C L O S E R

Independent Online Edition – How British Muslim whose partner died in 7 July attacks confronted bomber's father

Posted on July 6th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Independent Online Edition:  How British Muslim whose partner died in 7 July attacks confronted bomber’s father
How British Muslim whose partner died in 7 July attacks confronted bomber’s father

A British Muslim whose partner died in the London bombs on 7 July last year has confronted the father of the suicide bomber responsible and uncovered the first real insight into the trauma the bombers have heaped upon their own families, as well as the bereaved. (more…)

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Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | G-had and suicide bombers: the rapper who likens Bin Laden to Che Guevara

Posted on July 4th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Multiculti Issues, Public Islam, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | G-had and suicide bombers: the rapper who likens Bin Laden to Che Guevara
Extracts

I Reject

Reject your thieving foreign policies
Reject your elitist congregation
Reject your mini skirt liberation
Reject your concept of integration …

Parasites

But revenge will be mine, with my last breath I will rise to curse you
Because you, you dogs and parasites have made us helpless

Cookbook DIY

I’m strapped up cross my chest bomb belt attached
Deeply satisfied with the plan I hatched
Electrodes connected to a gas cooker lighter

(more…)

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Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | G-had and suicide bombers: the rapper who likens Bin Laden to Che Guevara

Posted on July 4th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Multiculti Issues, Public Islam, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | G-had and suicide bombers: the rapper who likens Bin Laden to Che Guevara
Extracts

I Reject

Reject your thieving foreign policies
Reject your elitist congregation
Reject your mini skirt liberation
Reject your concept of integration …

Parasites

But revenge will be mine, with my last breath I will rise to curse you
Because you, you dogs and parasites have made us helpless

Cookbook DIY

I’m strapped up cross my chest bomb belt attached
Deeply satisfied with the plan I hatched
Electrodes connected to a gas cooker lighter

(more…)

0 comments.

BBC NEWS | UK | England | West Midlands | Muslim leaders condemn terrorism

Posted on June 28th, 2006 by .
Categories: Internal Debates, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

BBC NEWS | UK | England | West Midlands | Muslim leaders condemn terrorism
Muslim leaders condemn terrorism
Birmingham Central Mosque
The edict was agreed in a meeting at Birmingham Central Mosque
Islamic leaders across Birmingham have issued a joint message against terrorism in a bid to tackle mistrust of Muslims in the UK.

Leaders of the 150 mosques in the city have backed the statement, which comes in response to the police raid in London’s Forest Gate this month.

The religious edict makes clear the killing of innocent victims is against the principles of Islam.

It has been welcomed by the chief constable of the West Midlands.

The message is thought to be the first joint statement made by Muslim scholars in the UK against terrorism.

Activities regulated

It states: “That killing of innocent civilians is absolutely forbidden in Islam and anyone who contemplates or commits any such act, does so against the teachings of Islam.”

The statement adds action has been taken to regulate the activities of every mosque to ensure worshippers are given a message of “calmness and civic responsibility”.

It said the action of the UK Government in Iraq had caused anger in the Muslim community but there is a “resolve to guide the Muslim response in accordance with good citizenship”.

Dr Muhammad Naseem, chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque, said: “There is a perception that Muslims are a source of terrorism.

“Although individuals have made statements against terrorism people still say Muslims aren’t denouncing terrorism.”

‘Positive announcement’

Terrorism is against the teachings of Islam, Dr Naseem explained, saying he was making the leaders’ position clear.

“We hope this will improve the understanding between religious communities in the city,” he added.

West Midlands chief constable Paul Scott-Lee said: “I am delighted by this positive announcement from our local mosques and fully support what is an important statement for all our communities.”

It is planned that similar anti-violence messages from Muslim leaders across other UK cities will be issued as part of the initiative.

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BBC NEWS | UK | England | West Midlands | Muslim leaders condemn terrorism

Posted on June 28th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Internal Debates, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

BBC NEWS | UK | England | West Midlands | Muslim leaders condemn terrorism
Muslim leaders condemn terrorism
Birmingham Central Mosque
The edict was agreed in a meeting at Birmingham Central Mosque
Islamic leaders across Birmingham have issued a joint message against terrorism in a bid to tackle mistrust of Muslims in the UK.

Leaders of the 150 mosques in the city have backed the statement, which comes in response to the police raid in London’s Forest Gate this month.

The religious edict makes clear the killing of innocent victims is against the principles of Islam.

It has been welcomed by the chief constable of the West Midlands.

The message is thought to be the first joint statement made by Muslim scholars in the UK against terrorism.

Activities regulated

It states: “That killing of innocent civilians is absolutely forbidden in Islam and anyone who contemplates or commits any such act, does so against the teachings of Islam.”

The statement adds action has been taken to regulate the activities of every mosque to ensure worshippers are given a message of “calmness and civic responsibility”.

It said the action of the UK Government in Iraq had caused anger in the Muslim community but there is a “resolve to guide the Muslim response in accordance with good citizenship”.

Dr Muhammad Naseem, chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque, said: “There is a perception that Muslims are a source of terrorism.

“Although individuals have made statements against terrorism people still say Muslims aren’t denouncing terrorism.”

‘Positive announcement’

Terrorism is against the teachings of Islam, Dr Naseem explained, saying he was making the leaders’ position clear.

“We hope this will improve the understanding between religious communities in the city,” he added.

West Midlands chief constable Paul Scott-Lee said: “I am delighted by this positive announcement from our local mosques and fully support what is an important statement for all our communities.”

It is planned that similar anti-violence messages from Muslim leaders across other UK cities will be issued as part of the initiative.

