We return to figuring out Zhang Chengzhi 张承志 with a speech in Linxia in 2006 on the post-9/11 world... He starts by saying that the Second Intifada and Ariel Sharon's desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque were the pivotal events, rather than the New York/Washington attacks.

"This moment," he says, "rarely mentioned in media accounts, aggravated the situation in Palestine ... and forced the Palestinian people to begin the Second Intifada." He presents his own reading of the Intifada as a message to the world... http://www.wyzxwk.com/Article/jiangtang/2010/12/7001.html

"The message is this: 'All we have to face this savage imperialist violence is the stones in our hands.' Everyone knows that stones are no match against the steel of tanks. Their purpose was to call on the world to look at the oppression, humiliation, and violence of occupation."

He gets to the 9/11 attacks: "In response to this desperate situation [new imperialism 新帝国主义 and Zionism, part of the same program], a group of hopeless men chose to launch a counterattack." When stones didn't work, more extreme measures were required, he says.

"I think that every writer and intellectual, not to mention every Muslim must ask themselves a question: Do you stand on the side of truth and justice?" He says that the targets of new imperialism will expand to include "China and the entire Third World."

He has practical advice: building bridges between the Muslim world and China, and between Chinese muslims and the Han majority. "We must ... push for links between Muslims and the majority, especially sympathetic members of the elite. ... We need to reach out to our..."

"...classmates, friends, teachers, and neighbors to let them know what's going on and explain our beliefs to them. We must also listen humbly to their opinions..." After that, he gets into more theological territory, about getting around internecine conflict within the religion.

The idea that the attacks on that day were just retribution is not exactly novel, especially outside of North America. The Chinese New Left wasn't exactly sympathetic to American empire. While Zhang does pull out Maoist language to put it in a global context, he is a Muslim...

..and also emphasizes the religious character of the struggle against Zionism and American imperialism. This is a good place to start to understand what Zhang Chengzhi has been up to in his writing for the past several decades.