Download In response to: “If any of you mates feel offended by this mail, I don`t

In response to: “If any of you mates feel offended by this mail, I don't care … “
I asked around and mercifully none seemed particularly offended by your e-mail.
I'll tell you why.
Because the Islamist radicals have hijacked the spiritual Islam my parents, family and
Muslim friends peacefully practiced - they have politicized it. And to quote Bunny:
“There is nothing we can do about it but hope for the best … “
Folks, I have mulled over Bunny’s comment for many weeks with abject impotency - Is
there nothing we can do about it? His comment has remained persistently nestled in my
thoughts these past few weeks like a gangrene seeking to rot everything.
When Haig Sir asked us over brunch a few months ago the difference between the AlQaeda and the IS, (for how the ISI, ISIS and the ISIL morphed into the IS please see my
footnote at the end), I dismissively replied that they were both committed to violence that is like saying the Mormons are followers of Jesus Christ. I intentionally let that
discussion die down for fear that my rage would surface and spoil the conviviality.
Haig Sir’s question was the flint that lit a match in my dark head; my languid passivity
over the weeks had finally found new expression by dawning upon me my remissness in
not thinking before, the compelling obligation to raise awareness (especially amongst the
non-Muslims) in this forum, of the root causes of extremism and of the lifestyle that
fosters recruitment into extremist movements.
I know the flippant response I gave to Haig Sir's question was hopelessly inadequate and
I hope this forum benefits from this discourse - if you will indulge me by reading further.
To pretend scholarship on this sensitive and sometimes taboo subject is a deceit I do not
wish to subscribe to and thus I encourage others in this forum, who I like to think can add
a nuanced dimension to this discourse, to come share their knowledge with us, to
enlighten us and to nourish our intellectual curiosity.
In my experience most Muslims have a very sketchy understanding of Islam and from a
young age they learn to read and pronounce Arabic words but have no idea what those
words meant – they dance on the demon of ignorance.
The recent Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris, the Boko Haram slaughter in Nigeria, the IS
beheadings and jihadi-John have predictably produced a freshet of public outrage. The
world is being rendered an increasingly ‘dangerous place’ to live in as a result of these
escalating conflicts.
I feel outraged and I feel your rage. I channel this rage into my writing; you may have felt
the fervor in there previously.
Let me first give you a summary of my thoughts and then a contextualized understanding
of Islamism:
 Islam one of the world’s greatest religions has been hijacked
The silent majority of the 1.6 billion Muslims around the world feel that the Islam they
practice has been hijacked by Arab anger expressed in Islamist political terms. JihadiJohn and his beheadings is a manifestation of this Islamist rage. This anger ridden
ideology is not only a threat to Islam and Muslims but to the entire civilized world.
We need to distinguish here between Islam, a system of ideas, and Muslims, the
followers of Islam.
Who are these Islamists?
Terrorism does not emerge overnight, it takes root over time. Briefly then I will introduce
you to three founders of the Islamic movement and the Wahhabis.
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Abul-Ala Mawdudi (b 1903; d. 1979) a Pakistani journalist who translated the
Koran according to his own whims. He developed and promoted a new brand of
Islam, highly politicized and deeply anti-western. He was the first to reject Islam
as a religion and re-brand it as an ideology
Sayyid Qutb (b 1906; d 1966) was Mawdudi’s Egyptian counterpart – hardened
by social isolation in the US he became an ardent anti-Westerner. From his
prison cell in Cairo, Qutb expressed in his book Milestones, the idea to overthrow
Arab governments using violence. For writing this book Qutb was put to death by
the Egyptian government in 1966. Qutb's Milestone is mandatory reading for
Islamists.
Taqi Nabhani, (b 1909; d 1977) in Ijzim in Ottoman Syria (now Palestine) –
founder of the Hizb in 1952 – outlawed in every country in which it operated. It’s
aims were considered seditious its plans destructive
The Islamic movement today follow the literalist preaching of the above three - Qutb’s
Milestones combined with Wahhabi literalism makes a potent and dangerous
religious/political cocktail.
Who are the Wahhabis?
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The Wahhabism mindset emerged from the central Arabian wastelands of Najd in
the eighteenth century
Wahhabism, a subset of Salafism was founded in the Arabian Peninsula by
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (b. 1703; d.1792) a puritanical eighteenth
century Muslim leader who rejected the established practices of the local Najdi
population
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Salafis (the word Salaf means ancestor) view themselves as the only true
Muslims, considering those who practice so-called “major idolatry” to be outside
the bounds of the Islamic faith. Those worshiping, or perceived to be worshiping,
stones, saints, tombs, etc., are considered apostates, deserters of the religion.
