Following are excerpts from a statement by Abd Al-Hayy Yousuf, deputy head of the Sudanese Islamic Scholars Association, at a rally, which was posted on the Internet on May 5, 2011:

Abd Al-Hayy Yousuf: We pledge, before Allah, that the man killed yesterday [Bin Laden] is our brother. We pledge, before Allah, that we love him.

Crowds: Allah Akbar.

Abd Al-Hayy Yousuf: Our brotherhood with him is a fraternity of Muslims.

Crowds: Allah Akbar.

Abd Al-Hayy Yousuf: By Allah, no Muslim would ever rejoice or gloat over his death.

Crowds: Allah Akbar.

Abd Al-Hayy Yousuf: On the contrary, he would feel that this man waged true Jihad for the sake of Allah, and that he was a thorn in the side of the enemies of Allah, of the hypocrites, and of those who despise the Koran sent by Allah.

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You have gathered here today in order to send a message to the infidels and the hypocrites: Osama Bin Laden is our brother and our patron. We pray for him and plead for Allah's mercy upon him.

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In his lifetime, Osama was a source of fear for the infidels and the hypocrites, as he was on the day of his death.

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Crowds: Allah Akbar.

Abd Al-Hayy Yousuf: Today, you hear of embassies shutting down, and of heightened levels of alert, because this was not a man like any other. He was a man who was true to the pledge he made before Allah. He was a man who lived not for himself, but for Islam and the Islamic nation. He lived to make the world of Allah reign supreme.

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