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The Short, Violent Life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Posted on June 26th, 2006 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Read this: The Short, Violent Life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!! by Mary Anne Weaver

How a video-store clerk and small-time crook reinvented himself as America’s nemesis in Iraq

He continued, “The Americans have been patently stupid in all of this. They’ve blown Zarqawi so out of proportion that, of course, his prestige has grown. And as a result, sleeper cells from all over Europe are coming to join him now.” He paused for a moment, then said, “Your government is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

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C L O S E R – The Miami Terrorists…

Posted on June 25th, 2006 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religion Other, Religious and Political Radicalization, Uncategorized.

Several people in Miami have been arrested for alledgedly trying to attack Sears Tower. Quickly described as ‘muslims‘

Well, we’re told these seven arrests — most of them in Miami, one in Atlanta, people described as radical Muslims, a religious sect that identified with al Qaeda, although officials have said — one senior official told us they were not related to al Qaeda. And one, we’re told, had taken an oath to al Qaeda, but we don’t know exactly that that means. It might have been something quite informal. I suspect we’ll learn a little more about that today.

We have to be a little more carefull though, because the people arrested seem to belong to a called that isn’t Islamic, but more a syncretistic sect:

Batiste and his followers swore an oath of allegiance to Al-Qaeda and requested help from an undercover agent to buy weapons, explosives and uniforms, according to the indictment. He sought $50,000 to fund his mission and boasted that his attacks would be “as good or greater than 9/11”.

Batiste’s targets were said to have included the Miami FBI building as well as the Sears Tower, America’s tallest building. He was secretly recorded and filmed by the FBI, which infiltrated the group after a tip-off from a member of the public.

No weapons or explosives have been found at the windowless warehouse that Batiste called the “temple” in a rundown area of Miami.

Batiste grew up in Chicago and, as a young man, joined the Guardian Angels, a beret-wearing citizens’ crime prevention group. In 1994 he told his father, a former preacher, that he was “joining the Muslims” but his beliefs bear little relation to orthodox Islam.

A close friend said his teachings came from the Moorish Science Temple of America, an early 20th century religion founded by the Noble Drew Ali, a wandering African-American circus magician who claimed to have been raised by Cherokee Indians and to have learnt “high magic” in Egypt. Ali went on to style himself an “angel” and prophet of Allah.

The Seas of David borrows tenets from Judaism and Christianity as well as Islam and emphasises self-discipline through martial arts.

More information can be found on Unqualified Offerings: HERE, HERE and HERE. In the words of Crooked Timber: a conferaderacy of Dunces.

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Muslims address silence on Europe attacks – Yahoo! News

Posted on June 25th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Public Islam, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Muslims address silence on Europe attacks – Yahoo! News
I cannot speak of course for all Muslims in all European countries, in the case of the assassination of Van Gogh, Dutch Muslims rejected the murder outright, with one Muslim organization calling Van Gogh a martyr of the freedom of speech. Nevertheless, it seems necessary to talk about this topic, because in particular non-Muslims seem to do not have heard these comments. Therefore probably the debate among Muslims about the so-called silence on Europe attacks:

By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 24, 11:56 AM ET

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Europe’s Muslims have remained largely silent in the face of terrorist attacks that have killed 254 people in Madrid, London and Amsterdam. Europeans want to know why.

Why have so few of them publicly condemned the train and bus bombings in Madrid and London? Why have so few spoken out against the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, killed because his work was considered an insult to Islam?

Talk to Europe’s mainstream Muslims privately, however, and it turns out they have a lot to say. (more…)

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C L O S E R – Debat: Dialoog met de Demonen

Posted on June 20th, 2006 by .
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Zo langzamerhand dient er zich een nieuw debat aan: wat moet de verhouding zijn van ‘ons’ ten opzichte van fundamentalistische groepen? Al eerder pleitte de WRR in hun rapport er voor om een dialoog aan te gaan met islamistische groepen en dat kon dan ook op het nodige commentaar rekenen.

In hun recente rapport en de perspublikaties daarover pleiten Buijs, Demant en Hamdy ervoor om bepaalde salafistische groepen te zien als drempel naar radicalisering én dat de overheid een actieve houding moet aannemen in het stimuleren van een pluralistisch kennisaanbod met betrekking tot islam.

De NRC van 20 juni 2006 presenteert een klein debatje op haar opiniepagina met hoogleraar Ruud Peters (onder andere bekend van het proces tegen Mohammed B. en het proces tegen de hofstadgroep). Hij wijst op het polariserende effect van het islamdebat en pleit ervoor minder te letten op culturele verschillen tussen moslims en Nederlanders en meer maatregelen ten gunste van het sociale, economische en intellectuele kapitaal van migranten. De hervorming van de islam, als die al nodig is, kan volgens hem beter over gelaten worden aan moslims zelf.

Buijs pleit daarentegen voor een meer actieve houding van de overheid en stelt dat problemen niet onder de tafel geveegd moeten worden door te stellen dat DE islam niet bestaat. Aandacht voor culturele verschillen is daarom wel degelijk nodig en de overheid moet initiatieven meer ondersteunen.

Wilders hanteert de stelling van de demografische valkuil waarbij moslims langzaam maar zeker de autochtone, niet-moslim, inwoners van Nederland zouden overvleugelen. Des te ernstiger omdat uit het rapport van Buijs cs zou blijken dat 40% van de Marokkanen van mening is dat westerse waarden en islam onverzoenlijk zijn en dat 6 à 7% bereid is de islam met geweld te verdedigen (zie post hieronder). Onconventionele maatregelen zijn daarom volgens hem nodig en zeker geen dialoog met fundamentalisten. Harde repressie en een versterking van de Nederlandse eigenheid, zijn de enig mogelijke oplossingen.

Dus wat te doen?

Hieronder de volledige teksen van Peters, Buijs en Wilders in NRC. (more…)

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C L O S E R – Geweld?

Posted on June 18th, 2006 by .
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization.

