Bin Laden & Zawahiri Attacked.

Neo-Salafism, a Sunni ideology developed in Egypt since 1950s, has openly been attacked by one of its main ideologues and prominent Sunni theologians. This ideology combines, as a motivation, a modern but more extreme version of salafism (return to purism in early Sunni Islam) and takfir (declaring and punishing the unbeliever as an infidel) as its mechanics. Takfir, al-Qaeda says, fuels anti-West forces in Muslim societies, no matter how many Muslims are killed in the process of its suicide bombings, such as those of March 11 in Lahore which killed 30 Pakistanis and wounded more than 200 others.

The takfiri dose increased in 1998 with the merger of Islamic Jihad of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri into al-Qaeda of 'Usama bin Laden. But this is a simplified explanation of a complicated ideology (examined below).

In November 2007 Sayyed Imam al-Sharif, known as "Dr Fadl", published his book, "Rationalisations on Jihad (holy war) in Egypt and the World", in serialised form. An offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and once a key ideologue in Neo-Salafism, Sharif says use of force to overthrow Muslim states is unlawful and harmful. Disillusioned with al-Qaeda, he urges a special court to try bin Laden and Zawahiri and calls the 9/11 attacks a "catastrophe for all Muslims".

Sharif's words are significant because he was once a mentor to Dr. Zawahiri, now the leading ideologue for al-Qaeda. Sharif, who wrote the book in a Cairo prison, is seen as a living legend in the jihadi movement. His condemnation of bin Laden and Zawahiri has since caused a deep split among the Neo-Salafis.

Another turning point occurred in October 2007, when Shaikh Abdul-'Aziz ibn Abdullah 'Al al-Shaikh, the highest Wahhabi (Salafi) authority in Saudi Arabia and the kingdom's grand mufti, issued a fatwa (religious decree) prohibiting Saudi youth from engaging in jihad abroad. His fatwa states: "I urge my brothers the ulama [top Sunni theologians] to clarify the truth to the public...to warn [youth] of the consequences of being drawn to...opinions and zeal not based on religious knowledge".

The fatwa's targets were bin Laden and Zawahiri, the latter being an Egyptian and a non-practicing medical doctor. Zawahiri's nephew, Abu Ayub al-Masri, heads al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, having succeeded the Jordanian terrorist Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi who was killed in a US air strike near Ba'quba in June 2006.

In September 2007, Shaikh Salman al-'Awdah, an influential Saudi theologian whom bin Laden once lionised, wrote an open letter condemning the Qaeda leader and asking him: "Brother 'Usama, how much blood has been spilt? How many innocents among children, elderly, the weak, and women have been killed and made homeless in the name of al-Qaeda?" Shaikh 'Awdah wrote: "The ruin of an entire people, as is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq...cannot make Muslims happy".

Criticisms by prominent Salafi voices should be seen in the context of an even more significant development: the Anbar Awakening Council (AAC) and hundreds of such ACs throughout Iraq. Today Anbar is known as the birthplace of a grass-roots uprising against binladenism - an extraordinary transformation: Iraqis en masse siding with the US, the "infidel" and a Western "occupying power", to defeat Neo-Salafism.

The 11th summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) held on March 13-14 in Dakar, Senegal, issued a declaration condemning all forms of Islamic extremism, including takfir, and violence, stressing the importance of dialogue with other religions. Saudi Arabia was one of the OIC powers behind this "Dakar Declaration".

From Pakistan's perspective, al-Qaeda's March 11 suicide bombings in Lahore which targeted the country's intelligence community, came as a shock to Islamabad. The Qaeda/Taliban-induced tribal insurgency in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) are a thorn in the side of NATO troops in Afghanistan as the area is used as a staging ground for Neo-Salafi attacks into that country.

Also of concern is the radicalisation of Punjab, the largest Pakistani province having almost 60% of the country's population, through banned Neo-Salafi groups. Thousands of Neo-Salafi activists are active in Punjab, of which Lahore is the capital. Many were initially trained by Pakistani security agencies to fuel the insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir. But after 9/11 Pakistan, as a new partner in the US-led war on terror, was forced by the Americans to shelve its support of the Kashmiri insurgency. As a result, Neo-Salafi training camps were shut down and militants left their parent groups in the thousands. Now the Pakistani military establishment is beginning to focus on eliminating the Punjab-based takfiris.

A recent survey found that, in January 2008, less than a quarter of Pakistanis approved of bin Laden, compared with 46% in August 2007, while backing for al-Qaeda fell from 33% to 18%. According to a July 2007 report from the Pew Global Attitudes Project, "large and growing numbers of Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere [are] rejecting Islamic extremism".

The percentage of Muslims saying suicide bombing is justified has dropped in seven of the eight Arab countries where trend data are available. In Lebanon, 34% of Muslims say such bombings are often or sometimes justified; in 2002, 74% expressed this view. There are also large drops in support for bin Laden. These have occurred since the Iraq war began.

Wehner wrote: "Militarily, ideologically and in terms of popular support, these are bad days for bin Laden and his jihadist jackals". He predicted: "If we continue to build on these developments, the Iraq war, once thought to be a colossal failure, could turn out be a positive and even a pivotal event in our struggle against militant Islam. Having paid a high cost in blood and treasure and having embraced the wrong strategy for far too long, we stayed in the fight, proving that America was not the 'weak horse' Mr bin Laden believed it to be. Having stayed in the fight, we may prevail in it".

Wehner concluded: "The best way to subvert the appeal of bin Ladenism is to defeat those who take up the sword in its name. We are a long way from winning in Iraq. It remains a traumatised nation and the progress made can be lost. But the trajectory of events is at last in our favour and a good outcome is within our grasp. If we succeed it will have enormously positive effects beyond Iraq".