Fatwa sought to stop Libya fighting

A Saudi Moslem scholar appeared on state-run Libyan satellite television on Monday to call for a fatwa (religious ruling) by key scholars in Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries urging the rebels in Libya to put their arms down and talk peace with the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Hamoud bin Nafei Al Anzi, a mosque preacher in the central Saudi town of Alasiah, said several prominent Moslem scholars in the Arab region made a hasty decision when they sanctioned the fight against Gaddafi in the first days after fighting broke out in the north African Arab country five months ago.

Anzi, who is visiting Tripoli, Gaddafi’s stronghold, said he was in Libya on a personal mission and that he does not represent Saudi government views.

“I have been to many places bombed by the crusaders (NATO) in Libya….these crusaders are only killing the Libyan people without discrimination and destroying the country,” he said in a seminar broadcast by Libyan television.

“I appeal for all our Moslem scholars and intellects to issue a fatwa for those who are fighting the government and their own people to put their arms down and join their brothers on the negotiating table…if you (rebels) have any demands, then sit at the negotiating table and discuss them…please do not resort to weapons to resolve your disputes…I acknowledge there are mistakes but mistakes must not be tackled by bigger mistakes…for God’s sake, stop the bloodshed.”

Anzi, the first Arab Moslem scholar to publicly and boldly support Gaddafi, said he had been taken by Libyan officials and scholars to sites bombed by NATO warplanes in Tripoli, Misrata and other towns.

“I saw people who had their legs and hands severed, eyes blinded and bodies mutilated by the bombs of the blasphemous…and I now wonder who is benefiting from all this destruction…even if there are mistakes by the rulers, this does not justify bringing the foreigners into the country…Islam forbids this…I appeal for all Libyans to stop fighting, talk to each other and discard those crusaders,” Alanzi said in rare comments by a Saudi scholar.

“I just urge my brothers in Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries to issue a fatwa now forbidding fighting and bloodshed….what is wrong with issuing a fatwa telling all parties in Libya to case aside their weapons and sit together…they should listen to the voice of reason and their religion and unite against this blasphemous enemy (NATO) whose sole purpose is to destroy Libya.”

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