Saudi religious leader blasts Hizbullah
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST

A top Saudi Sunni cleric, whose ideas inspired Osama bin Laden, issued a religious edict Saturday disavowing the Shi’ite guerrilla group Hizbullah, evidence that a rift remained among Muslims over the fighting in Lebanon.

Hizbullah, which translates as “the party of God,” is actually “the party of the devil,” said Sheik Safar al-Hawali, whose radical views made the al-Qaida leader one of his followers in the past.

“Don’t pray for Hizbullah,” he said in the fatwa posted on his Web site.

The Jerusalem Post gets its story almost right. While Bin Laden certainly did find value in Al-Hawali’s teaching, Al-Hawali has moved away from the extremism and terror that Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda conduct. He is generally considered to be among the “moderate Islamists” today.

Further, this article jumps to a conclusion not supported by fact, that is, claiming that Saudi opposition to Hezbollah is rooted solely in Sunni/Shi’a sectarianism. Previous posts on this blog give more than enough reason to see Saudi dislike of Hezbollah through a secular, geo-political lens instead of a religious sectarian one.

Nevertheless, any calls to delegitimize Hezbollah are to be welcomed, at least until its social services wing can fully disassociate itself from its terrorist wing.