JEDDAH, 24 October 2005 — A leading Saudi scholar has agreed to refute the ranting of an extremist in a debate he hopes will show the world that the true nature of Islam has nothing to do with terrorism or the cowardly murder of innocents.
Abdulmonem Abu Hlaima, also known as Abu Baseer Al-Tartousi, has used his Internet site to rail against Shoura Council member and legal adviser to the Ministry of Justice Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Obaikan and to challenge him to a debate.
Al-Tartousi has accused Al-Obaikan of being a liar after the scholar noted his flip-flopping on issues for convenience.
Earlier this week, Sheikh Al-Obaikan responded to Al-Tartousi’s call for a debate. “I am ready for the debate Al-Tartousi has long asked for through his site. I am ready to face Al-Tartousi whether he wants to debate about jihad in Iraq or any other issue,” said Sheikh Al-Obaikan, who accused Al-Tartousi of changing his views and religious opinions from time to time and not taking a clear stand.
“I disagree with Al-Tartousi’s view toward the issue of going against the ruler,” Al-Obaikan said in an earlier interview with Asharq Al-Awsat. “Al-Tartousi is unstable; he jumps from one view to another —
changing it every time.”
On his website, Al-Tartousi has been encouraging mass murder of innocents through suicide bombings for some time. Yet recently he changed his unholy fatwa. “For the last five years, I have been talking about the suicide attacks,” he wrote in a letter to his deviant followers. “But now I would like to make it clear that these attempts are regarded as suicide attempts and not martyrdom acts. It is haram.”
This was one of the main points noted by Al-Obaikan in forming the opinion that Al-Tartousi is a wishy-washy opportunist intent on destroying any respect for Islam anywhere around the world.
In addition, Al-Tartousi, a Syrian lying low in London, is accused — through Internet sites — of changing his stand for political reasons and not as part of a search for the truth.
“Al-Tartousi has changed his view toward the suicide bombings because he is afraid of being kicked out of London,” wrote one commentator on one of the Islamic sites.
However, Al-Tartousi has accused Sheikh Al-Obaikan of lying and lack of accuracy.
“I dare Al-Obaikan to point out one fatwa that I have changed. Mr. Obaikan, a Muslim does not lie, and if he is caught lying then he is categorized as an untrustworthy person,” said Al-Tartousi, who stressed that he is still ready to debate Al-Obaikan through any medium Al-Obaikan chooses.
“I have sent requests to some forums, which are known to be neutral, to organize the debate between me and Al-Obaikan and I am waiting for their response,” added Al-Tartousi.
Al-Tartousi was born in 1959 at Tartous, Syria. He married a Palestinian and, in his words, was forced to immigrate to London in 1980.
Calling for a debate between Sheikh Al-Obaikan and Al-Tartousi is not the first of its kind. The extremist have been calling for such debates with other figures who they accuse of being government scholars.
In July 2004, Faris ibn Shwale Al-Zahrani — one of the 26 wanted terrorists in Saudi Arabia — asked for a debate with Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali.
Al-Hawali, who was acting as a negotiator between the misguided terrorists and the government at that time, responded to the call and waited for the debate but never got a reply from Al-Zahrani.
Abdul Mohsen Al-Awaji, a Saudi scholar who was also playing the role of the negotiator last year, said they never got a reply back from Al-Zahrani. “We came to know from his teachers at the university that he had some mental problems and was unfit,” said Al-Awaji.
Furthermore, Abdullah Al-Rushoud, who was also listed as one of the 26 most wanted terrorists, asked for a debate with Al-Awaji through the Internet.
“I saw Al-Rushoud’s call for a debate on the Net and tried to reach him but never succeeded. I cannot have a debate online. I don’t know who is sitting behind the screen so I sent him a letter that I’d like to have the debate face to face or over the phone,” Al-Awaji said.
Saudi Arabia has launched a major campaign against Al-Qaeda terrorists who are blamed for a series of bombings and shootings throughout the country since May 2003.
In an appeal to citizens on the occasion of the National Day on Sept. 23, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah urged suspected militants to surrender and return to the right path. “This cherished national occasion offers an opportunity for those affiliated to the deviant group to review their stand and surrender to security authorities,” he said.
