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Saudi Rules Out Foreign Attack on Muslims from its Soil
RIYADH, Sept 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz has said the kingdom will not allow foreign troops to use its territory to launch attacks against Muslims and Arabs, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The kingdom "will not accept the presence of any foreign troops on its territory to fight Arabs and Muslims," he was quoted in the
Okaz daily as saying at a reception in the northwestern province of Qassim.
Prince Sultan pointed out that the kingdom, Washington's main ally in the region, has no defense agreement with the United States or any other country, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"We will not accept any soldier to remain in our country to fight Muslims or Arabs," he stressed.
A highly placed Saudi military source already denied Saturday that the kingdom would allow the United States to use its air bases to launch attacks against Osama bin Laden, the U.S.'s prime suspect in the September 11th attacks on Washington and New York, and his Afghan hosts.
U.S. President George W. Bush said Friday that Saudi Arabia - thought to have been reluctant to help - was "cooperating with us in terms of any military planning we might be doing."
His statement followed reports that the kingdom had decided to allow Washington to use air command facilities on its territory.
Prince Sultan said all foreign troops called in to help during Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait were withdrawn following the liberation of the emirate in 1991.
"Currently, there is no non-Saudi soldier in our country," he said.
But the minister added that "40 American, British and French fighters" have used a Saudi base to patrol a U.S. and Britain-imposed "no-fly zone" over southern Iraq "because we do not trust the Iraqi regime."
"More than six thousand soldiers [who] contributed in the Gulf war converted to Islam and we enabled them to perform Hajj [pilgrimage] before they leave the Saudi soil and they are now in the American, Russian and British forces," Prince Sultan added.
A Gulf diplomat told AFP Friday that Saudi Arabia had agreed to allow the United States to use state-of-the-art U.S.-built air command facilities at Prince Sultan Air Base to fight bin Laden and the Taliban.
"Saudi Arabia has no objection to the use of the facilities at Prince Sultan Air Base," 100 kilometers [60 miles] south of Riyadh, said the diplomat, who requested anonymity.
On Wednesday, Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said that Saudi Arabia would fulfill its responsibilities in fighting terrorism, but added that fighting terrorism should not be limited to just arresting perpetrators but also should include those who sponsor terrorism.
Muslim scholars around the Arab world have voiced their disapproval of U.S. military bases in the Gulf.
They also issued a fatwa (Islamic ruling) saying that collaborating with the United States to attack Afghanistan is haram (forbidden in Islam).
In a fatwa regarding establishing foreign military bases in Muslim countries, Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi, vice-chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, stated, "It is not permissible, as far as Islam is concerned, to establish foreign military bases in Muslim countries."
Mawlawi said the reason is that the primary goal of such military bases is to serve foreign interests. "In reality, they do not care about our national interests, and in no way are the two interests supposed to gain common ground. In return, we shouldn't help establish such bases at all because helping them is considered as a kind of cooperation on sin and aggression, which is forbidden."
"When Muslim rulers succumb to the demands of non-Muslims and give them the green line to formulate their own decisions, then they are considered traitors to Allah, His Messenger and all their fellow Muslim brothers," added Mawlawi.
"Shedding more light on the issue in point, we can say that when a Muslim country allows a non-Muslim country to use its airspace to launch military strikes against Muslim countries, then the Muslim country is conniving with the non-Muslim country against the Muslim one, even if the Muslim country did not offer any logistics or equipment in the process," he said.
Mawlawi added that claims that such procedures are done in self-defense are categorically baseless.
The Palestinian Muslim Scholars Association also issued a statement declaring that collaborating with the United States against any Muslim country is
haram and considered one of the greatest sins.
Speaking to IslamOnline, Egyptian Mufti, Nasr Fareed Wasel, said that facilitating U.S. strikes on Afghanistan by Muslim countries goes against the Islamic
Shari'ah (law).
Wasel added that there are many negative consequences that will result if Muslim nations decide to take part in the coalition being called for by Bush to fight what he calls "terrorism".
He emphasized the importance of putting the culprit in the U.S. attacks on trial, whatever his nationality, and according to international laws and United Nations regulations in order to prevent chaos. "It is not right for the United States alone to take war decisions against a particular country," he added.
In Jordan, the Scholars Council in the Islamic Work Party, the largest party in Jordan, issued a statement saying that all Muslims around the world must collaborate to perform good deeds and not to attack one another.
"Threats and preparing armies will not end world terrorism and will not protect the United States, it will just deepen the animosity and prejudice among different nations and will threaten the safety and security of the world," said the statement.
In Marseille, France, Mufti Suhaib Bin Sheikh, declared that Muslims in France oppose the U.S. decision to wage a war against Afghanistan and said, "We support a U.S. decision to penalize those who were behind the attacks, but we are against accusing a particular country - Afghanistan - or individual, without evidence."
Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan on September 25th, three days after a similar decision was taken by the United Arab Emirates.
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