These include the Shi‘a who are guilty of their excessive reverence of the Prophet
Muhammad’s family
Saudi is 75% Wahhabi and 25% Salafi
In 1744 ibn Abd al-Wahhab negotiated a deal with the then nomadic tribe of Saud
and their tribal leader Muhammad bin-Saud, forebears of the current Saudi
royal family. In exchange for support in their quest for local political domination,
the Saudis would back ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s mission to impose his interpretation
of Islam at a local level in Najd (in what is now the Central region in Saudi
Arabia)
Ibn al-Wahhab’s cult is Wahhabism under the political patronage of the Saudi
tribe and when the House of Saud rose as the long-lasting royal family of Saudi
Arabia, Wahhabism became state theocracy and remains so today
the Saudis helped the Wahhabis to impose their version of the faith across Arabia
by waging jihad against perceived heretics
by killing those they disagreed with and later having oil wealth (post 1952),
Wahhabis ensured their dominance of modern Muslim thought
Wahhabism is political and the Wahhabite sect of Saudi Arabian Islam is the most
rigid literalist interpretation of Islam with a significant foothold. It is a nefarious
intolerant form of Islam
in contemporary Wahhabism there are two factions one supporting the House of
Saud and the other believes that the monarchy should be removed forcibly
by early 2005 the Wahhabis and their followers abhorred the Saudi monarchy,
chief among them was Osama bin Laden
Al-Qaeda (which means ‘the foundation’ or ‘the base’) is a manifestation of
Wahhabism
Today’s jihadis are Wahhabis who have taken up arms against the Saudi rulers
and their backers. Many imams in madrassas around the world are Saudi trained
Wahhabi men wear the red and white chequered Saudi Bedouin headscarf from
Najd
the virulent strain of extreme historically inaccurate Wahhabite Islam is
spreading
What do the Islamists believe in?
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Islamists call for the forceful removal of all Arab leaders and their replacement
by an all-embracing Caliph; they want the re-establishment of a caliphate or
Khilafah
They believe that Muslims are weak because the Muslims are divided
Muslim lands (not countries) are poor because the Muslims of Sudan, Somalia,
Bangladesh, Kashmir do not share in the oil wealth of the gulf countries
Oil was a gift from Allah to the Muslims, for all Muslims and not just the Gulf
Arabs
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divided by Britain and France they believe that the wealth of Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait should not be limited to those artificial constructs. The riches of Saudi
Arabia or Kuwait belong to the whole Muslim nation – the ummah - controlled by
the Islamic state. They will first distribute this wealth to poorer Muslims in Africa
and then invite other non-Muslim nations to Islam
The foreign policy of the Islamists is to conquer and convert. If countries refused
to convert, then they would pay the Islamic state a tax, known as jizyah, to ensure
their safety and protection by the Islamic state
The only important thing is that Muslims all submit to Islam, and that the nonMuslims, submit to Muslims
Muslims were one nation under one god
Democracy and Parliament belongs to the kafir system
Democracy (peoples rule) is un-Islamic and haram, forbidden in Islam. In Islam,
we don’t rule, Allah rules
Democracy implied sovereignty for man, whereas Islamism demanded
sovereignty for God
the worst expression of man-made law was democracy
celebrating the Prophet’s birthday is an imitation of kuffar Christian practice (in
Sri Lanka, Muslims celebrate Prophet Mohamed’s birthday - it is declared a
public holiday)
Allah’s law in Allah’s land is the Sharia law
Jihad, was a war against anybody who opposes the Islamist call
Qutb called upon Muslims to unite under a single state, the caliphate, and then to
prepare for jihad
the life of a kafir was of little consequence in attaining Muslim dominance
How does the Islamic State recruit jihadis?
“A message to the Mujahidin and the Muslim community in the Month of Ramadan,”
July 1, 2014
O Muslims, come to your state. Yes, your state! Come! Syria is not for Syrians, and
Iraq is not for Iraqis. The earth belongs to God! He bestows it on whom He wills of
His servants…
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The perfect Islamic state is a cherished myth, sold to naive Muslims by conniving
Islamists
money from Saudi Arabia helped build mosques and madrassas and Its leaders
were earning salaries as ‘ministers of religion’ by associating themselves with
Saudi Arabia’s missionary arm, the Muslim World League
As long as Saudi money and shelter was available Islamists were happy to align
themselves with the kingdom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIUS6d76qig
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the Salafis are sponsored by Saudi Arabia to propagate Salafism or Wahhabism
globally
Saudi Arabia exports more than oil
to this day every Saudi embassy has a missionary arm staffed by Wahhabis to
monitor Muslim activity in the host country and help support Wahhabism
financially
Muslims enjoy a better lifestyle in non-Muslim Britain, Canada, the US and
Australia than they do in their own birth countries
In Britain first generation immigrants predominantly arrive from India and
Pakistan
In France Muslims arrive from former French colonies of Morocco and Algeria.
