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Muslim Group Denies Edict to Kill Pro-Israel Writer
AMMAN, Jordan, July 1 (IslamOnline) - A Muslim group in Jordan denied Saturday that it had issued a religious edict calling for the death of an American author, a U.S. newspaper reported Sunday.
The author, Khalid Duran, fled to a heavily guarded safe house and hired a gun-toting New York lawyer last week, saying "fanatic" Jordanian Sheik Abdel Moneim Abu Zant wanted him dead, the New York Daily News reported on its website.
The New York-based American Jewish Committee, which published Duran's controversial book aimed at helping Jews understand Islam, supported the author's charge.
Committee spokesman Kenneth Bandler said the death edict was issued last month in a Jordanian newspaper by Abu Zant, a member of the Islamic Action Front. Abu Zant allegedly was enraged by Duran's book and has allegedly issued a supposed fatwa, saying Duran's "blood should be shed."
But an Islamic Action Front spokesman in Jordan said yesterday the group "is not aware of such fatwa, and we do not normally issue fatwas that urge the killing of people."
Another front official said a fatwa can be issued only after approval by the group's 120-member consultative council and then ratified by the council of the wise.
Abu Zant said he had no knowledge of the book. "I can't recall," he said, adding he would have to study media reports before responding more fully."
In his book, Duran argues that "in terms of crimes against women, the Muslim world is second to none" and asserts that the fasting holy month of Ramadan "disrupts normal economic activity."
Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American Islamic Relations, a Washington-based advocacy group, told the Daily News that any charge a fatwa had been issued against Duran is "a bold-faced lie."
"I've seen the alleged fatwa," Hooper said. "It's an overblown newspaper editorial."
Hooper also questioned the timing of Duran's charge.
The editorial with the alleged fatwa ran June 6. But a press release from Michael Wildes - Duran's attorney and a former federal prosecutor - detailing how the writer went underground was not sent out until Friday.
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