An open letter

Jihad and Change Front, a group dating from Sept 2007 whose biggest participant is the Brigades of the 1920 Revolution, issued an open letter to the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMSI) and to a list of Shiite religious authorities, all of whom--the Sunni AMSI and the Shiite authorities--have recently issued fatwas against the signing of the security agreement with the Americans. The letter begins as follows:

We are not surprised by what happened on November 27 in the so-called "Chamber of Deputies", because a person has sold himself for money and the fleeting glory of the occupation, will naturally find it easy to sell anything and everything, including even his religion and the nation in whose bosom he lives--still we were hoping for two things: First, that not all of them would go over the cliff into the abyss, but that some portion of them would be able to save themselves; and secondly that there would be some who would take into account the various fatwas and warnings that have been issued on all sides, urging religion and country, and staying with the ummah and the loyalists, and a few did respond and stand against the threats and the inducements, leaving an honorable record of themselves, and they will be rewarded.

What happened was treason and a contemptible commercial bargain entered into by the weak of spirit. What was sold was history and the ummah and religion; the price was a few dirhams and an illusory (or fraudulent) authority; and the seller was the enemy of the ummah; but the deal was done...

We say to those who signed: The history of your signing is the same history in which the forces of the occupation and of the Allawi government stormed the city of Jihad and the great mosques of Falluja, emptying and killing thousands with white phosphorus, destroying houses and mosques and seizing everything; and yet instead of you dressing in black and remembering what happened, instead you party and you rejoice with the enemy, and you reward him for what he did. What a black fate awaits you! How shameful is your world, and how ignominious and remorseful will be your end!

On this occasion, while we take pride in the fatwas against the agreement and the signing of it, we also here request their authors to take up their writing again in strength and guide us in how we should deal with those who have signed the agreement, promoted it, and gone against all of the fatwas. Permit us to remind you of the hadith in the life of the prophet [on how to deal with the "heads of the political process", in which in answer to a question, the prophet said they should be "cut off"] and ordered everyone to avoid them, even to the point of their families not mingling with them. What then can be said with respect to us, in dealing with these people who have resolved to make war on the mujahideen and to call them terrorists, and giving to the invading occupier the right to kill us, and making common cause with our enemy against us.

We promise you that we will continue the struggle against the occupying aggressor, until he leaves diminished and in disgrace, in his failure and his depravity.

Addressees, in addition to AMSI, are: "Dr Abdul Karim Zaydan; Sayyid Hussein Fadhlullah; the religious authority Sayyid al-Haeri; Sheikh Dr Abdul Malik al-Saadi; the religious authority Sheikh Mohammed al-Yaakubi; the thinker professor Mohammed Ahmad al-Rashid"

(Thanks as usual to LB of RoadstoIraq for calling attention to this and posting the link)