The war America is engaged in after the attacks on the WTC, the Pentagon
and downed airliner in Pennsylvania is a war for the hearts and minds of
average Muslims around the world.  Bin Laden, if indeed he is the
mastermind behind the attacks, has set a trap for the US into which it
must not fall.  By attacking the US as part of a jihad ("a holy war"), Bin
Laden is in fact claiming to Muslims to represent their grievances and to
represent real Islam.  He is in effect saying: "Muslims, I share your
grievances unlike your corrupt and authoritarian governments; I am the
only one doing something about it. I have destroyed the symbols of
American capitalism and stopped the heartbeat of world finance which the
US dominates."
 

The US, as well as moderate Muslims the world over, must unite and deny
him this symbolic victory and must not accept to engage him in combat on
these terms.  We should not let him define the terms of our intellectual
and symbolic battle.  As a professor of Islamic law I have researched the
law of jihad and can state unequivocally that the war Bin Laden has
engaged us in cannot be labeled a jihad.  Furthermore, I believe a strong
case can be made that he has acted contrary to the tenets of Islam and can
be ostracized from the community of believing Muslims.  Moderate Muslims
will agree with me, certainly, as they are horrified by this attack and
are desperate to have it disassociated from their religion.  The West must
provide moderate Muslims a way out of Bin Laden's trap.  There is a sound
Islamic legal way to do this: Bin Laden can be declared a brigand
(muharib), that is a Muslim who throws off obedience by actions that
threaten the safety and security of the community.
 

According to Islamic law there are at least six reasons why Bin Laden's
barbaric violence cannot fall under the rubric of jihad: 1) Individuals
and organizations cannot declare a jihad, only states can; 2) One cannot
kill innocent women and children when conducting a jihad; 3) One cannot
kill Muslims in a jihad; 4) One cannot fight a jihad against a country in
which Muslims can freely practice their religion and proselytize Islam; 5)
Prominent Muslim jurists around the world have condemned these attacks and
their condemnation forms a juristic consensus (ijma`) against Bin Laden's
actions.  This consensus renders his actions un-Islamic; 6) The welfare
and interest of the Muslim community (maslaha) is being harmed by Bin
Laden's actions and this equally makes them un-Islamic.
 

The Muslim Sentiment on "The Street":
 

Americans have been baffled by reports that Muslims do not like, and even
hate the US.  Muslims do not hate America.  As proof of this we have:
seven million Muslims living in the US; foreign Muslims, like many others
around the world, clamor to obtain US immigration visas for the US;
Muslims consume American products and emulate American fashions
(intellectual, social and sartorial); Muslims place the bulk of their
money in US financial institutions; the list goes on and on.  Certainly,
some pious and observant Muslims feel that such American and Western
influences are corrupting or polluting.  Such sentiments do not lead them
to violence.  What many Muslims undeniably resent about America, however,
are American foreign policies towards Iraq, Iran, Israel/Palestine and a
complicit policy of supporting corrupt and authoritarian regimes all over
the Muslim world.  Yet despite this resentment only 4,000 Muslims actively
seek to destroy America.  These 4,000 Muslims are Bin Laden's foot
soldiers.  Let us remember that in 20 years of recruitment Bin Laden has
only been able to recruit 4,000 men.  This group, otherwise known as the
Arab-Afghans, have theological and legal beliefs that are at odds with the
remaining 1 billion plus Muslims in the world today.  This Muslim sect is
known in the Islamic world as Salafis.  Their intellectual centers lie in
Saudi Arabia, the Arab Gulf States and Jordan.  The essence of Salafi
ideology and their message is to interpret the sources of revelation
literally (i.e., strict constructionism), and thus reject much of the
medieval Muslim legacy of commentaries and opinions, and to reestablish a
Utopian Islamic community. They are not Luddites, however, but
reactionaries in the true sense of the word.  The Salafis are also at odds
with those of their supporters, the Taliban, who, for their part, are
fanatical Hanafis of the Deoband school. Surely, 4,000 men do not
represent the entirety of the Islamic peoples?--and we should hammer this
point home continually.  We should also deny Bin Laden the opportunity of
feeding off Muslim resentment and his claim to represent them.
 

An immediate plan of action for the US and Western governments:
 

There are very practical steps the US government can take that will take
the wind out of Bin Laden's sails and sidestep the trap he has laid.  I
will begin with the most obvious measures. They are:
 

1. We should not send US or Western troops and special forces into
Afghanistan with the aim of arresting or killing Bin Laden.  He has
thought about this scenario and desires it.  A military attack on him
would provide a double victory: If he is killed he dies a martyr and
symbol of resistance to Western domination; he also gets to kill a number
of US soldiers and tarnishes the image of America in the minds of ordinary
Muslims.  Afghanistan is the most backward and probably the poorest
country in the Islamic world; the image of the most powerful nation
stomping on it will be a public relations disaster and will destabilize
Arab regimes.
 

We must encourage Muslim countries to lead the fight against Bin Laden.
Support the Northern Alliance who have 15,000 troops in Afghanistan and
work on the Pakistani moderates to get involved in the fight.  If
retribution, as seems to be the case, has to take place and America must
feel it is the prime agent in the pursuit of justice, then no military
action can afford not to involve moderate Muslim forces and their
cooperation.  This is not a plea for war, far from it: there is too much
bellicose rhetoric as it is.
 

2.  We must stop using inflammatory language, such as President Bush's
statement that this is a crusade. Such a word evokes monstrous historical
memories in the minds of Muslims, namely barbaric Europeans rampaging
through the Eastern Mediterranean.  Furthermore, Crusade connotes
Christianity versus Islam and this is not the right message.  The
infelicity of this locution has presumably been brought to the attention
of the President.
 

We must not force Muslim countries to make a categorical choice between
the support for the US or siding with the terrorists.
 

3.  We must publish a list of all the Muslims and women and children who
died in the WTC attack, since Islamic law categorically prohibits the
murder of such innocents.  One colleague suggested that we should also
publish their photographs.
 

4. We must engage our own Muslim community leaders here in the US, and,
particularly, send the respected ones among them with these facts to the
Middle East and South Asia to meet with impartial and respected Islamic
legal scholars, people who are respected by the man on the street and who
are clearly not in the employ of their respective governments.
 

Scholars in Mecca, Medina and Riyadh will be central in this regard, as
will scholars in India and Pakistan.  These scholars must be convinced to
issue fatwas (legal opinions) declaring Bin Laden's teachings and actions
illegal.  Because it is prohibited by mainstream Islam, they cannot
declare Bin Laden an infidel (a practice called takfir) and we should not
expect this of them.  These opinions will help bolster the consensus
mentioned above and may convince the Taliban that they need to hand Bin
Laden over.
 

5. We must deluge the Afghan refugee camps on the borders with Pakistan
and Iran with food and clothing to show that we understand the plight of
the Afghan people and share in their human suffering.
 

6. In the near future, we must put forth subtle hints that we will be
willing to reassess our foreign policies in the world in order to move
towards a more just and peaceful world.  In this regard, we must make some
symbolic withdrawal of military forces in Saudi Arabia.
 
 

I think if we take the steps outlined above we may be able to ostracize
Bin Laden from the Muslim community and energize moderate Muslims to take
center stage again.  America will win the war as will the vast majority of
Muslims.
 
 

* Bernard Haykel is assistant professor of Islamic Studies at New York
  University.
This document was kindly submitted to CSR by Sandra Campbell