Egyptian Cleric Clarifies His Human 'Groceries' Comment...By Justifying Taking 'Sex Slaves

A couple weeks ago we showed you the shocking video of an Egyptian Muslim cleric advocating jihad and saying financial problems could be solved by selling captives "like groceries." Now, that same cleric is back, and he's supposedly claiming his words were taken out of context. But the way he's defending himself is curious, especially when you consider it involves him justifying buying "sex slaves."

The website Translating Jihad, which first published the earlier video, explains that in the follow-up video (which consists of a 20-minute phone interview), Egyptian Shaykh Abu-Ishaq al-Huwayni contends "that his words in that clip were taken out of context--he was talking within the larger topic of offensive jihad." Additionally, the site says, he explains "the meaning of offensive jihad, and establishe[s] through sources in the Qur'an and sayings of Muhammad that both offensive jihad and the taking of spoils of war, namely slaves and 'sex-slaves,' are legitimate under Islam."

That's certainly an odd way to clarify your remarks. In addition, the transcript (and video) show that al-Huwayni assures his audience not to worry, since the Koran and Allah only allow the women of infidels (not other Muslims) to be converted into slaves:

Do you understand what I'm saying? Spoils, slaves, and prisoners are only to be taken in war between Muslims and infidels. Muslims in the past conquered, invaded, and took over countries. This is agreed to by all scholars--there is  no disagreement on this from any of them, from the smallest to the largest, on the issue of taking spoils and prisoners. The prisoners and spoils are distributed among the fighters, which includes men, women, children, wealth, and so on.

Would the infidels include Christians, Jews, Israelis, Americans, and the West in general?

You can read the full transcript over at Translating Jihad.

(H/T: Weasel Zippers)