The Associated Press comes up with a real surprise: Some See Ramadan As Chance for Jihad Acts. Who could have guessed?

CAIRO, Egypt - Ramadan, the month on the Islamic calendar devoted to fasting and self reflection, has also been a time of war and, this year, suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

“For militant groups, Ramadan is an opportunity for escalating violence,” Dia’a Rashwan, an expert on radical Islam at Egypt’s Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said Sunday.

Rashwan said some Muslim militants believe they would “gain the highest reward” by committing acts of jihad, or holy war, in the month during which Muslims believe their sacred book the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. This year, Ramadan began in late October.

The AP, of course, would like us all to know that…

Islamic scholars disagree with the extremists.

…and they’ve dug one up, from Egypt’s Al-Azhar University (whose Grand Shaykh just came out in favor of suicide bombing) to regurgitate some “Islam is a Religion of Peace” pabulum for the AP’s infidel readership:

“Linking Ramadan with violence is unacceptable,” said Abdul-Moti Bayoumi of the Islamic Research Center at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, considered by many to be the world’s leading Sunni Islam seat of learning. “Ramadan is the month of peace between the individual and himself, with people and with God.”

But the AP also recounts a few of the “unacceptable” violent incidents that have marred the otherwise completely peaceful Ramadan holiday:

On Saturday, three explosions rocked a residential compound in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, killing at least five people and wounding more than 80. A Saudi Interior Ministry official said that the compound attack was by a suicide car bomber and similar in style to a series of May 12 car bombings in Riyadh compounds housing foreigners that were blamed on the al-Qaida terror network and that killed 35 people, including nine suicide bombers.

As Ramadan began two weeks ago, a series of vehicle bombings killed scores of people in Iraq, where the U.S.-led coalition that ousted Saddam Hussein has been struggling to restore order.

Violence during Ramadan, however, has roots in history. The seventh century Battle of Badr, the first battle between Muslims and non-Muslims, took place during Ramadan.

Egypt and Syria launched their 1973 war on Israel during Ramadan.

“