A Closer Look at the Words of an Image Maker

Sunday, October 28, 2001; Page B02

Since it was broadcast on Oct. 7, Osama bin Laden's videotaped statement has provided a powerful rallying cry for Muslims demonstrating on the streets of Pakistan, Indonesia and Egypt. That's because it was crafted, according to Mary-Jane Deeb, to mobilize Muslims around the world in a jihad against "the infidels." Deeb, the Arab world specialist at the Library of Congress, offers here a textual analysis of the seemingly rambling message and says that its power lies in its imagery, which is drawn from the Koran; its form, which is scripturally framed; and its setting,ju which was chosen to appeal to the masses. Bin Laden and his colleagues are crouched on the bare rock floor, drinking tea and dressed in fatigues or traditional costume -- in sharp contrast to the palatial settings in which Muslim heads of state exercise their power.

"I BEAR WITNESS"

Bin Laden starts his statement not with the usual phrase "In the name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful," which opens most public speeches in the Muslim world, but with thismuch more powerful testimony of Muslim faith. He thus establishes that what follows is a call to duty to all Muslims -- to all those for whom these particular words represent the essence of Islam.

"BUILDINGS DESTROYED"

This reference is to the attacks of Sept. 11 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The imagery is taken from a Koranic depiction of a battle the prophet Muhammad waged in the early days of Islam against the infidels in Mecca: "How many a city we have destroyed in its evildoing, and now it is fallen down upon its turrets." (Sura 22)

"SANCTUARIES OF MUSLIMS"

Bin Laden refers to three specific places where Muslims suffer Western military domination: Palestine, Iraq and the land of Muhammad, or Saudi Arabia. These three parts of the world have enormous religious significance for Muslims. They house the holiest cities of Islam: Jerusalem; Karbala and Najaf (in southern Iraq, especially holy to Shiites); and Mecca and Medina (sacred cities of Islam in Saudi Arabia). Bin Laden need not say more to rouse the passion of Muslims around the world: If infidel armies control the holiest shrines of Islam, then Islam itself is under siege, and it is the duty of every Muslim to defend his religion.

"DIVIDED THE WHOLE WORLD"

Here bin Laden sets up the framework for confrontation. The terms used stand for the basic division in Islam between Dar al-Islam, those nations ruled by Muslims, and Dar al-Harb, those that are not. It is in the latter only that a jihad (or holy war) can be fought. Islamic scholar D.B. MacDonald wrote, "If a Muslim country is invaded by unbelievers, the imam [religious leader] may issue a general summons calling all Muslims there to arms, and as the danger grows so may the width of the summons until the whole Muslim world is involved."

"TO THIS TREACHERY"

Only an "imam" can call and lead a jihad. Such a man would have to be a Muslim sovereign or head of the Muslim community, as was the caliph historically. Despite his popularity, bin Laden does not possess the required qualifications. It was, therefore, essential for him to demonstrate his legitimacy in calling for a jihad, to lay some claim to the imamate in his speech. He does this by discrediting Muslim heads of state, suggesting that they are working with the infidels against Muslims, and by implying that the mantle of Muslim leadership is up for grabs.

"WINDS OF FAITH"

Bin Laden again draws on Koranic imagery to make his point: "O believers, remember God's blessing upon you when hosts came against you, and we loosed against them a wind . . . ." (Sura 33)

"THIS HUMILIATION"

A leader, bin Laden implies, would hear and heed the pain and suffering of his community, and would rise to defend his people. But since no one has done that in his view, the Muslim community has no leader -- a situation, he emphasizes, that has prevailed for the past 80 years. This is a reference to the suspension of the Muslim caliphate in 1924 by Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, when the last Muslim empire, the Ottoman Empire, collapsed after World War I. The inference from this statement is that since there is no longer a caliph, and because he, Osama bin Laden, is responding to the pain and humiliation suffered by the Muslim community, then he should be the imam -- the one to lead the community in war. For Sunni Islam, the imam also refers to the caliph.