Muslims dismiss Kadhafi´s jihad call as ´nonsense´

Kadhafi\'s action could also hurt Muslims here, they said, noting that it could harden Swiss public opinion against the community.

GENEVA, February 26, 2010 (AFP) - Muslims in Switzerland on Friday shrugged off Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's call for jihad against the Alpine country, saying that he has neither credibility nor legitimacy in the Islamic world.

Kadhafi's action could also hurt Muslims here, they said, noting that it could harden Swiss public opinion against the community.

"His anger has made him hysterical. He has absolutely no credibility in making this call as he represents only himself, and not even his people, so he has no authority to make such a call," said Hafid Ouardiri, a former spokesman for the Geneva mosque.

Kadhafi turned up the heat in his country's dispute with Switzerland on Thursday, calling for jihad over a recent Swiss ban on the construction of minarets.

"It is against unbelieving and apostate Switzerland that jihad (holy war) ought to be proclaimed by all means," Kadhafi said in a speech in the Mediterranean coastal city of Bengazi to mark the birthday of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed on Friday.

However, members of the 400,000-strong Muslim community in Switzerland -- many of whom hail from former Yugoslavia, Turkey and north Africa -- were unimpressed by Kadhafi's tough talk.

It "did not shock us, as he often says such nonsense," said Yasar Ozdemir, member of the Zurich-based Swiss Federation of Muslim Associations.

Kadhafi is a "political leader, not a religious leader. He has no authority to call for jihad," added the spokesman of the Central Islamic Council of Switzerland in Bern.

Pointing out that Kadhafi had said that all Muslims in contact with Switzerland would be "infidels," he said: "This is equivalent to an excommunication, which is theologically absurd."

However, some Muslims are worried that Kadhafi's call could turn public opinion against them.

The call for jihad "reinforces the xenophobic discourse which fosters certain extremists here in Switzerland," said Ouardiri.

Kadhafi's call marked a new low in Libyan-Swiss relations, which soured in July 2008 when Kadhafi's son Hannibal and his wife were arrested and briefly held in Geneva after two domestic workers complained they had mistreated them.

The row escalated when Libya swiftly stopped two Swiss businessmen, Rashid Hamdani and Max Goeldi, from leaving its territory. It deepened again last year when a tentative deal between the two countries fell apart.

Both men were convicted of overstaying their visas and of engaging in illegal business activities.

Hamdani's conviction was overturned in January, and he has now returned home, while Goeldi surrendered to authorities this week and is now serving a reduced sentence of four months.

The Libyans and Swiss have been holding talks, with Switzerland seeking Goeldi's release, while both countries are imposing visa restrictions on each other's nationals.