The Jihad connection

Egypt and the United States are exchanging information and evidence about the involvement of Islamist terrorists in the New York and Washington attacks. Ahmed Moussa reports
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has found a five-page document, hand-written in Arabic, that Mohamed Atta, a key suspect among the 19 hijackers who allegedly carried out the 11 September attacks, left behind in Boston Airport. The FBI believes that the document is an indication of the terrorists' intentions; yet the identity of the author remains unknown.
Reports in the foreign press describe the document as "a cross between a chilling spiritual exhortation aimed at the hijackers and an operational mission checklist." Other reports called it a last will written by Atta, an Egyptian, who is believed to have joined radical Islamist movements while studying urban planning in Hamburg, Germany.
Atta is reported to have boarded a flight on 11 September from Portland to Logan airport in Boston where he caught a connection to American Airlines flight 11 -- the plane that was flown into the northern tower of the World Trade Center. According to reports, Atta's luggage did not reach flight 11, which is how the document was found at Boston.
A second copy was found in a car parked outside Boston airport, allegedly rented by Atta.
According to the FBI, a third copy of the document was found in the wreckage of United Airlines flight 93, which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after it was hijacked.
The document begins: "Remember that tonight you will face many challenges. You will have to face them and you should understand this 100 per cent. Obey God and his Prophet, and don't fight among yourselves. Stand fast. God will stand with those who stand fast. Pray throughout the night and recite the Qur'an."
After bidding the hijackers to purify their hearts of all earthly things, the document goes on to advise them to "check all your items: your bag, your clothes, your knives, your will, your IDs, your passport, all your papers. Check your safety before you leave. Make sure that no one is following you."
Another part of the document, that can be interpreted as a last will, includes instructions for a funeral. This part, which the foreign press did not highlight, was roundly criticised by Islamic scholars.
According to scholars interviewed by Al- Ahram Weekly, the document is either bogus or a "very exclusive version of Islam."
Mamdouh Ismail, a lawyer and a former member of the underground Egyptian Jihad organisation, believes that the document was written by a non-Muslim in an attempt to fabricate evidence against so- called associates of Bin Laden.
To prove his point, Ismail cites instructions in the will that run counter to Islamic teachings. First, he said, women, in general, are prohibited from taking part in Islamic funerals lest they get too emotional and behave in ways that contradict Islamic teaching. But Atta's alleged will asks only that pregnant and menstruating women be prevented from attending his funeral.
Second, in mentioning the funerary ritual for washing the dead body, Atta's alleged will instructs, "Wear gloves while washing my private parts." But there is no such instruction in Shari'a. "Shari'a stipulates that while washing the dead body, private parts should be covered by cloth from the shroud," Ismail noted.
Ismail also described the language of the document as poor. "This is someone who has gathered up Islamic teachings and phrased them poorly, failing to comprehend their real meaning," he said.
Moreover, Ismail believes that "it is illogical that someone who stages such a highly complicated operation would leave behind a piece of flagrant evidence."
Ismail argued that the American investigators must have forged the document to justify their accusations against Islamist militants. "From day one, the US pointed to Osama Bin Laden and his associates, as if they are the only terrorists in the world. Then the US had to save face by providing some sort of evidence, even if it had to invent it. And the Americans are capable of forging more evidence if they want."
Sheikh Mahmoud Ashour, deputy of the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, also advised caution. He noted that, according to hadith (teachings of the Prophet Mohamed), it is the duty of all Muslims to have their last wills always ready, for "no one knows when he will die." According to one of the Prophet's sayings, "each Muslim should sleep with his written will under his pillow," Ashour pointed out. Consequently, he added, "a will can never be used as evidence that the person who wrote it planned any particular operation or expected death. It is simply a religious ritual," he said.
Asked whether at the time of the Prophet there were certain religious rituals that had to be performed before going to war, Ashour said, "The only thing soldiers did was to pray before and after the battle." He added that the instructions included in the document are "modern and not to be found in Islamic teachings."
Ashour further criticised the use of inappropriate phrases in the document such as "in the name of God, myself and my family," because Muslims never use their names or their family names in their prayers. "In our prayers, we only mention God and the Prophet. This document was definitely written by someone who is ignorant of the basic teachings of Islam," he said.
He added that a devout Muslim does not need to be reminded to pray or mention God for "this is how all Muslims behave anyway, particularly committed Muslims."
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