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Following are excerpts from a statement by Sheik of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, which aired on Al-Jazeera Network on May 2, 2011:
Ahmad Al-Tayyeb: The real reasons for terror are to be found in the West, not the East. The existence of Israel as an unjust, oppressive, and colonialist power, which controls the entire region, is the number one reason for terror. If Bin Laden is dead, but the double standards on the part of the US, the EU, and the West live on, and if Israel continues to do whatever it wants in the region, there will be many more Bin Ladens.
The solution to the problem does not lie with Bin Laden or people like him. The solution requires that justice be spread in the Middle East, and that the Western countries cease their domination.
In my opinion… How can a group of commandos land somewhere, go to a home, kill a man in the midst of his family – as [also] happened in Libya… Doesn't this constitute piracy? Where is justice? Where is democracy? Where is the principle that criminals should stand trial?
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Corpse mutilation is forbidden in Islam and is considered a crime – even the mutilation of the body of a voracious dog. This is one of the principles of Islam.
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The Islamic system is the civilized system. As for throwing people [to be buried] at sea, or melting down their bones, or whatever – these are moral crimes. Islam washes its hands of these crimes, and of the civilizations that resort to them.