement were scholars of Islamic law. Claiming that America had declared war against God and his messenger, they called for the murder of any American, anywhere on earth, as the “individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it.” The 9/11 Commission Report: The Foundation Of The New Terrorism: Bin Laden’s Appeal In The Islamic World