Terror Suspect SNAFU in NY Court May 14, 2007

From Newsday:

When he began testifying at his own trial this week, a Florida doctor accused of pledging to support al-Qaida hoped to convince a jury that the FBI had it all wrong: He was a man of peace. If that was the plan, then Rafiq Abdus Sabir had a disastrous day on the witness stand Friday.Under cross-examination, the Columbia University-trained physician was forced to acknowledge a history of family violence, a fascination with weapons and a belief that good Muslims should engage in armed jihad, or holy war.

In just a few hours, Sabir gave jurors a number of reasons not to like him …

they discussed passages from several religious books. One said Jews should be expelled from the Arabian peninsula. Another said Muslims are obligated to obey an imam who declares war against nonbelievers.

Hou asked Sabir whether he agreed with both passages.

Sabir said yes, but added that Muslims are required to follow such instructions only if they come from a legitimate religious authority. Orders from false leaders, he said, should be ignored. And he said he had nothing against Jews or Christians and counted people of both religions among his friends.

Hou persisted. “You believe that you must participate in armed jihad, if you get a chance to?” he asked.

“Yes,” Sabir answered, adding again that he would only do so in a legitimate conflict.

Now, the sad over-spun part is that Mr. Sabir was given quotes with Qur’anic basis (most likely, otherwise, did they just play a random excerpt of an Arabic speech for him?), something your average observant Muslim would be loath to say, “no I don’t believe this.”But taking that with a huge grain of salt, still, this article leaves much unsaid. Does Dr. Sabir realize that jihad an-nafs, the “greater jihad”, must be fought first — thereby vanquishing all evil from one’s mind, action and speech — before a gun can be picked up? Was this only a list of things Mr. Sbair was asked during Mr. Hou’s “persistence” in cross-examination?

We will never know. One thing, however, is for sure, Dr. Sabir may have sealed his fate on that witness stand.