De Volkskrant weet ook te melden dat 6-7% bereid is om geweld te gebruiken; net als onder de autochtonen. Ik weet niet precies waar men dit op baseert.

Wel is mij een onderzoek bekend dat ook dergelijke cijfers gebruikt en dat zich ook richt op autochtonen. Hieronder een staatje uit het rapport van Phalet, Lotringen en Entzinger uit 2000: Islam in de multiculturele samenleving.

Let wel het gaat hier over cijfers van jongeren die aangeven wat ze zouden willen: actiebereidheid. Niet het daadwerkelijke activisme. De gang van zaken rondom de cartoons in Denemarken, de vele petities on- en offline, de neergang van de AEL en de mislukking van de MDP enz. laten vooral zien dat er nauwelijks sprake is van daadwerkelijke legale en illegale (collectieve) actie. Dit gaat wellicht niet op voor individuele acties.

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C L O S E R – Salafisme: het nieuwe buzz-word

Posted on June 15th, 2006 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Islam in the Netherlands, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, My Research, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Het lijkt erop dat we sinds de moord op Van Gogh over een nieuw buzz-woord beschikken en wel salafisme. Wanneer we spreken over radicalisering en terreurdreiging door moslims, spreken we tegenwoordig vooral over salafisten. Het gebruik van dit woord suggereert dat we weten wat ermee bedoeld wordt: een homogene groep die anti-westers, anti-integratie en gewelddadig is. Men zou verwachten dat de Voortgangsrapportage Terrorismebestrijding wat preciezer en zorgvuldig is. Als we terroristen willen bestrijden is het immers handig om duidelijk aan te geven wie dat wel zijn en wie niet. Helaas, ook hierin worden alle verschillende groepen onder één noemer gebracht. Salafi’s worden gelijkgesteld aan terroristen en radicalen. Het op één hoop gooien van alle groepen die zich salafi noemen is onterecht, eenzijdig en strategisch gezien bijzonder onverstandig. Waar gaat het eigenlijk om en waarom moet er verschil worden gemaakt?

De term salaf verwijst naar de ‘vrome voorgangers’. Dit zijn de eerste drie generaties moslims van wie wordt verondersteld dat zij de meest pure vorm van islam naleefden. Onder deze vrome voorgangers zouden de metgezellen van de profeet en hun volgelingen vallen. De term kan worden teruggevoerd worden naar de islamgeleerde Ibn Taymiyya die leefde in de 13e en 14e eeuw. Hij pleitte voor een terugkeer naar de salaf om het slechte functioneren van moslims tegen te gaan. Het hedendaagse salafisme wordt tegenwoordig vaak gelijkgesteld met het Saoedische Wahhabisme. Dit is een orthodoxe stroming binnen de Islam die vooral in Saoedi Arabië verspreid is. Een groot gedeelte van deze salafi’s is zeer gezagsgetrouw aan de Saoedische overheid, maar in de jaren zestig en zeventig is er een revolutionaire vorm ontstaan. De meest radicale variant hiervan zijn de jihadisten die in de jaren negentig hun opmars maakten tijdens de oorlog in Afghanistan. Veel meer nog dan de Koran is de Soenna (het voorbeeld van de profeet Mohammed) te zien als het centrale aspect van de salafi doctrine. Iedere stap buiten de Koran en de Soenna betekent dat men zich verwijdert van de gedachte over de tawheed, de eenheid van God, terwijl iedere handeling die in overeenstemming is met de Koran en de Soenna beschouwd kan worden als een daad van aanbidding. Dit betekent dat bepaalde culturele gebruiken, zoals een gedwongen huwelijk of de wijze waarop Marokkanen het huwelijk vieren, buiten de islam geplaatst worden. Eén van de centrale doelen van de salafi beweging is dan ook de deculturalisering van de islam: het scheiden van cultuur en religie. Dit betekent in de praktijk dat men zeer kritisch is ten opzichte van de religieuze praktijken van eerste generatie moslimmigranten en de bestaande moskeeën. Dit is een praktijk die goed aansluit bij wat jongeren in het algemeen doen; of ze nu wel of niet deel uitmaken van de salafi’s, of ze nu fundamentalistisch of liberaal zijn vrijwel allemaal maken ze onderscheid tussen religie en cultuur.

Het lijkt erop dat de opstellers van de voortgangsrapportage terrorisme bestrijding vooral naar de hierboven gemelde overeenkomsten in religieuze dogma’s heeft gekeken en niet is nagegaan hoe salafigroepen zelf omgaan met hun dogma’s. Hoe ze deze interpreteren en hoe ze deze toepassen in de dagelijkse praktijk. We kunnen namelijk globaal drie groepen onderscheiden. Allereerst de salafi dawa, ook wel a-politieke salafi genoemd. Dit zijn de salafi die van oorsprong zeer loyaal zijn aan de Saoedische autoriteiten en zich in Nederland verre houden van de politiek en fel gekant zijn tegen de gewelddadige jihad. De salafi dawa hebben onder andere recent een folder uitgebracht waarin zij uitleggen waarom zelfmoord niet is toegestaan in de islam. Deze folder is duidelijk gericht tegen het plegen van zelfmoordaanslagen.

