November 10, 2003	Monday	Ramazan 14, 1424

CAIRO, Nov 9: Leading clerics in Egypt said on Sunday that jihad, or holy war, is not banned during the Muslim holy month of Ramazan but they condemned “unjust acts” like the midnight Riyadh suicide bombing.

The attack in Riyadh “is not combat. It’s a useless and risky act. It’s chaos,” said Sheikh Gamal Kotb, a cleric at Cairo’s Al-Azhar university. Sheikh Kotb, former chairman of the Fatwas (religious decrees) committee at Al-Azhar, said holy war could be carried out in different forms during Ramazan or any time of year but only under special circumstances.

“Jihad is a general strategy and does not consist solely of fighting. There are several degrees of Jihad ranging from daily practices to economic, media and diplomatic wars, and finally to combat or the use of military force. Jihad, if it turns into combat is not prohibited during Ramazan if circumstances require it,” Sheikh Kotb said. “Fighting happens between two armies, or between a state and its enemies.

“But when one group of people, whether citizens of the country or foreigners, who are fighting another inside the country,” without a defined enemy, “that is prohibited during Ramazan or the other months of the year,” he said.—AFP