Tagged: radicalization Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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aziz
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johnpi
A new study has been released with some projections about the future of Pakistan. I’m still reading it, but here’s the Reuters Pakistan blog’s highlights on it:
Pakistan is likely to drift further away from the west in the years ahead as pressure from Islamist groups and anti-Americanism undermine the traditional moorings of the secular pro-western elite, according to a report just released by the Legatum Institute.
The report rules out the possibility of a Taliban takeover or of Pakistan becoming a failed state, predicting it is most likely to ”muddle through” with the army continuing to play a powerful role behind the scenes in setting foreign and security policy. “Rather than an Islamist takeover, you should look at a subtle power shift from a secular pro-Western society to an Islamist anti-American one,” said Jonathan Paris, the author of the report.
I disagree with that conclusion, but then again I only read Pakistani-English language media and Pakistani bloggers, and presumably the author of the report has access to a great deal more information than I do. He continues:
Pakistan has been down the Islamist road before, particularly during the Zia years. And public opinion turned against the hardline Islamist practices of the Taliban when they occupied the Swat valley last year. But while people may be willing to argue against the Taliban, it is less clear that society as a whole will resist the creeping Islamisation wrought by Islamist political parties and militant organisations, particularly in Punjab province, unless the state can deliver economic growth along with a reliable and speedy legal system.
I thought the strong independent judiciary was a point of pride for many Pakistanis.
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cbarwa
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johnpi
A thoughtful article about the contexts where radicalization of young Muslim men may begin or begin to accelerate by Haroon Moghul.
Three points:
The first point: radicalism is most likely to emerge from zones of overlap. By this I mean the people, places or other contexts where Western and Islamic perspectives come together in negative contrast.
….The second point: these material contrasts between Muslim-majority and Western societies are real, in many places accelerating, and cannot be wished away by zeroing in on a specific individual or blaming an abstract cultural difference…The radicals have narratives that explain reality in attractively absolutist ways, placing blame wholly on the West or wholly on insufficiently prayerful Muslims.
….The third: the great divisions across Islam, the intellectual and actual battles for hearts and minds, are also the great unity of the modern Muslim world. The radical narrative is a symptom of a larger disagreement within the Muslim world, a fracture whose primary cause is the absence of consensus on the moral responsibility of the individual in modernity and the relationships between individuals and their societies.
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johnpi
A new study titled “Anti-terror lessons of Muslim-Americans” was published today by Duke University (pdf).
Here’s the number one recommendation:
1. Encourage political mobilization.
Increased political mobilization is the most important trend identified by this study, as it both stunts domestic radicalization and provides an example to Muslims around the world that grievances can be resolved through peaceful democratic means. We recommend that policymakers in the major political parties embrace this mobilization by including Muslim-Americans in their outreach efforts and by organizing them to gain their support, as they do with other ethnic and religious groups. Similarly, public officials should attend events at mosques, as they do at churches and synagogues. Muslim-American groups should also be fully included in American political dialogue.
The debate about whether or not US Muslims should engage in the American political system may be a good proxy conversation to determine who is on the side of the devils and who is on the side of the angels in the US Muslim community. And remember to take your kids with you the next time you vote so they can see your good example…
The other six recommendations:
2. Promote public denunciations of violence.
3. Reinforce self-policing by improving the relationship between law enforcement and Muslim-American communities.
4. Assist community-building efforts.
5. Promote outreach by social service agencies.
6. Support enhanced religious literacy.
7. Increase civil rights enforcement.
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Sameer
The debate about whether or not US Muslims should engage in the American political system may be a good proxy conversation to determine who is on the side of the devils and who is on the side of the angels in the US Muslim community.
I guess the Muslims who vociferously and actively campaigned and voted for Bush must have been on the side of angels?
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BK
Muslim-Americans or “US Muslims,” citizens or those with green cards (any immigrant group or native born but self-partitioned away from mainstream American society) who consider themselves residents and not temporary visitors should participate in the American Political system or atleast participate in influential groups.
Those who live here and do not or are simply critical and have blanket contempt for the US and all its actions are nothing more than parasites and deserve second class status (which is exactly what they will eventually earn).