De tweede groep is die van de meer politiek geëngageerde salafi’s. Zij hebben evenals de eerst genoemde groep de neiging om zich te isoleren van de maatschappij, maar zij maken op dit moment de inschatting dat de situatie van moslims in Nederland en daarbuiten zo precair is dat zij wel moeten opkomen voor moslims. Vandaar bijvoorbeeld de kritiek van imam Fawaz van de Haagse As Soennah moskee op Hirsi Ali en Wilders. Andere moskeeën die tot deze stroming gerekend kunnen worden zijn Fourqaan in Eindhoven en Tawheed in Amsterdam. Jongeren die zich tot deze stroming rekenen keuren de gewelddadige jihad niet altijd af (bijvoorbeeld Palestijnse kwestie, de oorlog in Irak en Afghanistan), maar deze organisaties proberen jongeren weg te houden van de gewelddadige jihad. Men is wel zeer kritisch op bepaalde aspecten van de Nederlandse samenleving zoals de positie van de vrouw en homoseksuelen. Voor beide groepen geldt overigens dat ze zich niet volledig isoleren van de maatschappij. Ze zijn ook gericht op dawa (missie of zending) om moslims en niet-moslims te overtuigen van hun boodschap. De derde groep wordt gevormd door de Jihadi’s en takfiri’s. Zij zien de situatie voor moslims als zo erbarmelijk, dat zij een gewapende strijd noodzakelijk achten en dit ook als één van de hoogste vormen van aanbidding zien.

Er zijn dus belangrijke verschillen onder salafi’s die niet zozeer samenhangen met de religieuze dogma’s, maar wel met de inschatting en interpretatie van de nationale en internationale context. De eerste twee genoemde groepen kennen opvattingen die omstreden zijn in de Nederlandse samenleving, maar dat wil nog niet zeggen dat ze hetzelfde denken als de jihadi’s. Hun inschatting van de politieke en maatschappelijke situatie is geheel verschillend en hun oplossingen voor de problemen eveneens. Dat de meer politiek geëngageerde salafi’s felle kritiek hebben op de uitzending van Nederlandse soldaten naar Afghanistan en dat deze groepen kritiek hebben op de, volgens hen, commerciële uitbuiting van Westerse vrouwen, maakt hen omstreden maar nog niet meteen anti-westers, radicaal of terroristisch. Ze kunnen ook gezien worden als een groep kritische en mondige burgers die vanuit hun religieuze bril het functioneren van de samenleving bekijken. Het generaliseren van alle salafi’s is dus onjuist en eenzijdig. Het is zelfs erg onverstandig. In de discussies tussen salafi’s op internet wordt over dit generaliseren wel gesteld dat Nederland zich niet richt op terroristen, maar op alle moslims die hun geloof praktiseren. De woede over de beschuldiging van terrorisme kan ertoe leiden dat de bereidheid afneemt om de overheid te helpen met het tegengaan van radicalisering. Dat lijkt mij een uitkomst die ook het NCTb niet zoekt.

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Protected: NOVA – Terrorisme-onderzoekers: kritiek op spierballentaal politiek

Posted on June 14th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

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Daily Times – Muslim Canadian intellectuals denounce Islamophobia, Islamism

Posted on June 13th, 2006 by .
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization.

Daily Times – Site Edition
Muslim Canadian intellectuals denounce Islamophobia, Islamism

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Eleven Muslim Canadian academics and community leaders have issued a joint statement expressing regret that a “curtain of fear has descended on the intelligentsia of the West, including Canada (and) the fear of being misunderstood as Islamophobic has sealed their lips, dried their pens and locked their keyboards.”

The joint statement, which is seen as unprecedented, said that with hundreds dead around the world in the aftermath of the infamous Danish cartoons, Canada’s writers, politicians and media have imposed a “frightening censorship on themselves, refusing to speak their minds, thus ensuring that the only voices being heard are that of the Muslim extremists and the racist right.” The statement pointed out that emboldened by the free rein they have received, Canada’s Muslim extremists and their supporters held a meeting in a public park with speakers promising to drown the Danish people “in their own blood”. Elsewhere, in Pakistan, a Muslim woman was pictured carrying a sign, “God bless Hitler,” and a Muslim cleric placed a $1 million reward for the murder of a Danish cartoonist. Embassies were burned, churches ruined and hundreds died in different Muslim countries.

The statement is signed by Jehad Aliweiwi, Tarek Fatah, Taj Hashmi, Amir Hassanpour, Prof Tareq Y Ismael, Prof Jacqueline S Ismael, El Farouk Khaki, Prof Shahrzad Mojab, Prof Haideh Moghissi, Munir Pervaiz and Prof Saeed Rahnema.

The joint statement said, “Undoubtedly, Muslims were angered by the insulting cartoons. But the overblown reaction was partly due to their pent-up frustrations, and partly the result of orchestrated mischief by certain Islamist leaders. Islamic societies, run by variances of autocratic regimes, are in turmoil. Ravaged by rampant corruption, a widening gap between rich and poor, and suppression of dissent, the people in these societies have lost hope in their own futures. The US-led invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the unending occupation of the Palestinian territories and the quagmire of the Kashmiri dispute, have led many Muslims and non-religious peoples of Islamic origin, to view the West as the source of their countries’ problems. The growing popularity of the extremists in Muslim societies, the electoral success of the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, Shia radicals in Iraq, and Hamas in the Palestinian territories, rather than signifying the growing religiosity of the peoples of the Middle East, reflect political despair in the region.”

The academics and community leaders said that in the West, people of Muslim origin, whether religious or secular, are facing growing racism, Islamophobia and discrimination reflected in immigration policies and anti-terrorist legislation. “The cartoon crisis was the straw that broke the camel’s back” and Muslim extremists seized the opportunity to add fuel to the fire. They criticised the “calculated role” played by the two Danish Muslim extremists, backed by Islamic fundamentalist regimes, which not only aggravated an already inflammatory situation.

Imam Abu Laban and Ahmad Akkari of Denmark who ignited the fires of protest should be held accountable for their actions, the statement demanded. The academics and community leaders pointed out that for too long the media have created an image that portrays communities from the Muslim world as a monolith entity, best represented by extremists. The media have created a false dichotomy that pits these Muslim extremists against the West. The fact is that in all Muslim countries, progressive citizens are trying to break loose from the tyranny of the autocrats and clerics and wish to develop a civil society where citizenship is based not on inherited race or religion, but the equality of all, irrespective of faith, race, sexuality or gender. Only outrageous, violent expressions of faith by Muslim extremists are taken as the aspirations of people from Islamic societies.

