Jihadist Theologian Now Claims Jihad Wronged Islam

One of Al Qaeda's senior theologians is calling on his followers to end their military jihad and saying the attacks of September 11, 2001, were a "catastrophe for all Muslims."

In a serialized manifesto written from prison in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif is blasting Osama bin Laden for deceiving the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and for insulting the Prophet Muhammad by comparing the September 11 attacks to the early raids of the Ansar warriors. The lapsed jihadist even calls for the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and his old comrade Ayman al-Zawahri.

The disclosures from Mr. Sharif, also known as Dr. Fadl and Abd al-Qadir ibn Abd al-Aziz, have already opened a rift at the highest levels of Al Qaeda. The group's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, a former associate of the defecting theologian in Egypt, personally mocked him last month in a video, remarking that he was unaware Egyptian prisons had fax machines. Meanwhile, leading Western analysts are saying the defection of Mr. Sharif indicates the beginning of the end for Al Qaeda.

The author of "Inside Al Qaeda," Rohan Gunaratna said in an interview this week, "There is nothing more important than a former jihadist as important as Dr. Fadl criticizing the jihadist vanguard." Mr. Gunaratna, who acts at times as a consultant for American and Western intelligence, described the reformed theologian as "both an ideologue and operational leader, but he was primarily an ideologue."

The Islamists don't rely on any one single individual for support of their war against the West and the infidels, so Sharif's latest assertions need to be given some additional context. Jihadis in Pakistan will rely on local Islamists for their directions, and the Taliban and al Qaeda elements there continue to wage jihad against the West and Muslims who look to the West for assistance.

While Sharif wrote one the books on jihad and spreading Islam via the sword, he was far from the only one. The violent Islamists will continue to look to the teachings of Sayid Qutb and others for guidance, while ignoring Sharif's change of heart.

This may lead to a further splintering of the Islamists and set one group against the other, but the most violent of the groups will continue to engage in the stomach churning terrorism we've seen over the past several decades as they've ravaged wide swaths of the planet in their campaign to force others to submit to Islam.

Zawahiri, for his part, says that Sharif's change of heart is due to torture and coersion by the Egyptian government, who has been holding Sharif in prison since Sadat was assassinated in 1981.

For our part, the US isn't doing much to confirm or deny the report.