Interview with Abu Bakar Bashir

I just read an interview on Al-Jazeera's English website with the Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. It's really a very interesting interview. I agree with most of what he said in the first half of the interview, but not the second half. The second half is sort of where he goes off the deep end, advocating Jihad and no negotiations or anything. He also calls democracy shirk (disbelief), which I don't believe because democracy is a system of government that CAN be adapted to be Islamic. The Qur'an and Sunnah do not tell us what system of government that the Islamic State must follow, leaving this up to us to choose depending on the time period and so on.

Here's the link:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C46DA5C1-D200-48E6-8B24-76EE739EC243,frameless.htm

Speaking of which - Jihad and stuff - yesterday I watched the CNN documentary on Usaama bin Laden. It was... okay, I guess. I'd already read the book "The Osama bin Laden I Know", by Peter Bergen, which was pretty much what the documentary was based on, so I knew most of the stuff already - although there was one part where his childhood friend, Khalid Batarfi, mentioned that once, Usaama was being bullied, so Khalid went over to get rid of the guy, but afterwards Usaama told Khalid, "You know, if you'd waited a few more moments, I would have
solved the problem peacefully." Interesting, huh?

See, I find Usaama bin Laden a fascinating man. I mean, I totally disagree with his ideology and stuff, but I also understand where he's coming from. And reading about him before he helped create al-Qaeda, as a young man, shy, soft-spoken, more a follower than a leader, and seemingly the diplomatic pacifist, he just... fascinates me. Even when he went to Afghanistan, he wasn't a bloodthirsty warrior. And he knew Sheikh 'Abdullah Azzam (may Allah have mercy on him), who I personally think was really cool.
Anyway, to me it seems that Usaama was okay right up until he met Ayman adh-Dhawaahiri, the Egyptian guy who people say 'radicalized' Usaamah. From what I've read, I feel rather leery of adh-Dhawaahiri. He seems really off the deep end.
Maybe he had good intentions, but the way he tried to do things... I don't like it one bit.
So once Usaama met adh-Dhawaahiri - shortly before Sheikh Azzam was killed, I think - he started getting sucked into that sort of ideological thinking... the takfiri thing, declaring everyone - even other Muslims - kaafir (unbelievers, or, as the Western media loves to say, 'infidels').

Some people might call me crazy, others will worry that my poor impressionable youthful self is in danger of becoming brainwashed and sucked into the OBL 'cult'... but I honestly think that Usaama is a guy with good intentions, who wants to help Muslims around the world, but is misguided and therefore causing more harm than good.

Something I would absolutely love would be the chance to meet with Usaama, and talk to him. I want to know why exactly he does what he does, thinks what he does, why he's chosen the takfiri ideology... and I'd use Qur'anic ayaat (verses) and Ahadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) to show him what I believe, and why.

Wouldn't that be amazing? And who knows, maybe I could change his mind about some things... :P

Similarly, I totally want to be able to meet with people like the Indonesian Abu Bakar Bashir, and Khalid Mish'al, and Mullah Umar, and leaders of other 'Islamist' groups around the world. Even Hassan Nasrallah, although he's Shi'i. I still want to be able to talk with him and the others and find out why they think what they do, and do what they do...

So many questions, but will I ever recieve the answers? Allah knows best...