The statement called upon Canada’s intelligentsia to stand shoulder to shoulder with Muslims and secular individuals from the region who reject both Islamophobia and Islamism. “Islamism is not the new revolutionary movement against global forces of oppression, as a section of the left in this country erroneously perceives. Today, the religious right and autocracies in the so-called Islamic world are united in their call for passing legislation to make any discussion on religion a criminal offence. We call on Canadian politicians and intellectuals to stand up for freedom of expression. Our democratic values, including free speech, should not be compromised under the garb of fighting hate. To fight Islamophobia and racism, we do not need to sacrifice free speech and debate,” the statement said.

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Protected: de Volkskrant – Binnenland – Predikers van zuivere islam voelen zich onbegrepen

Posted on June 13th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

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Brabants Dagblad – Folderen in strijd tegen aanslagen

Posted on June 10th, 2006 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Brabants Dagblad
Folderen in strijd tegen aanslagen
door Jessica Maas

Vrijdag 9 juni 2006 – De salafistische moskee aan de Nijverstraat in Tilburg verspreidt folders waarin zelfmoordaanslagen stellig worden verworpen. De folder wordt onder jongeren in heel Nederland verspreid. „Wij willen radicalisering onder jongeren voorkomen.“ Geef uw mening over deze kwestie
Tilburg
M. Mrabet, secretaris van de Islamitische stichting voor Cultuur en Welzijn is de initiatiefnemer van de folder. Volgens hem worstelen veel islamitische jongeren met de vraag of zelfmoordaanslagen zijn toegestaan volgens de islam. „Naar aanleiding van vragen van jonge bezoekers heb ik besloten de inzichten van negen grote geleerden op te schrijven. Veel jongeren halen hun kennis van internet, die is vaak gebaseerd op een verkeerde uitleg van de teksten.“ De folders zijn erg in trek, volgens de secretaris zijn er al honderden verspreid door heel Nederland.
De moskee in de Nijverstraat is in trek onder veel jongeren. De bijeenkomsten trekken vaak meer dan 200 jongeren tussen de 18 en 30 jaar. Met name de lezingen van de imam Bouchta zijn populair. Ook op internet worden zijn lezingen besproken. De moord op Theo van Gogh, terrorisme, optreden van Amerika. Het zijn zaken waar veelvuldig over wordt gediscussieerd in de moskee.
Goede moslim
Mrabet ziet het als zijn taak om de juiste kennis te verspreiden. „We willen ons geloof beschermen. Een goede moslim zoekt de waarheid. We doen zo beter werk dan de AIVD. We vinden dit ook onze verantwoordelijkheid in deze chaotische tijden. De AIVD scheert veel moslims over een kam.“
De Tilburgse moskee hangt het salafisme aan, een streng-islamitisch stroming die zuivere islam nastreeft. Het salafisme wordt door de AIVD herhaaldelijk aangewezen als een ’gevaarlijke stroming’. Ook in de vierde rapportage terrorismebestrijding die deze week verscheen.
Mrabet benadrukt dat er mensen zijn die salafisten zeggen te zijn en wel geweld prediken, maar die zijn volgens hem het spoor kwijt. De secretaris stelt dat zijn stichting zich niet afkeert van de Nederlandse samenleving. „We wonen hier. We willen geen mensen opjutten of aanzetten tot haat.“

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Protected: Trouw, deVerdieping| podium – VS en Israël, is dat geen religieus geweld?

Posted on June 6th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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Protected: Trouw, deVerdieping| podium – VS en Israël, is dat geen religieus geweld?

Posted on June 6th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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Protected: AD.nl – ‘Zo’n doe-het-zelf-imam, dat is pas echt gevaarlijk’

Posted on May 27th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

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spiked-politics | Article | The truth about 7/7: it was meaningless

Posted on May 21st, 2006 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

spiked-politics | Article | The truth about 7/7: it was meaningless
The truth about 7/7: it was meaningless
The UK government’s ‘narrative’ on the London bombings shows how empty and pointless the attacks were. So why do so many try to read meaning into them?
by Brendan O’Neill

Why did four British citizens blow up themselves and 52 others on a Thursday morning in July 2005?

From what we’ve read over the past 10 months – the reams of analysis, commentary and speculation – you might think they did it as part of some Islamist conspiracy, or to register their opposition to the war in Iraq, or because they were evil and wished to topple British, even Western civilisation. In fact, as the UK government’s narrative on 7/7 now reveals, there is little hard evidence that they did it for any of those reasons. The truth appears to be that 7/7 was meaningless; it was a nihilistic attack carried out by four fairly ordinary blokes for no easily discernible aim or agenda. And tragically, those who died in it may as well have been killed by an earthquake or in a train crash. It is time to stop trying to read meaning into 7/7, and get over it.

2 comments.

spiked-politics | Article | The truth about 7/7: it was meaningless

Posted on May 21st, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

spiked-politics | Article | The truth about 7/7: it was meaningless
The truth about 7/7: it was meaningless
The UK government’s ‘narrative’ on the London bombings shows how empty and pointless the attacks were. So why do so many try to read meaning into them?
by Brendan O’Neill

Why did four British citizens blow up themselves and 52 others on a Thursday morning in July 2005?

From what we’ve read over the past 10 months – the reams of analysis, commentary and speculation – you might think they did it as part of some Islamist conspiracy, or to register their opposition to the war in Iraq, or because they were evil and wished to topple British, even Western civilisation. In fact, as the UK government’s narrative on 7/7 now reveals, there is little hard evidence that they did it for any of those reasons. The truth appears to be that 7/7 was meaningless; it was a nihilistic attack carried out by four fairly ordinary blokes for no easily discernible aim or agenda. And tragically, those who died in it may as well have been killed by an earthquake or in a train crash. It is time to stop trying to read meaning into 7/7, and get over it.

