Since the war on terrorism began, many fatwas have been issued by the most prominent Muslim scholars opposing American actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, a fatwa is defined as “an opinion on a matter of law, the term law applying in Islam to all civil or religious matters.”

Those who have issued fatwas against America include the current mufti of Egypt and leaders from Egypt’s prestigious Al-Azhar. The most influential came from Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the sheik of Al-Azhar, who is considered a leading authority in Sunni Islam. At a press conference he convened on April 5, 2003, Mr. Tantawi stated, “It is the right of the Iraqis to carry out any operation in defense of their homeland, whether martyrdom operations or [by] any other means.”

He also encouraged volunteers from Arab and Islamic countries to go to Iraq to “support the jihad of their oppressed brethren there, because resistance to oppression is an Islamic obligation.”

Shortly after an attack against American soldiers in August, Sheik Mahmoud Ashour, a former deputy to Sheik Tantawi, explained that Islam permits attacks against American troops: “The Western media calls these attacks ‘suicide missions’ but we call them ‘martyrdom operations’…These so-called terrorists are defending their country from occupation. They have every right to do so. Islam gives them the right to fight the occupiers by whichever means available to them.”

Most recently, it was reported on September 9 that the clerics of Al-Azhar announced that they too support the killing of American civilians in Iraq. The announcement, reported in Al-Bassa’ir, the paper of Iraq’s Sunni Muslim clerics, explained that they distinguish between civilians who are not “on the scene of battle” and those who provide food, drink, and other forms of support to the military. Islam, they say, permits their killing.

It was also reported on September 2 in Al-Hayat that the influential Sheik Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, a spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, who heads both the newly-established London-based International Council of Muslim Scholars and the European Council for Fatwa and Research, published a fatwa declaring that “it is an obligation incumbent on the Muslims to kill American citizens in Iraq, since they are in Iraq in order to assist the soldiers and the occupation forces.”

Mr. Al-Qaradhawi is the most prominent Sunni Islamic leader next to Sheik Tantawi. As news of his most recent fatwa calling on Muslims to kill Americans made its way around the Muslim world, and in particular to the terrorists fighting Americans in Iraq, the casualty number of American troops exceeded 1,000.

Ninety-three of the most prominent Islamic personalities in 30 different countries also urged Muslims throughout the world on August 23 to support “the Iraqi resistance against the American forces,” and said that the purpose of the opposition is to “cleanse the house of Islam from the filth of the occupation.” Among the signatories was Sheik Al-Qaradhawi. Another influential Muslim personality, Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Muhammad Mahdi Akef, was quoted in the Saudi daily Al-Watan on August 20 explaining that fighting against American forces in Iraq is the realization of a religious commandment to continue the jihad.

As leading Sunni Muslim leaders continue to support the killing of American troops in Iraq, America should insist that the incitement by leading imams cease.

If this was to occur, or if the government-controlled imams in Arab states allied to America called on their followers to stop attacking American soldiers and brand such actions as haram (forbidden by Islamic law), the amount of casualties would immediately abate. This could be done in Egypt, where most of the fatwas issued against American troops originate; in Saudi Arabia, where imams frequently call for jihad against America; and in Qatar, where Sheik Al-Qaradhawi is based.

In fact, this past week there have been some positive developments of Arab states challenging religious leaders calling for jihad against America. In Jordan, subpoenas were issued for clerics who failed to comply with a law that requires all sermons to be authorized by the government.

In Yemen, on September 11, the government announced the killing of Sheik Hussein Badr Al-Din al-Houthi, the anti-American cleric who was the leader of the Yemeni Islamist insurgency.