Former Jordanian Minister Ibrahim Al-Kilani on Recently Convicted Sheik: U.S. "Aggression" against Sheik Al-Muayad Is Like Its Aggression against the Koran

The following are excerpts from an interview with the former Jordanian Minister of Religious Endowments Dr. Ibrahim Al-Kilani, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on July 31, 2005.

Al-Kilani: Resistance in order to liberate the land is a religious duty. Hamas is carrying out a religious duty, and whoever helps Hamas liberate its land is performing a religious duty. Sheikh meant to support and uphold an Islamic ruling, and his trial is a trial of every Muslim cleric or every Muslim who believes in the Holy Koran and in the words: "Allah has purchased of the believers their persons and their belongings in return for the promise that they shall have Paradise" and "Permission to fight is granted to those against whom war is made, because they have been wronged, and Allah has the power to help them."

The other issue is that America wants to convey the message that whoever helps Hamas will be hurt. This method should lead Muslim clerics throughout the world - in Yemen and anywhere else - to support this cleric, because the aggression against him is like the aggression against the Holy Koran, which America desecrated in Guantanamo and in Iraq. It is aggression towards the Holy Koran, and against the clerics who are the carriers of this Koran. This way America will not be able to fight terrorism. On the contrary, it will nourish and encourage it.