2 comments.

Protected: de Volkskrant – ‘Radicaal, ik? Kennissen zouden zich rot lachen’

Posted on May 19th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Internal Debates, Religious and Political Radicalization, Uncategorized.

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MEMRI – Al-Tajdeed Versus Al-Hesbah: Islamist Websites & the Conflict Between Rival Arab & Muslim Political Forces

Posted on May 18th, 2006 by .
Categories: Internal Debates, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Inquiry and Analysis Series – No. 275
Al-Tajdeed Versus Al-Hesbah: Islamist Websites & the Conflict Between Rival Arab & Muslim Political Forces

Introduction

Most of the media in the Arab world – newspapers, television, and radio – are affiliated with various political forces, whether governmental or opposition, operating from within the country or outside it. These media are an important tool in the power struggles among the rival political forces behind them.

With the development of the Internet in the Middle East, websites have become yet another tool in the struggle between rival Arab forces. One prominent example of Internet use as part of this struggle is the campaign by www.tajdeed.org.uk – which belongs to the Saudi Islamist opposition operating in London and is directed by Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mas’ari, who also heads the Al-Tajdeed Al-Islami organization – against www.alhesbah.org, a leading Islamist site that is a conduit for messages from Al-Qaeda and other jihad organizations. [1]

Al-Tajdeed accused Al-Hesbah of working for Arab and Western intelligence apparatuses to expose and arrest contributors to the jihad web forums. According to Al-Tajdeed, Al-Hesbah had brought about the arrest of all the founders of another Islamist website, www.al-ansar.org, including “bin Roma” and “Irhabi 007.” Al-Tajdeed also asserted that Al-Hesbah had brought about the arrest of all the members of the Global Information Media Front (GIMF) [2] directly after they posted an announcement, on behalf of Al-Qaeda, taking responsibility for the February 25, 2006 Abqiq operation (an attempt to strike at the Saudi oil fields), and that Al-Hesbah had brought about the killing of the perpetrators of the operation by Saudi security forces.

Al-Hesbah stopped operating on March 17, 2006, and restarted on April 13, 2006. It is common for Islamist websites to disappear from and return to the web, and this is part of the dynamic of Islamist Internet activity. However, Al-Tajdeed took advantage of Al-Hesbah’s temporary disappearance to step up its attacks on it. Al-Tajdeed recommended that jihad supporters visit alternative websites that, it claimed, were more reliable and on which there was no hostile intelligence activity. When Al-Hesbah returned, Al-Tajdeed warned visitors to the site to take precautions lest their identities be discovered, and gave detailed instructions for doing so.

Another jihad website, www.alburak.net, came to the aid of Al-Hesbah, posting an article accusing Arab opposition elements, including Al-Mas’ari as well as Dr. Hani Al-Siba’i and Dr. Sa’d Al-Faqih, also London residents, of attempting to destroy the jihad websites and to smear those active on them. (Two weeks previously, Al-Tajdeed had accused Al-Burak of “becoming a copy of Al-Hesbah.” [3] )

The sharp rivalry between Al-Tajdeed and Al-Hesbah reflects the struggle between the two rival political forces behind them. In the case of Al-Tajdeed, this force is Saudi Islamist opposition activists. Al-Hesbah claims to be an independent religious site, but in light of the platform it gives to slanderous postings about Saudi opposition activists such as Al-Mas’ari and Al-Faqih – even going so far as to accuse them of heresy and treason – it can be identified as a site affiliated with a religious or political rival of the Saudi opposition, such as the Saudi regime itself. (According to its own report, the Saudi regime is active on the Internet. One example of this activity is the Saudi Ministry of Religious Endowment’s Al-Sakinah campaign for on-line dialogue with extremists [4] ).

Al-Tajdeed, which as mentioned belongs to Saudi opposition elements, also features postings by oppositionists from other Arab countries. According to the Al-Burak website, “Omar bin Hanif,” a contributor to Al-Tajdeed (see below), is Egyptian Islamist opposition member Dr. Hani Al-Sib’ai, head of the Al-Maqrizi Institute in London. If Al-Sib’ai is indeed “Omar bin Hanif,” he joined Al-Tajdeed’s struggle against Al-Hesbah with a posting titled “A Series of Exposures of Spies,” which lay the groundwork for the accusations against Al-Hesbah.

In addition, Al-Burak identified several other Al-Tajdeed contributors, also posting under pseudonyms, as oppositionists from various Arab countries. For example, according to Al-Burak, “Al-Fikr Al-Rashid” is in fact Egyptian Islamist Yasser Al-Sirri, who heads the Al-Marsad Institute in London; Al-Ansar contributor “bin Roma” is Algerian sheikh Abdallah Al-Ghamdi; and “Sami 9000” is Mansour Al-Halabi, a Syrian residing in Libya.

The following report, from MEMRI’s Jihad & Terrorism Studies Project’s initiative on Monitoring Islamist and Jihad Websites, analyzes the conflicts between the Islamist and Jihad websites. These multi-faceted conflicts, which involve an array of individual postings, should not be looked at as a phenomenon of individual Islamist participants battling on the Internet (as has been done thus far by various media and research outlets). Rather they should be seen in a larger context, as a phenomenon reflecting the conflicts between rival Arab and Muslim political forces in whose service these websites operate.

0 comments.

MEMRI – Al-Tajdeed Versus Al-Hesbah: Islamist Websites & the Conflict Between Rival Arab & Muslim Political Forces

Posted on May 18th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Internal Debates, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Inquiry and Analysis Series – No. 275
Al-Tajdeed Versus Al-Hesbah: Islamist Websites & the Conflict Between Rival Arab & Muslim Political Forces

Introduction

Most of the media in the Arab world – newspapers, television, and radio – are affiliated with various political forces, whether governmental or opposition, operating from within the country or outside it. These media are an important tool in the power struggles among the rival political forces behind them.

