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March 10, 2005

Osama bin Fatwa

Muslims in Spain have issued a fatwa against Osama bin Laden:

ON THE eve of the anniversary of mainland Europe’s bloodiest terrorist attack, the Spanish Islamic Commission issued a fatwa yesterday against Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader.

The commission, a government-backed umbrella group of Islamic associations, made the announcement as Spain prepared to mark the first anniversary today of the Madrid trains massacre with a five-minute silence to remember the victims.

Of course, it doesn't go as far as the fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, which called for his death just for poking a little fun at Allah. Apparently that's a graver sin than killing thousands of innocent people. The gods are so fickle.

But, hell, it's a start, even if it is the Islamic equivalent of a UN resolution put forth by, say, Saint Lucia.

The Spanish Islamic Commission went on to say:

It also urged imams to publicise a document designed to “thank the Spanish people and the Government for their attitude towards Muslims” in the past year, in particular for not taking “disproportionate” measures similar to those which the September 11 attacks prompted in the United States.

Thankfully these days we Americans are only enaging in over-generalized and bigoted Photoshop pictures.

God bless America.

Update: This entry was posted before RWS and I had a lengthy back-and-forth on the topic. You can read the full exchange in the comments at her site in the link above. I don't think RWS meant anything offensive by the poster, but that doesn't mean the poster isn't inherently offensive.