In response to readers' comments to MEMRI regarding the content and details mentioned in the report "Apple's 'Mecca Project' Provokes Muslim Reaction," it should be emphasized that all content published by MEMRI is translated directly from the primary source. MEMRI's mission is to present material as originally written and read in the Arab world, that would otherwise go unreported.

Islamist Websites Monitor No. 6

Video of "Kataib" Commander Thawrat Al-'Ishrin

This October 10, 2006 video contains a message to the Iraqi nation from the commander of Kataib Thawrat Al-'Ishrin (The 1920s Revolution Brigades). [1] [2] In the video, the speaker's face is veiled, and his name is not disclosed. The video can be viewed at http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ai=214&ar=M1-wmv&ak=null.

The speaker addresses the Iraqi nation, calling upon the Iraqis to join the jihad "which today is a personal duty [fard 'ayn] incumbent upon every Muslim." He warns the Iraqis not to be tempted by the West's false promises of democracy and freedom, since Muslims have the Koran and the Sunna. He urges them to "revolt [against their government]; burn the infidel occupier…and those who collaborate with him; and turn [their] blessed land into a graveyard for them."

The speaker also denies the claim that the jihad fighters murder innocent people: "Most of the [incidents] you see [in the media], in which innocent people are murdered, are [actually] carried out by the [government] militias and death squads… Every time the jihadi resistance [forces] achieve a victory in their battle against the occupier, car bombs explode, killing innocent people indiscriminately, so that you will never hear of any victory [of the jihad fighters] unless it is accompanied by crimes against innocent people. The facts were distorted and delivered to you through the media apparatus, which is controlled by the forces of heresy and evil. The reality on the ground is different. Ask yourselves who is more reliable: the jihad fighters who man the military posts day and night so that God's word - 'there is no God but Allah' - will be supreme, or the heretical American [propaganda] machine?"

Financial Support for Jihad: A Fatwa by Sheikh Suleiman 'Ulwan

On October 11, 2006, an Islamic website posted a fatwa by Sheikh Suleiman 'Ulwan, a Saudi scholar who has praised the September 11 attacks. The fatwa urges Muslims to deliver their alms tax (zakat)

[3] to the mujahideen, explaining that Muslims who cannot physically participate in jihad must support it financially - by providing for the mujahideen's personal needs or by financing their military operations and weaponry. In support of this view, the fatwa quotes various sources, including the medieval Islamist scholar Ibn Taymiyya, who said: "He who is able to partake physically in Jihad but lacks the financial means to do so should utilize other Muslims' property to equip himself, whether this property comes from zakat… from the state's treasury, or from any other source, including stolen property which he [i.e. the mujahid] cannot return to its legitimate owner since the latter is unknown…"