With the development of the Internet in the Middle East, websites have become yet another tool in the struggle between rival Arab forces. One prominent example of Internet use as part of this struggle is the campaign by www.tajdeed.org.uk – which belongs to the Saudi Islamist opposition operating in London and is directed by Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mas’ari, who also heads the Al-Tajdeed Al-Islami organization – against www.alhesbah.org, a leading Islamist site that is a conduit for messages from Al-Qaeda and other jihad organizations. [1]

Al-Tajdeed accused Al-Hesbah of working for Arab and Western intelligence apparatuses to expose and arrest contributors to the jihad web forums. According to Al-Tajdeed, Al-Hesbah had brought about the arrest of all the founders of another Islamist website, www.al-ansar.org, including “bin Roma” and “Irhabi 007.” Al-Tajdeed also asserted that Al-Hesbah had brought about the arrest of all the members of the Global Information Media Front (GIMF) [2] directly after they posted an announcement, on behalf of Al-Qaeda, taking responsibility for the February 25, 2006 Abqiq operation (an attempt to strike at the Saudi oil fields), and that Al-Hesbah had brought about the killing of the perpetrators of the operation by Saudi security forces.

Al-Hesbah stopped operating on March 17, 2006, and restarted on April 13, 2006. It is common for Islamist websites to disappear from and return to the web, and this is part of the dynamic of Islamist Internet activity. However, Al-Tajdeed took advantage of Al-Hesbah’s temporary disappearance to step up its attacks on it. Al-Tajdeed recommended that jihad supporters visit alternative websites that, it claimed, were more reliable and on which there was no hostile intelligence activity. When Al-Hesbah returned, Al-Tajdeed warned visitors to the site to take precautions lest their identities be discovered, and gave detailed instructions for doing so.

Another jihad website, www.alburak.net, came to the aid of Al-Hesbah, posting an article accusing Arab opposition elements, including Al-Mas’ari as well as Dr. Hani Al-Siba’i and Dr. Sa’d Al-Faqih, also London residents, of attempting to destroy the jihad websites and to smear those active on them. (Two weeks previously, Al-Tajdeed had accused Al-Burak of “becoming a copy of Al-Hesbah.” [3] )

The sharp rivalry between Al-Tajdeed and Al-Hesbah reflects the struggle between the two rival political forces behind them. In the case of Al-Tajdeed, this force is Saudi Islamist opposition activists. Al-Hesbah claims to be an independent religious site, but in light of the platform it gives to slanderous postings about Saudi opposition activists such as Al-Mas’ari and Al-Faqih – even going so far as to accuse them of heresy and treason – it can be identified as a site affiliated with a religious or political rival of the Saudi opposition, such as the Saudi regime itself. (According to its own report, the Saudi regime is active on the Internet. One example of this activity is the Saudi Ministry of Religious Endowment’s Al-Sakinah campaign for on-line dialogue with extremists [4] ).

Al-Tajdeed, which as mentioned belongs to Saudi opposition elements, also features postings by oppositionists from other Arab countries. According to the Al-Burak website, “Omar bin Hanif,” a contributor to Al-Tajdeed (see below), is Egyptian Islamist opposition member Dr. Hani Al-Sib’ai, head of the Al-Maqrizi Institute in London. If Al-Sib’ai is indeed “Omar bin Hanif,” he joined Al-Tajdeed’s struggle against Al-Hesbah with a posting titled “A Series of Exposures of Spies,” which lay the groundwork for the accusations against Al-Hesbah.

In addition, Al-Burak identified several other Al-Tajdeed contributors, also posting under pseudonyms, as oppositionists from various Arab countries. For example, according to Al-Burak, “Al-Fikr Al-Rashid” is in fact Egyptian Islamist Yasser Al-Sirri, who heads the Al-Marsad Institute in London; Al-Ansar contributor “bin Roma” is Algerian sheikh Abdallah Al-Ghamdi; and “Sami 9000” is Mansour Al-Halabi, a Syrian residing in Libya.

The following report, from MEMRI’s Jihad & Terrorism Studies Project’s initiative on Monitoring Islamist and Jihad Websites, analyzes the conflicts between the Islamist and Jihad websites. These multi-faceted conflicts, which involve an array of individual postings, should not be looked at as a phenomenon of individual Islamist participants battling on the Internet (as has been done thus far by various media and research outlets). Rather they should be seen in a larger context, as a phenomenon reflecting the conflicts between rival Arab and Muslim political forces in whose service these websites operate.

0 comments.

AlterNet: ForeignPolicy: The Hard Truth About Suicide Bombers

Posted on May 10th, 2006 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

AlterNet: ForeignPolicy: The Hard Truth About Suicide Bombers
The Hard Truth About Suicide Bombers

By Nichole Argo, AlterNet. Posted May 8, 2006.

Though many Americans assume otherwise, most suicide bombers are not poor, violent Muslims, as explained in this special report from MIT’s Center for International Studies.
Suicide terror has become a daily news staple. Who are these human bombs, and why are they willing to die in order to kill? Many observers turn to Islam for an explanation. They cite the preponderance of Muslim bombers today, indoctrination by extremist institutions, and the language used in jihadi statements.But these arguments fall short. At present, bombers are primarily Muslim, but this was not always so. Nor does indoctrination play a strong role in growing today’s selfselected global jihad networks. Rather, militants and bombers are propelled by social ties. And even when jihadis use the Qur’an and Sunna to frame their struggle, their justifications for violence are primarily secular and grievance-based.