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BK
Those who live here and do not or are simply critical and have blanket contempt for the US
and idly complain from the sidelines or to their small circle of fellow whiners rather than participating some group, joing the American dialog or taking up their own banner and attempt in some small or large way to affect change
are nothing more than parasites…
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Abu Noor Al-Irlandee
I am definitely in favor of Muslims participating in public dialogue and contributing to society in a whole variety of ways. I find it strange when people think of participating in politics as ‘contributing to society.’ There are some exceptions, but in general that is not how I view politics.
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Abu Noor Al-Irlandee
And I guess I am on the side of the devils. I seek refuge with Allah from Shaytaan, the Rejected One and all of his minions.
Certainly I agree that those of us who are actively skeptical about politcal involvement (not those who are merely apathetic) are people who believe that the problems in U.S. society are more fundamental and less superficial and therefore I can see the point your getting at although I of course would disagree most profoundly with your labeling of the two sides.
And by the way, this doesn’t mean that I embrace all of those who are skeptical of or against political participation nor that I reject all of those who encourage it.
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Abu Noor Al-Irlandee
you’re getting at….I don’t know if it means I am getting old or I am just not focusing but I seem to be doing that A LOT lately in my comments, typing homonyms in for the word I really mean. It’s a weird phenomenon — sort of like once I develop a thought I go on to thinking about something else and delegate the typing to another part of my brain that makes those sort of mistakes. But I’ve really noticed it more so recently.
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Abu Noor Al-Irlandee
These recommendations are for whom? I agree with 4,5, 6, 7 very much as objectives for the Muslim community but I don’t think I want the government involved with them. No. 3 is deeply problematic for me.
No. 2 I think much too much energy is wasted on worrying about this issue of whether Muslims do or don’t denounce this or that. (from both sides) I have no problem with anyone denouncing anything that is wrong or evil (which violence almost always is) as long as it is not done selectively or to serve some political agenda — instead especially when it comes to those who attempt to speak from the authority of the prophetic tradition it should be done with a universal moral agenda.
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Daniel Davis
i have never been a fan of Bad Politics and bad policies in the government. they always present bad news.-;`
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johnpi
The New York Times is reporting that Abdullah al Faisal may have been a source of radicalization or inspiration to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day suicide attacker.
Mr. Faisal’s name surfaced much more recently in investigations into Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of the attempted attack on a Northwest Airlines flight.
In an online posting in May 2005, under the name “farouk1986,” Mr. Abdulmutallab referred to Mr. Faisal as a cleric he had listened to, according to American military and law enforcement authorities.
In his posting, Mr. Abdulmutallab wrote: “I thought once they are arrested, no one hears about them for life and the keys to their prison wards are thrown away. That’s what I heard Sheik Faisal of U.K. say (he has also been arrested I heard).”
Al Faisal was also Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui’s imam in the UK at the Brixton mosque. More background on al Faisal here.
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johnpi
A friend of Omar Hammami has been keeping tabs on him through Somali contacts and gave the Toronto Star on update.
Hammami – who grew up in Daphne, AL and is now known as Abu Mansour “Al-Amriki” – became the leader of a 180 member foreign fighter unit of Al Shabab in September after the former leader was killed in a US helicopter raid. And the latest info:
Abdi says he heard in October that Hammami had been fighting near the Ethiopian border, and is recovering in hospital from bullet wounds and mental problems.
War will do that to a guy, Islam or no…
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johnpi
Related: Chris Hedges’ column tonight, with a slight edit.
War is brutal and impersonal. It mocks the fantasy of individual heroism and the absurdity of utopian goals like
democracythe caliphate. In an instant, industrial warfare can kill dozens, even hundreds of people, who never see their attackers. The power of these industrial weapons is indiscriminate and staggering. They can take down apartment blocks in seconds, burying and crushing everyone inside. They can demolish villages and send tanks, planes and ships up in fiery blasts. The wounds, for those who survive, result in terrible burns, blindness, amputation and lifelong pain and trauma. No one returns the same from such warfare.-
Shams al-Nahar
Pardon, democracy fits much better, in the exported industrial warfare sense.
