Counter-jihad

On March 11, I noted that Muslim clerics in Spain had issued what they called the world's first fatwa, or Islamic edict, against Osama bin Laden. Here is a followup.

CAIRO, Egypt - The e-mail messages from Muslims began moments after the release of a religious edict condemning al-Qaida. They came from every corner of the world. Soon they were tumbling in too fast to handle.

"I couldn't even read them all. There are at least 1,000. Maybe more," said Mansur Escudero, secretary-general of the Islamic Commission of Spain. "The tone was nearly all the same: 'It's about time someone did it. Bravo!' "

The fatwa, issued on the anniversary of the Madrid train bombings that claimed 191 lives, was believed to be the first cleric-sanctioned condemnation directly against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. But it highlights a wider, critical dialogue emerging across the Islamic world.

Moderate Muslims are increasingly turning to Islam's sacred core - the Quran and the laws and traditions it inspires - to defend their views and discredit radicals as part of a "counter-jihad" for Islamic hearts and minds. . .

"The long and painful silence of moderate theologians and experts in Islam jurisprudence - who had been bought off or intimidated into silence - is finally starting to break apart," said Khaled Abou El Fadl, an authority on Islamic law at UCLA. "We are seeing signs of a counter-jihad."