Dagestan

Some European countries and

the Russian Federation have taken legal steps against terrorists who allegedly planned to launch violent

attacks.

The French magazine Jeune Afrique published an article reporting that Ayman Al-Zawahry is the mastermind of Al-Qa´ida. The article recounts the story of his arrest in the republic of Daghastan five years ago when it was under Russian control.

With Russia joining the Islamic Conference Organization, Muslims can now expect to lead a better life there. Though the Chechen problem still exists, it now has a better chance to be settled.

"Le Nouvelle Observateur", a French weekly, reports that London has become a haven for terrorists and a protector of Muslim extremist leaders from around the world. Many headquarters of terrorist extremist groups can be found in London. The "Observateur" tells many stories, describing the life of luxury of these extremists in London and how they use London as a propaganda center and a launching pad for terrorism throughout the world.

The last thing to come to mind is that "Wahabiyya" [An extreme orthodox version of Islam, named after it originator Mohammed Ibn Abdel-Wahab, who lived in what is now known as Saudi Arabia in the late eighteenth century] becoming the first enemy in Russia. Worse and more strange is that nobody there knows exactly what is "Wahabiyya. The majority considers every Islamic opposition a part of "the Wahabi conspiracy" that is taking Russia as its target, and being supported by many countries, from Pakistan to the United States!

[Letter to the Editor]

The Russian government has blatantly accused several Arabic and Islamic countries of masterminding and instigating the latest bombing campaign in Moscow. Lieven, an expert of Islamist movements in the northern Caucasus, is accused of playing on the Western fear of Islamophobia and the inevitable clash of civilizations between the Western world and the Islamic World.

Muslims are in a difficult situation because of the inability of others to distinguish the difference between various Muslims groups. The world is full of struggles, clashes and disputes. These occur in countries where the majority are Hindu, Christian or Buddhist just as they do where Muslims are the majority. The difference is that, in the latter, they are called Islamic even though most of those conflicts are related to local disputes.

There has currently been extensive talk about continued confrontation with the Jihad underground organization, which is the most dangerous terrorist group. The organization has been receiving heavy blows inside and outside the country. The current period of time has witnessed the handing over to Egypt of an increasing number of Islamist defendants from different countries in an affair that has been termed as "Returnees from Albania, Azerbaijan, South African, Yemen, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Syria,... ". A number of leaders of the group have been handed over to the military courts which has issued various sentences, including sentences to death and imprisonment terms, while others are still under interrogation by the office of the State Security prosecutor.