How many muslim civilians died in Iraq as a result of ‘Merican “democracy promotion”?
600,000?-
johnpi
You know, I thought about that actually. Hammani’s warfare is less industrial – but ultimately no less lethal and ripping to its own warriors, targets and bystanders – and therefore just as savage so it still worked.
And also, if you look at the mass-casualty efficacy of militant attacks in places like Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, it’s certainly become industrial scale.
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johnpi
Hedges again.
Look beyond the seduction of the weapons and the pornography of violence. Look beyond Barack Obama’s ridiculous rhetoric about finishing the job or fighting terror. Focus on the evil of war. War begins by calling for the annihilation of the others but ends ultimately in self-annihilation. It corrupts souls and mutilates bodies. It destroys homes and villages and murders children on their way to school. It grinds into the dirt all that is tender and beautiful and sacred. It empowers human deformities—warlords, Shiite death squads, Sunni insurgents, the Taliban, al-Qaida and our own killers—who can speak only in the despicable language of force. War is a scourge. It is a plague. It is industrial murder. And before you support war, especially the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, look into the hollow eyes of the men, women and children who know it.
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Shams al-Nahar
Industrial scale?
Reavers don’t actually count coup or keep statistics..
It is not in their nature.
This isnt warfare in the traditional sense.
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marcos
you know what john pi screw you you have no idea why they are fighting for over there why dont you go over there if your man enough and do somethin about it.
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Moti
Warfare, democracy, Jihad .. you can use whatever name you wish, at the end war is war and no one wins, I just wonder when America and the westerners are involved in any war, why would the other side always called the terrorist? cause they die more and weaker and have no media? maybe because when you attack someone in his home, you have the right to call him terrorist if he resist ? I wonder…. in the Case of Somali and Afghanistan it is a tragic war and they fight for no obvious reason, in the case of Iraq, we all know who destroyed a country that was peaceful, had nothing to do with terror if such term exist…
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johnpi
The flyer for the event being held at the East London Mosque on January 1st by Noor Pro Media, which will also be selling Anwar al Awlaki tapes there.
One of the contributors over at The Spittoon blog analyzes it. Anybody have a problem with this or care to rebut?
Grave Worship – Salafi-inspired Islamism has long accused both the Shi’a and Sufi of being “grave worshippers”.
The destruction of the tombs of Sufi shaykhs in Somalia by Islamist terrorists, the destruction of the tombs and shrines of the family of the Prophet in Medina and elsewhere by the Wahhabi in Saudi Arabia (together with repeated threats from such to destroy the tomb of the Prophet) remain an enormous loss not just to Muslim believers, but to the world.
New Age Islam – This is clearly targetting the new Sufi orders that have sprung up in the West, and more widely the emergence of Western Islam, with its criticism of Islamism and its support for liberal, progressive, reformatory interpretations of Islam – interpretations that stress the seperation of religion and state, secularism, tolerance and democratic norms.
Sihr – the traditional Arabic for witchcraft. For Salafi-inspired Sunni Islamism, sihr is not simply witchcraft, but any pre-Islamic or allegedly non-Islamic cultural practices that may be embedded in the various forms of Islam that have grown up over the centuries across the world. Equally, this is an assault on the dhikr of the Sufi and other non-Salafi groups. In contrast, the Islamists stress a monolithic and ultimately totalitarian brand of Islam that is completely intolerant of the rich plurality of traditions and practices that have historically marked Islam.
In all, the sinister flyer advertises the narrow-minded, ahistorical, authoritarian bigotry of the Salafi-inspired Islamism at the very heart of the “Islam” being promoted by ELM and its followers.-
aziz
The Spitoon is pretty harsh on Yasir Qadhi, who seems to be using Muslim Matters as his personal defense outlet. To be honest I havent been following this closely enough. If the accusations about Qadhi are true (as the Spittoon seems to pretty comprehensively document) then this is a black mark for MM and I am worried about this as an angle of taint by association for the blogsphere as a whole (MM has a couple of BCA’s under its belt, affter all).
