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November 8, 2005
Massive Muslim Demonstration In Morroco 'Against Al Qaida'
Topics: Understanding IslamIn a significant story that I missed yesterday, one that received damned little to no coverage on network and cable news, thousands of Moroccan Muslims demonstrated in Morocco's largest city on Sunday, in protest against Al-Qaeda. This, as Morocco's influential organization of Islamic scholars, the High Council of the Ulema and the Councils of Ulema in the Moroccan Kingdom, said that Al-Qaeda members in Iraq will suffer the "horrors of hell" if they kill the Moroccan hostages and the victims will die as martyrs. It completely dismissed Al-Qaeda's argument that its verdict to kill the two embassy employees was "God's judgment."
In words that I never thought I'd hear from a Muslim nation, the Moroccan foreign ministry said its embassy would not cave-in "to 'blackmail', particularly 'coming from a terrorist group which cannot claim to represent Iraq'."
From Lebanon's Daily Star:
Thousands marched through Morocco's biggest city on Sunday to protest Al-Qaeda's decision to kill two Moroccan hostages in Iraq. Holding banners and chanting "Muslims are brothers. A Muslim does not kill his brother" and "'Yes' to freedom, 'No' to terrorism and barbarity," the protesters marched through Casablanca, a city of six million and Morocco's financial capital.
The Morocco envoys will stay in Iraq despite Al-Qaeda threats:
RABAT - Al-Qaeda in Iraq "has nothing to teach Morocco", the foreign ministry said Saturday, standing by its decision to keep diplomats in the restive country despite the insurgent group's threats to kill them and two Moroccan hostages.The Iraqi branch of Al-Qaeda, headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and considered the bloodiest of the insurgent groups, said in a statement on Thursday it had decided to kill the two embassy employees, Abderrahim Boualem and Abdelkrim Mouhafidi, kidnapped on October 20.
A "sharia (Islamic) court ... decided that they were without doubt loyalists of the oppressors and elements of the apostate regime in Morocco," a statement from the group read.
But the Moroccan Ulema, the community of Islamic legal scholars here, said that if the hostages were harmed, the perpetrators would be condemned "from now until the Day of Judgment" to a flaming, eternal damnation.
The ulema council, which specializes in the interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, said the Moroccan hostages would be considered to be martyrs if they are killed.
The council called the kidnappers "aggressive apostates" from the Islamic faith.
On Friday, the Al-Qaeda group called on diplomats in Baghdad to "pack their bags and leave" or face certain death.
But the Moroccan foreign ministry said its embassy would not succumb to "blackmail", particularly "coming from a terrorist group which cannot claim to represent Iraq".
Al-Qaeda in Iraq "has nothing to teach Morocco, which is sovereign in its political opinions and overseas decisions," the ministry said in a statement.
Morocco also demands "the immediate and unconditional release" of the hostages, the ministry added, accusing Al-Qaeda of using "so-called religious references and fallacious political ideas" to justify notice of the "cowardly execution" of the pair.
When the citizens of a Muslim country, by the thousands, protest against Islamic terrorism, carrying signs of "Stop Crimes In The Name Of Islam," and the government tells the terrorists that it won't take a dive for terrorism and for the terrorists to take a hike, I call that a great begining of what I hope is a signal of more Muslims standing up against Islamofascism and militant Islam.
To my Moroccan friends at Starbucks, Khaleem and Said, a big congratulations!!!
Hat tip - GateWay Pundit and In The Bullpen
Other coverage - Nervous Rodent's Views from the Bottom
Posted by Richard at November 8, 2005 6:59 AM
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- Massive Muslim Demonstration In Morroco 'Against Al Qaida' - Nov 08, 2005
