Islamist Sheik Omar Bakri: "The Islamic Nation Needs Great Leaders Like Sheik Osama Bin Laden"

Following are excerpts from a TV show featuring Lebanese MP Uqab Saqr and Islamist Omar Bakri, which aired on LBC TV on May 5, 2011, and from an interview with Omar Bakri, which aired on TRT TV on May 4, 2011.

LBC TV, May 5, 2011:

Uqab Saqr: There is no doubt that [Osama Bin Laden] is a killer, who spilled the blood of Muslims, just as he killed the enemies of the Muslims. He is responsible for what happened in northern Africa...

TV host: A killer cannot be a martyr.

Uqab Saqr: I don't want to get into these definitions.

Omar Bakri: I agree with MP Uqab that we should not say he is a martyr. We say that we consider him to be a martyr, but Allah will judge him. That is what we were taught by the Prophet Muhammad. Indeed, he fought, just like the Prophet Muhammad did. This happens in the struggle between truth and falsehood.

We do not denounce the mujahideen who fight the Israeli enemy, the Russian enemy in Chechnya, or the Crusader American enemy in Afghanistan and Iraq. That is the Jihad for the sake of Allah.

TV host: Who is the Crusader enemy?

Omar Bakri: It is those who occupy Muslim land, and violate what is sacred. We consider Israel to be a Crusader enemy. The American and European forces in Afghanistan and Iraq are occupiers.

TV host: When Osama Bin Laden turned to the US – who was he fighting there?

Omar Bakri: There is no doubt that the US, and the people that elected the US leadership, carried out operations prior to 9/11. They bombed Sudan and Iraq, supported Israel, stood alongside the dictatorial Arab regimes, and so on. Therefore, this was retaliation on the part of Al-Qaeda.

TV host: So you deem the killing legal, honorable sheik?

Omar Bakri: Allah does, not us. We say: If somebody attacks you, attack him in a similar fashion. Are you saying that anybody who fights the Israeli enemy is legalizing killing? I am not saying: "Kill the Americans." Nobody is saying this. But in a state of conflict or war, there is undoubtedly a confrontation.

I am an expert on the Islamic groups. I am not a member of Al-Qaeda. I speak from a purely Islamic perspective. Al-Qaeda, just like the other Islamic Jihadi organizations, works to implement the word of Allah, and to liberate the lands of the Muslims from foreign occupation.

Uqab Saqr: First of all, I reject the comparison between the Prophet Muhammad, and Al-Zarqawi and Osama Bin Laden. I reject this, because we must not lump the Prophet Muhammad together with a bunch of murderers.

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TRT TV, May 4, 2011:

Omar Bakri: First of all, in all honesty, I'd like to take the opportunity to send the Islamic nation my condolences on the martyrdom of the leader Sheik Osama Bin Laden. This is a sad occasion, because the Islamic nation needs great leaders like Sheik Osama these days...

Interviewer: Do you think that the entire Arab nation viewed him as a great leader?

Omar Bakri: Like it or not, he was a leader in the full sense of the word, as admitted by friends and foes alike. In addition, this is a happy occasion for Sheik Osama Bin Laden and his brethren. He wanted to die for the sake of Allah.

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