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thabet
Alternatively, it shows the BCA isn’t some skewed progressive-liberal lovefest some think it is, and fairly open to views from all sides.
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bingregory
do you have a link to the discussion at MM? Big site, don’t know where to look.
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thabet
I don’t think Yasir Qazi has directly responded to The Spittoon.
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thabet
Hamza Tzortzis, with his chum Adam Deen, are mini-celebrities on the ‘Islamic lecture circuit’ in the UK. I tried listening to one of Tzortzis’ debates with someone from the NSS (I think). Dumber debating Evendumber was my conclusion. I also think (from a quick scan of the ‘net) that HT happens to be friendly with, or a member of, the other HT.
But I can’t bring myself to get excited about something cross-posted from Harry’s Place.
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johnpi
Separate information from its source…
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thabet
Fair point. I just find it hard to overlook a website, which was/is so riddled with anti-Muslim rantings esp in its comments, that one blogger asked me whether it was affiliated with the BNP in anyway! (And why one British blogger called it “Little Green Soccer Balls”; see the comments from dsquared.)
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johnpi
Yeah. I’m squeamish about Spittoon too. That’s why I posted the above and asked people to call bulls*** on it if there were issues. The open-source fact checkers have remained silent so it seems like a solid critique…
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bingregory
Nothing in that quoted analysis to rebut. All three topics are obvious code for sufism, grave-worship being the term they use to characterize tawassul and tabarruk as shirk. Although neo-salafi organizations like Al-Maghrib are much more discreet and civil than the old variety, and incorporate terms like tazkiya into their approach, which we applaud, Naqshbandis and other sufi orders have never been included in whatever big tent they are trying to pitch with their new “moderate” approach.
Obviously the speakers have not yet spoken so we don’t know what exactly they will say, but I think the analysis for the promotional poster is perfectly fair.
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abunoor
I wouldn’t use the term neo-Salafi to characterize AlMaghrib…..terms get confusing but this term has actually been used for sometime to characterize a group associated with Madhkali who although they share some theology with AlMaghrib (why they are all ‘Salafi’ to an extent) are actually the arch enemies of such and who spend more of their time criticizing AlMaghrib types than even Sufis, and these groups especially especially consider people like Shaykh Yasir Qadhi to be persona non grata because they have been willing to, without sacrificing or ignoring important theological differences, work together with Ash’aris and Sufis for the common interests of the ummah.
Yasir Qadhi signed the Pledge of Mutual Respect and Cooperation which was signed by many of the leading teachers and scholars in the west across ideological differences.
So the call is to be more civil and work together for good and to avoid pointless and almost always ad hominem debates among laymen. The point is not for anyone to abandon their theology, nor would I see why they would be expected to — are you saying that there should be a “big tent” where Shaykh Yasir has to say that whatever any Sufis wish to do is okay with him? Is that a big tent you are looking for?
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bingregory
Thanks for the clarification on terminology.
That’s a nice pledge and is basically all the tent I’m looking for. But the poster clearly violates several clauses of the pledge off the bat. Wouldn’t you agree? “Grave-worship” is a phrase with an extremely clear history in Islamic literature in English. It cannot mean other than shirk and it cannot refer to other than the practices of seeking intercession and barakah, which are well supported across the four madhhabs. You can disagree with the practices but describing them as a dark force, a worship of other than Allah, and an enemy within the religion? If that fits within the pledge, than what good is the pledge?
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Abu Noor Al-Irlandee
I think the flyer is questionable and not helpful, but I think it is a difficult issue. No specific names are mentioned on the flyer.
In keeping with the terms of the pledge, I don’t wish to get into a debate on the substantive underlying issues, (and besides there is no theology being discussed on TalkIslam) but I think it is tricky because one can certainly believe that there is activity going on in the ummah that can only be characterized as grave worship and shirk, which is a separate but related issue to the issue of tawassul about which there are well known disagreements. My point, being, I think there is much that goes on that even Sufi scholars would agree is incorrect and it is possible to target that without getting into the areas of disagreement.
