The Information Jihad

We’ve written frequently in this space about the importance of the information war in the struggle against the Great Jihad. One of our main problems is that the enemy is way ahead of us in that department, at least as far as decentralized, distributed networks and the internet are concerned.

There has been a notable increase in the last few months of hacker attacks on major anti-Islamist websites. The sophistication of the radical Islamic hackers has grown in recent years, and anyone who runs a Counterjihad site has to take that fact into consideration.

Now comes the news that a Koranic justification for hacker attacks has been discovered. A fatwah on the topic has been issued by no less than the highest Islamic theological authority, Al-Azhar University. According to AKI:

Sunni Scholars Sanction ‘Electronic Jihad’

Cairo, 16 Oct. (AKI) — Attacking American and Israeli websites by hacking and sabotage is allowed under Islamic law and is a form of ‘Jihad’ or holy war, top Muslim scholars have decreed.

The religious edict (fatwa) issued by a committee from the highest authority in Sunni Islam, Egypt’s Al-Azhar University in Cairo, was published on the website of the Islamist Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement on Thursday.

“This is considered a type of lawful Jihad that helps Islam by paralysing the information systems used by our enemies for their evil aims,” said the fatwa.

“This Jihad is not different from the armed one. In fact, it might be more important if you consider the global dimensions of the Internet.

They’ve got that right: it is more important. The mujahideen are using the internet very effectively, especially at the local amateur level.

The article continues:
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“Whoever wins this war will become the strongest in the realm of information,” the fatwa continued.

The Muslim Brotherhood praised the fatwa, which comes in response to dozens of questions from radicals asking to be allowed to destroy Israeli and United States websites.

What this demonstrates is that anything can be justified by the Koran, as long as it furthers the spread of Islam.

Remember: these are the same people who would forbid ice cream because it didn’t exist at the time of the Prophet.

But, hey — AK-47s, RPGs, nuclear weapons, and DDOS attacks: no problem.


Hat tip: Insubria.