September 11 Attacks

There are numerous fataawa (fatwas) that Islamic Extremist groups like bin Laden used to base their attack on 9-11.

There are three major fataawa that went into the "Islamic concept" of the validity of suicide bombings against civilians. This idea paved the way for the attacks of 9-11, but did not necessarily cause them. (This required actual planning and actual grievances.)

1. Accepted in Traditional Islam and by most Imams: There is a ruling that martyrdom for Islam is permitted through a suicide attacks in certain conditions. This martyrdom is considered a consecration by the faithful person of his life to defend Islamic virtue which is usually construed as Muslim lives or Islamic core values (such as the ability to practice the religion). Most Muslims hold that this form of martyrdom can only be used against an enemy combatant as opposed to civilians since killing a civilian without cause is a violation of the Qur'an's valuation of human life.
2. Accepted since it comes directly from the Qur'an: Any Muslim can rise up against oppression in his midst, especially if that oppression comes from a non-Muslim army. (Q: 2:191-193)
3. Controversial and Accepted by few Imams: The citizens of democracy are combatants because they choose the government that sends a military and may be conscripted to join that military.

Bin Laden asserted that American troops in the Middle East, the US Support of the State of Israel, the US Support of the Independence of East Timor, the US failure to force all of its citizens to convert to Islam, and several other actions were sufficient to prove United States oppression by military means. (Whether this is sufficient evidence or not is controversial, but Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda seem to hold that it is.) Therefore, any Muslim had the right to fight the United States military or occupying force (Ruling 2). Once this is clear, the Muslim can select any method that he wishes to use to attack the United States military and Bin Laden decided to use the suicide bomber (Ruling 1).

The controversial next step of these rulings is when instead of attacking the United States military, Bin Laden chooses to attack the United States civilians since the United States is a democracy that "willingly chooses to oppress the Muslims" (Ruling 3). Most Muslims argue that attacking civilians violates the Qur'anic valuation of human life and respect for the non-combatant.

The reason for discussing this at length is to note that the grounds for the belief of the applicability of the legal doctrine may go back much further than the Islamic legal doctrines themselves. (Sometimes Bin Laden would stretch his claim back to the time of the Crusades, long before suicide bombing or planes were conceived.) Therefore, these events are not necessarily time-connected with the actual fataawa that "legitimate" 9-11. Additionally, the Qur'anic verse that serves as the basis for Ruling 2 was not conceived during a time when there was any semblance of an America or "Western oppression". Therefore, the fataawa as well are not time-connected with the events in which they applied. It is only an individual who takes these pre-existing fataawa and pre-existing conditions and says that the conditions fall under the purview of these fataawa.

A group of well trained and well prepared Islamic extremests hijacked four regularly scheduled airliners that were flying from the east coast to the west coast of the US to ensure that each would have a maximum load of fuel. Once these airlines were in the air, enroute to their destination, the hijackers killed the flight crews and took over the planes, diverting them to predetermined targets.

• American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 took off from Boston, scheduled to fly to Los Angeles. The hijackers flew the planes to New York City at the southern end of Manhattan Island, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center stood and flew the planes into the buildings.
• American Airlines Flight 77 took off from Dulles Airport in Dulles Virginia, scheduled to fly to Los Angeles. When the hijackers took control of the plane, they flew it to the headquarters of the US Department of Defense building called The Pentagon, located in Arlington County Virginia and flew it straight into the building.
• United Airlines Flight 93 took off from Newark New Jersey. The plane had reached the air over Ohio by the time the hijackers were able to divert its flight path, attempting to reach an unnamed target in Washington DC, the US capital. The plane was taken down by passengers who had become aware of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. This fourth plane crashed in an open field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

These targets were specifically chosen as the ultimate symbols of the evils of the country called the United States; the headquarters of economic oppression, the World Trade Center; the headquarters of military oppression, The Pentagon; and the suspected target, the White House or the Capital building in Washington DC, the headquarters of political oppression.