THEY'VE JIHAD IT UP TO HERE:

Al-Qaeda Is Losing the War of Minds (Peter Wehner, March 5, 2008, Financial Times)

[I]n large measure because of what is unfolding in Iraq, the tide within the Islamic world is beginning to run strongly against al-Qaeda -- and this, in turn, may be the single most important ideological development in recent years.

In November 2007 Sayyid Imam al-Sharif ("Dr Fadl") published his book, Rationalizations on Jihad in Egypt and the World, in serialised form. Mr. Sharif, who is Egyptian, argues that the use of violence to overthrow Islamic governments is religiously unlawful and practically harmful. He also recommends the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s number two and its ideological leader, and calls the attacks on September 11 2001 a "catastrophe for all Muslims".

Mr. Sharif’s words are significant because he was once a mentor to Mr. Zawahiri. Mr. Sharif, who wrote the book in a Cairo prison, is "a living legend within the global jihadist movement", according to Jarret Brachman, a terrorism expert.

Another important event occurred in October 2007, when Sheikh Abd Al-‘Aziz bin Abdallah Aal Al-Sheikh, the highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia, issued a fatwa prohibiting Saudi youth from engaging in jihad abroad. It states: "I urge my brothers the ulama [the top class of Muslim clergy] to clarify the truth to the public . . . to warn [youth] of the consequences of being drawn to arbitrary opinions and [religious] zeal that is not based on religious knowledge." The target of the fatwa is obvious: Mr. bin Laden.

A month earlier Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, an influential Saudi cleric whom Mr. bin Laden once lionised, wrote an "open letter" condemning Mr. bin Laden. "Brother Osama, how much blood has been spilt? How many innocents among children, elderly, the weak, and women have been killed and made homeless in the name of al-Qaeda?" Sheikh Awdah wrote. "The ruin of an entire people, as is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq ... cannot make Muslims happy."