The New Fatwa - an incitement to commit a crime?

I am as anxious as the next person for the Libyan people to gain their freedom from an autocratic rule of 42 years. Most Libyans have not known any other system of governance in their lives; yet they are out in the streets facing state terror to achieve an ideal they have only heard about. May Allah grant them success.

That said, one of our most distinguished scholars is urging anyone who has the capacity to kill the Libyan ruler to do so. Regardless of the justification derived from some supposed Islamic rationale and packaged in the form a fatwa, this is clearly an incitement to commit a crime. Even in the worst of situations, an incitement to commit a murder is just that, and it is against the law in most contemporary civilized societies.

The Libyan people want to topple the regime. That is their right, even though the Grand Mufti of Egypt denied the Egypt people this right through his fatwa. The Libyan people can decide how to hold the toppled ruler to account, and they will. They will perhaps remember that when Musa AS was faced with the crime that Samiri had committed, he asked him "What is your explanation, O Samiri?" even though the guilt of Samiri was evident and beyond doubt.

By the way, wouldn't it be nice to have a debate between a mufti who tells the Egyptian people not to rebel against their autocratic rule, and a mufti who tells the Libyan people to kill their autocratic rule. That will illuminate the civilizational challenge Islam and Muslim face today.