CTC Sentinel. Volume 1, Issue 6, May 2008. Abu Yahya al-Libi's Human Shields in Modern Jihad

In the course of defending al-Qaida against charges of unjustly killing innocent Muslims during his April 2, 2008 open interview, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri reintroduced Hukm al-Tatarrus the law on using human shields into the debate. A relatively unfamiliar term to non-Muslims and Muslims alike, al-Tatarrus refers to Gods sanctioning of Muslim armies that are forced to kill other Muslims who are being used as human shields by an enemy during a time of war. Al-Tatarrus is a religiously legitimate, albeit obscure, Islamic concept that al-Qaida ideologues have been increasingly using in order to exculpate themselves from charges of apostasy. The method in which al-Qaida is promoting al-Tatarrus, however, seeks to facilitate the sacrifice of Muslim lives in contravention of 14 centuries of religious teachings. For instance, both al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and the al-Qaida Organization in Yemen hid behind the protections offered by al-Tatarrus in their justification of terrorist attacks that resulted in significant Muslim casualties, al-Qa-idas use of al-Tatarrus was also at the heart of Sayyid Imam Sharifs recent attacks against al-Zawahiri and al-Qaida.