Cairo, Aug 06: A jailed leader of an Egyptian extremist group said al-Qaeda violated Islamic law through its terrorist attacks and rejected the terror network's assertion that the United States was leading a crusade against Islam. Excerpts of Essam Derbala's book, "Al-Qaeda Strategy - Mistakes and Dangers," were published today in the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
"Some claim that there is a crusader war led by America against Islam. However, the majority (of Muslims) refute the existence of crusader wars," Derbala wrote.
He said "religious motives" may shape American policy toward Islamic nations, "but these are not crusader wars”.
Derbala said al-Qaeda has created hostilities and sentiments that have widened the gap between Muslims and the West. He denounced the group for assuming that American and Muslim interests would never meet and for telling its followers that "the enmity is deeply embedded and the clashing is inevitable”.
Al-Qaeda's misperceptions led to Muslims losing "fair chances" for better relations with the United States that would have helped the interests of the Muslim world, Derbala said.
Instead, "al-Qaeda boosted the anti-Islamic wave in America and the West."
Derbala, a senior leader of al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, or Islamic group, is sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in plotting the assassination of Egypt's former President Anwar Sadat in 1981. His book seems to be a gesture aimed at appeasing the Egyptian regime. Bureau Report