Jordanian Islamist endorses Syrian protest wave

By REUTERS
Apr 29, 2011

BEIRUT: A prominent Jordanian Islamist who inspired Al-Qaeda in Iraq has endorsed protests in Syria, saying the overthrow of President Bashar Al-Assad would be a step toward implementing Sharia law.

Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, spiritual mentor of the late Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi who led Al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq, said all Muslims had a duty to join protests against Assad’s 11-year authoritarian rule.

“Just as the fall of the regime is necessary for someone calling for democracy, it is also necessary for someone calling for application of Sharia,” Maqdisi said in a statement on the website Pulpit of Tawhid and Jihad.

Maqdisi, currently in jail in Jordan, was responding to a question about the legitimacy of Muslims joining demonstrations which have focused on demands for greater democratic rights rather than on an Islamist agenda.

“The fall of this regime could lead to the establishment of a democratic regime as many of the demonstrators are demanding. But this could lead to opening up freedom to preach... and then demanding implementation of Sharia,” he said.

“As for participating in these protests, it is a duty for every Muslim who is able to do so.”

Maqdisi was a major influence on Zarqawi, who led Al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq before he was killed by a US bombing in 2006. But Maqdisi distanced himself from the indiscriminate killing of Shiite civilians committed by Zarqawi’s supporters. Syria’s exiled Muslim Brotherhood has called on Syrians to take to the streets on Friday and help the besieged southern city of Daraa.

Unlike the jihadist ideologue Maqdisi, the Brotherhood says it is committed to “pluralism and the ballot box.” Its leader Mohammad Riad Shaqfa told Reuters this month he sought “civic rule with Islam as a reference.”

The Brotherhood and pro-democracy activists deny accusations by authorities that militant Islamists were behind the unrest.

A Syrian rights group said on Thursday at least 500 people had been killed in the protests against Assad, whose minority Alawite family has ruled over Syria — a mainly Sunni Muslim country — for 41 years.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article377163.ece.