Resistance and terrorism — the dividing line

المقاومة والإرهاب — الخط الفاصل

The 'Al-Wasatiyya' episode on resistance: is it reducible to armed action or are there more effective ways — Gandhian non-violence, political work, economic boycott, media war and intellectual confrontation ¹ ². The host distilled the dividing line: resisting the occupier is a right no two dispute, while aiming weapons at civilians — in New York, London or Madrid — is terrorism, a cause of God's anger before it is a cause of the West's curse ³ ⁴ ⁵.

The episode and the question

The 'Al-Wasatiyya' episode debated resistance: is it reducible to armed action, or are there more effective ways — Gandhian non-violence, political work, economic boycott, media war and intellectual confrontation ⁶ ¹ ⁷ ². The gravest question was distinguishing resistance from terrorism — 'not only because the West accuses us, but because it is a fundamental sharia question' ⁸.

The occupation frame only

The Muslim Brotherhood representative declared: 'any use of violence outside the frame of foreign occupation is illegitimate' — and condemned the Riyadh and Dahab events; ⁹ and praised the Palestinian resistance across its factions (Fatah, Hamas and others) for using force only against the Zionist occupier — 'a proud example for the world' ¹⁰ ¹¹ ¹².

Resistance is wider than arms

Non-violence advocates warned against shrinking the concept: resistance has forms — political, economic, media, intellectual and awareness — and the question is effectiveness, not the occupied people's right to defend themselves ⁷ ² ¹³ ³.

The dividing line — as the host distilled it

The host closed with his equation: the Palestinian or any occupied people's right to defend their land is not disputed by two; and aiming weapons at civilians — in New York, London or Madrid — is terrorism, 'a cause of God's anger before it is a cause of the West's curse on us'; ³ ⁴ ⁵ recalling that Khalid ibn al-Walid (may God be pleased with him) was not excused until it was clear she had tried to kill him first ¹⁴ ¹⁵.

Opinions on the question

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference

Basis: Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) al-wassitiya ep17, 01:12:30-01:14:30

More opinions (1)

Other viewOther opinion

Basis: Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) al-wassitiya ep17, 00:02:00-01:15:30

Sources

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 00:02:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 00:30:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 01:15:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 01:16:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 01:16:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 00:01:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 00:02:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 01:03:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 01:13:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 01:13:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 01:14:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 01:14:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 01:15:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 01:17:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 17, at 01:17:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri

Amir Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri, the scholar-poet who led the Algerian jihad: elected by the Algerians when the French entered the country, he fought them fifteen years, minted the 'Hamdiyya' coinage and built arms works; exiled after his 1847 surrender to Toulon then Amboise, freed by Napoleon III, he settled in Damascus in 1855 and died there in 1883.