Still, I don’t want to lose the main point. I can agree with you that the flyer is probably not appropriate or helpful, but for anyone who has not been to lectures by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi before (I can’t speak to the other speakers, who I have not heard) two things are definitely true:
1. He does take theology seriously and in an academic way is clear about what is actually shirk, what is actually bid’ah etc. and he does so in a way you might disagree with on specifics but is not the stereotypical ‘wahhabi’ namecalling.
2. He does take the ideas around the pledge seriously and without ignoring theological differences he has done a great deal in public and private to create better relationships between Muslims in working for the common good, despite the fact that he has been criticized unbelievably harshly from the “neo-Salafi” ranks for doing so and even faced questioning and skepticism from his own students.
Allaah knows best.
I think there are examples from all sides that would show that the ideas behind the pledge are a little harder to carry out in practice than to put down on paper, but I think for sure most of the signatories were sincere and there has been a positive change in recent times in terms of civility and cooperation at least here in the U.S. I can’t comment for sure, but the problems still seem to be a little more stark in the UK.
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abunoor
Sorry, meant to link to the pledge.
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johnpi
Abdulmutallab’s high school chatroom “jihad fantasies” revealed.
CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reports Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s online digital trail leads back to boarding school in West Africa. In 2005, he was chatting under the screen-name “Farouk 1986.”
Eighteen years old at the time, Abdulmutallab paints an online portrait of alienation. “I have no friend,” he writes. “Far from home, at a school with few Muslims; No one to consult, no one to support me and I feel depressed.”
He explains that he’s Nigerian – from a wealthy family with a home in London. He even gives his name, Umar Farouk, and on February 20th, 2005, he hints at his dreams.
“…Basically they are jihad fantasies,” he writes. “I imagine how the great jihad will take place. How the Muslims will win, and rule the whole world,” adding, “do I have to clarify anything further?”
….On campus, he became president of the Islamic Students Union. Online, January 26th, 2007, he listed seminars for what was called the “War on Terror Week.” Speakers would include Asim Qureshi. In an online video, Qureshi said: “We know it is incumbent upon all of us to support jihad against the oppression of the West.”
It isn’t known whether Abdulmutallab heard those words, but by his own account he was ready for the message. British authorities say his path to terrorism wasn’t unique.
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johnpi
‘Londonistan’ returns to the media’s vocabulary.
Authorities have worked hard to counter the capital’s reputation as “Londonistan” – a haven for Islamist militants from Pakistan and Afghanistan – but the latest incident follows a series of similar British-linked plots.
A little more detail is provided:
London has long had a reputation as a haven for Islamist extremists accused of radicalising young Muslims. A number of so-called “hate preachers” have been banned or faced other legal action.
The British capital was the home of “shoe bomber” Reid, who tried to blow up a US flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001 using explosives hidden in his footwear.
In August 2006 a London-based plot to blow up airliners in midair between Britain and North America was uncovered, leading to the introduction of strict new rules about carrying liquids in hand luggage.
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johnpi
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s chat room messages.
ABC News claims it has tracked down more than 100 posts that Abdulmutallab wrote.
One very sad post stands out:
He wrote of being lonely and sought friends on-line. “Can you be my friend?” he wrote. “I get lonely sometimes because I have never found a true Muslim friend.”
He still hasn’t found a ‘true Muslim friend.’
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Dan
And he won’t as long as he is getting his worst punishment in prison.
Too bad scumbags like him won’t be executed because there will still be idiots in the Muslim community who will defend animals like him.
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cbarwa is discussing. 
BK, and 1 other are discussing. 
Moti, 
marcos, 
Shams al-Nahar, and 1 other are discussing. 
thabet, and 2 others are discussing. 
Dan is discussing. 
Well the judiciary, along with the bureacracy was complicit in legitimating the military dictatorship since the 1950s, the recent turmoil is a relatively new development. But you have to remember that the lower and mid-level courts in Pakistan – as in India are incredibly slow, labyrithine and corrupt. Cases can take up to years or decades to be heard and the poor frequently get shafted because they can’t afford to have justice delayed nor can they buy it.