These immigrants are a relatively poor first generation, keen to retain its ethnic
identity by conglomerating into mono-cultural ghettoes which prevents its
children from integrating
they live physically in the host West country but psychologically in their native
countries and this causes their children to develop confused identities
this mixed heritage of being British or Canadian by birth, Asian by descent, born
to be brown; they will always be brown and never accepted
when this happens religious bigots are happy to step in and offer a strong identity
and they usually find eager followers
the first generation of British-born Muslims in madrassas and some in
universities in large numbers suffer from common problems that the Islamists tap
into
They come from unemployed, disenchanted inner-city Muslim communities
rebelling against their parents beliefs
it is in many cases the children of blue-collar workers that proved to be
vulnerable to extremist groups driven by their failure to integrate into the host
society
They linger in the ghettoes, economically inactive and socially excluded hanging
on to the fringe of radicalism rejecting any notion of national identity and inching
towards jihadism
Mosques, madrassas and universities provides a fertile recruiting ground
Young articulate British Muslims whose parents had sent them to universities for
an education return as dogmatic zealots
Most of these young Muslims were first generation British-born or Canadianborn, attracted by ideals of an Islamic state in which there would be no racism,
Muslims would be first-class citizens, the kuffar would be put in their place and
an army would declare war
the indoctrination is very powerful and deeply penetrates the teenage mind with
Islam's excessive investment in life after death
Their dependence on the welfare state, reluctance to integrate and hostility
towards the government create a breeding ground for Islamist radicals
In 2008 only around a quarter of British Muslims were found “economically
active” – report by the Fabian Society under the auspices of British Muslim
parliamentarian Sadiq Khan
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According to the British government’s 2001 census the proportion of Muslims
‘who have never worked or are long term unemployed’ is five times higher than
the national average
78% of the Bangladeshi and 73% of the Pakistani women in Britain are
unemployed
Muslims make up 5% of the population of Denmark and yet they are estimated to
absorb 50% of that countries welfare budget
the entire notion of the Islamic state is a modern phenomenon
the key message was that Islam was not merely a religion but also an ideology
they were Muslims superior and different from others
From Egypt to Pakistan wherever there are radical Islamist movements and
madrassas, Jihadist groups have arisen – and this now includes Canada and
Australia
There are cells now operating in Toronto and Melbourne
Frederick Forster sent me this clip a few days ago:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=937981969546403&set=vb.100000038277260&
type=2&theater
What started in the eighteenth century in Najd by Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab as
opposition to mainstream Islam and its practices has now reached the capitals of the
West. The rise of the Islamic State in 2013–2014 has energized the jihadi movement,
attracting tens of thousands of young Muslims around the globe
On September 21, 2014, Islamic State official spokesman Abu Muhammad al-‘Adnani
called on all supporters to kill Westerners arbitrarily throughout the world—Americans,
Canadians, Australians, and their allies, both civilians and military personnel. This call
is being met, with Islamic State-inspired attacks having occurred in these countries –
Jihadi-John.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2015/01/21/what-if-isis-wins/
Ordinary Muslims have been the greatest victims of Islamist terror and their desire to put
an end to the threat is perhaps greater than non-Muslims
To quote Selwyn: “Most important is tolerance, peace and respect for all beings … “
Note: In April 2013 the group, known officially as the Islamic State of Iraq, draw
international attention as something more than a mere front for al-Qaeda’s Iraq branch.
Announcing its expansion to Syria, the Islamic State of Iraq rechristened itself the
Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS), and so reintroduced itself to the world. After
gaining resources, recruits, and momentum, the group redoubled its efforts in Iraq,
capturing most of the Sunni areas of that country in June 2014.It then declared itself the
caliphate, or the global Islamic empire, nixing the “Iraq and Sham” part of its name in a
nod to its extraterritorial ambitions.
If you have been generous enough to read me this far, please tell me if this was helpful
and do you wish us to continue on this subject which I find is still wreathed and muffled
in husky whispers.