The following are excerpts from an interview with the head of the Al-Maqreze Centre for Historical Studies, Hani Al-Siba'i, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on July 8, 2005.

Al-Siba'i: I think that British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a grave error when he spoke before the investigation and claimed that the perpetrators of these acts were acting in the name of Islam. I think that he will pay the price for this grave error in the future. No possibility should be ruled out. We do not rule out the possibility that it was done by the intelligence agency of another Western country hostile to Britain. We do not rule our countries... or some Zionist Americans who wanted to overshadow the G-8 summit. But at the same time, we do not rule out the Al-Qaeda organization. It's been claimed that Al-Qaeda died in Afghanistan, and was buried in the caves there. And behold: it was resurrected after the American occupation of Iraq. Moreover, Al-Qaeda controls the war agenda in Iraq. It is the Al-Qaeda organization in the Land of the Two Rivers (Iraq), headed by Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, that imposes its policies, to the extent that the Egyptian government was forced to... It was forced to recall (its ambassador), and other countries are afraid to send ambassadors there.

Host: He was not an ambassador, but rather a representative that was murdered, and then Egypt lowered its level of representation.

Al-Siba'i: He previously worked in the so-called "Israel." What I want to ask is: can this organization do this? Is it conceivable that it did it? Yes, it is. Why? In the year... We must not forget that on April 15, 2004, Sheik Osama bin Laden released a taped message, in which he said... He gave... He reached out for reconciliation...

Host:

Just to recall, you are referring to the Madrid incidents, in which some 190 people were killed.

Al-Siba'i: After the Madrid incidents, he addressed the Western and European nations. Obviously, he didn't address the leaders, whom he does not recognize. He talked to the Western nations about reconciliation...

Host: Excuse me, he gave them three or four months. But, forgive me, targeting civilians... You, as a Muslim and as the director of a center for Islamic history... Is targeting wretched civilians considered brave or manly?

Al-Siba'i: I think... The man (bin Laden) addressed these peoples so that they would pressure their governments. He told them: We did not attack you. You have been attacking us for more than two centuries, and your campaign continues. He said to them simply: Withdraw your soldiers from the Arabian Peninsula, withdraw from Afghanistan and Palestine...

Host: Excuse me, Is Sheik Osama bin Laden a religious scholar, who issues fatwas, or is he the head of Al-Qaeda?

Al-Siba'i: First of all, he is one of this (Islamic) nation. Allah... We have no clergy, or a pope, or anything like this. Anyone can carry out his religious duty, even if he is by himself.

Host: Mr. Hani, issuing fatwas is done by religious scholars.

Al-Siba'i: He has a Shura council, he has religious scholars... He wanted to debate with other scholars, but they refused. He asked to discuss matters with them, but they refused.

Host: The question, in short, is whether the religious scholars... Sir, the religious law assembly in Mecca at the end of last month issued a fatwa forbidding the killing of civilians. Should we follow it or Osama bin Laden?

Al-Siba'i: These assemblies resemble the assemblies of the Church. These assemblies forbid young people from going to Iraq to fight the Jihad. These assemblies... The Higher Religious Authority (in Saudi Arabia) are the ones who allowed the presence of Crusader forces in the Land of the Two Holy Places (Saudi Arabia). These assemblies...

Host: Mr. Hani, make no mistake. The same assembly ruled that Jihad in Iraq is allowed against soldiers. Even Sheik Osama (sic) Al-Maqdissi, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi's mentor... OK. Abu Hani, OK... He asked Al-Zarqawi not to kill civilians and to attack only the Americans... I mean, only soldiers...

Al-Siba'i: The term "civilians" does not exist in Islamic religious law. Dr. Karmi is sitting here, and I am sitting here, and I'm familiar with religious law. There is no such term as "civilians" in the modern Western sense. People are either combatants or not.

These institutes, like the Islamic Association (of Britain), represent white-collar people, the effendis, people with "prestige." They only represent their own interests and do not mix in society. They don't know... Ask other Muslims... People see them only on their TV screens. They don't participate in the demonstrations for the poor. they are not interested in people's problems. We invite them, and they don't show up.

Host: The Muslim Association of Britain represents 400 Islamic organizations...

Al-Siba'i: These are all interest groups. With all due respect, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Sheik Moududi group do business with one another.

Host: Are you claiming they are not Muslims?

Al-Siba'i: They are behind all these movements. They promote some people nobody has heard of. Then they promote some journalists.

Host: Excuse me, who do you want to promote? Those who want the banner of "There is no god but Allah" over the Queen of England and Buckingham Palace? Those who want to establish a caliphate and turn the Queen of England into a captive? Those who say (England) is Dar Al-Harb and property there can be plundered? Are those the kind of people you want?

Al-Siba'i: These associations do not represent the Muslim public. They collaborate with the British police for certain interests. They want an "English Islam," and not the Islam that was sent to the Prophet Muhammad.

If Al-Qaeda indeed carried out this act, it is a great victory for it. It rubbed the noses of the world's eight most powerful countries in the mud. This victory is a blow to the economy...