An Italian news portal has reported that a fatwa (Islamic ruling) issued by Egypt’s Al-Azhar University has authorized computer hacking as a form of jihad against Israel and the United States. According to the report:
Attacking American and Israeli websites by hacking and sabotage is allowed under Islamic law and is a form of ‘Jihad’ or holy war, top Muslim scholars have decreed. The religious edict (fatwa) issued by a committee from the highest authority in Sunni Islam, Egypt’s Al-Azhar University in Cairo, was published on the website of the Islamist Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement on Thursday. “This is considered a type of lawful Jihad that helps Islam by paralysing the information systems used by our enemies for their evil aims,” said the fatwa. “This Jihad is not different from the armed one. In fact, it might be more important if you consider the global dimensions of the Internet. “Whoever wins this war will become the strongest in the realm of information,” the fatwa continued. The Muslim Brotherhood praised the fatwa, which comes in response to dozens of questions from radicals asking to be allowed to destroy Israeli and United States websites. Last week, the news website of Dubai-based Arabic TV network al-Arabiya was attacked by suspected Shia hackers, who posted a burning Israeli flag to the site. Beneath the flag, a message in Arabic and English read: ‘Serious Warning – if attacks on Shia websites continue, none of your websites will be safe.’
It should be noted that Gulf news reports suggest that the hacking of Al-Arabiya appeared to be in response to Sunni hacker attacks on Shiite websites which followed remarks by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi accusing Shiites of heresy and invasion of Sunni countries. As a previous post also reported, Qaradawi recently was elected to the Al Azhar Islamic Research Council.