So what is religion’s role? Almost 100 years ago, Emile Durkheim contended that religious ideation is born of sentiment. This is worth considering in the current context. Against the repression, alienation and political helplessness of the Muslim world, jihad speaks of individual dignity and communal power. ‘Against the Goliaths,’ martrydom says, ‘even one bursting body can make a difference.’ The Muslim street is buying it, though sometimes ambivalently. To stop the bombers of today and tomorrow, we need to figure out why.

Why Religion, and Why Not

Since 9/11, the notion that terror is bound to religious extremism has almost become an implicit assumption. This is easy to understand. If bombers were once “normal” people, then religious indoctrination could explain their fanatical behavior. Moreover, the numbers are powerful: 81 percent of suicide attacks since 1968 have occurred after 2001, with 31 out of the 35 organizations responsible being jihadi. Even the London and Bali (II) bombers who acted independently of terror organizations were Muslim. It would be difficult to deny that Islamic inspiration is at work in the motivation and mobilization of rising terror. But how? Inspiration is not causation, and a growing body of data suggests that Islamic indoctrination and belief are not the answer. Below, I audit several arguments commonly offered in support of the religious terror thesis.

1. Muslims perpetrate most of today’s terror, so most terror must be motivated by Islam.

2. Indoctrination: madrassas, mosques and terror cells manufacture suicide bombers.

3. Terrorists justify their violence with the language of Islam.

Religious beliefs do not simply mold individuals. They exist as “sets of ideas that ‘are there,’ as if on the shelves of a supermarket waiting for someone to make them their own.” Individuals pull them off the shelf when their old frames no longer make sense of the world around them.

If beliefs are not born of sacred texts alone, neither are behaviors like marytrdom. Rather, would-be bombers place jihadi values — fighting for life, dignity, equality — above all else. It is not the commandment that is sacred, but the emotional reward it bestows. We need to be asking new questions: For what are normal individuals able to kill? A plausible answer is: their community, under threat. When does a person make costly sacrifices to do so?

Within a social structure — a terror cell, a military unit, a family, or group of friends — that continually regenerates conviction to a cause, a feeling of obligation to do something about it, and a sense of shame at the idea of letting each other down. Whether one lands in a social group with jihadi tendencies may be random. But the prerequisite for this path is perceived injustice.

The social networks theory has several implications for policy. First, because commitment to jihad is rarely a cost-benefit decision, or an explicit decision at all, military deterrence will likely fail. Terrorists and insurgents forge loyalties that are difficult to betray, and like our own military units, many would prefer to fight to the death rather than leave their brothers. Second, under urban conditions of asymmetrical engagement, military missions almost inevitably entail civilian casualties. Military leaders must re-conceptualize the effect civilian casualties have on the populations surrounding the terrorist or insurgent. They are frequently interpreted by the population as offensive, and thereby engender an impulse to fight back. As one Palestinian told a reporter: “If we don’t fight, we will suffer. If we do fight, we will suffer, but so will they.”

Lastly, findings about the way in which people acquire beliefs suggest that a war of ideas will mean nothing unless it resonates emotionally with our targets. Emotional resonance only comes when the values we promote reflect our role in the local realities on foreign ground.

Read the whole article on AlterNet

0 comments.

Saudi Arabia using clerics, Internet to fight al-Qaida | IndyStar.com

Posted on May 9th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Internal Debates, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

Saudi Arabia using clerics, Internet to fight al-Qaida | IndyStar.com
Saudi Arabia using clerics, Internet to fight al-Qaida
Religious re-education program targets youths viewed as potential recruits for terror group

By David B. Ottaway
The Washington Post
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia has mobilized some of its most militant clerics, including one Osama bin Laden sought to recruit as his spiritual guide, in a campaign to combat the appeal of al-Qaida.

The effort has targeted hundreds of young Saudis whom security forces here have arrested as sympathizers or potential recruits. They are then subjected to an intense program of religious re-education by clerics that sometimes lasts for months.
Saudi authorities say that about 500 youths have completed the program and been freed since it began in 2004. They remain under close surveillance.
“None has been found to get reinvolved in terrorism so far,” said Lt. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry. “Their ideology has changed, and they are convinced they were wrong.”
Mohsen al-Awajy, an Islamic lawyer who is known here as a former radical, was skeptical of the effect. “I’m afraid about 85 to 90 percent of those who claim they are changing their minds as a result of this dialogue might not be truthful,” he said.
Al-Turki conceded that Saudi authorities were having great difficulty curbing the appeal of al-Qaida’s ideology among young people, who he said are incited by “the daily killings in Iraq” and a constant barrage of appeals to holy war on Internet sites run by Islamic extremists. Hundreds have crossed into Iraq to join the insurgency there.
Abdel Mohsen al-Obeikan, a former militant cleric now playing a prominent part in the reeducation program, compared the challenge to the war on drugs in the United States. “You cannot stop drugs, either,” he said.
As soon as one terrorist group is eliminated, he said, another pops up that is even more dangerous. “We need a long time. We should be patient.”
Still, Saudi authorities argue they have made real progress in uprooting al-Qaida inside the kingdom, and part of the reason is their efforts with the young people.
But a foiled attack on Feb. 24 against the world’s largest oil terminal at Abqaiq sobered U.S. and Saudi officials.
“Abqaiq shows the problem is not over,” U.S. Ambassador James Oberwetter said in an interview here.
The Internet has become the main battleground against al-Qaida ideology, according to three members of the counseling committee that the Interior Ministry set up to run the re-education program. The body has 22 full-time members, who get help from 100 Islamic clerics and 30 psychiatrists.
Islamic counselors selected by the committee have succeeded in infiltrating a number of extremist Web sites and chat rooms.
Islamic Affairs Minister Saleh al-Asheikh told reporters in February that the government had established dialogue with 800 al-Qaida sympathizers this way and succeeded in changing the thinking of 250.

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