“Bin Laden’s declaration of war [on August 23, 1996] was followed eighteen months later by a fatwa ordering and authorizing ‘jihad against the Crusaders and Jews’ and announcing the creation of the ‘World Islamic Front against Crusaders and Jews,’ an organization composed of al-Qaeda, [Ayman] al-Zawahiri’s EIJ [Egyptian Islamic Jihad], and four other Islamist groups. Unlike the declaration of war, the February 23, 1998, fatwa was signed by several fully credentialed Islamic scholars, thus giving it religious authority. In addition, assemblies of Islamic scholars in Afghanistan and Pakistan gave the fatwa ‘confirmation and authorization’ shortly after its publication.”
– Michael Scheuer, Osama Bin Laden, Pages 113-114