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  johnpi 4:24 pm on January 19, 2010 | 3 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Islam in prison (5), Muslim Prisoners (7), prison (12), prison converts (6), Terrorism (399), white converts, White Muslims (8), yemen (45)

  Report: New York ex-cons who traveled to Yemen pose ’significant threat.’

  As many as three dozen criminals who converted to Islam in American prisons have moved to Yemen where they could pose a “significant threat” to attack the U.S., according to a report on al Qaeda from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be released Wednesday.

  “The group seeks to recruit American citizens to carry out terrorist attacks in the United States,” said Sen. John Kerry, D.-Mass., the committee chairman.

  The Senate report said that while the ex-convicts “ostensibly” moved to Yemen to study Arabic, U.S. diplomats and law enforcement officials in Yemen “feared that these Americans were radicalized in prison and traveled to Yemen for training.”

  And some blonds have finally converted to Islam, so sit up and take notice:

  Also of concern to U.S. officials, the Senate staff found, is a group of “nearly 10 non-Yemeni Americans who traveled to Yemen, converted to Islam, became fundamentalists and married Yemeni women so they could remain in the country.”

  An American official described them as “blond-haired, blue eyed-types” who fit the profile of Americans who al Qaeda has sought to recruit for terror missions.

   

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  johnpi 2:39 pm on December 26, 2009 | 4 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Michael Muhammad Knight (6), Muhammad Knight (3), Muslim punk rock (3), Muslim punks (3), Progressive Islam (13), progressive muslims (6), punk (4), punk Islam (3), white converts

  Takfiring Michael Muhammad Knight.

  Umar reviles Knight as a fraud, a kafir and a white supremacist:

  Knight stated ” I still identify as Muslim”. Maybe this is something he has got from Reformed Jews whose foundation is disbelief in Judaism while wanting to maintain an attachment to the community. This is what Progressive Islam seeks to be; a community with a foundation of disbelief still wanting to identify themselves in some way as Muslims. But, unlike Judaism which has a dual existence as a religion and ethnic tribe and once you are born to a Jewish woman you are a Jew even if you are an atheist, Islam is a community of belief. Cease believing and you cease being Muslim and all of the rights of a Muslim be it marriage, burial, and what not are no longer available to you. I can “identify as a Romanov” but the blood of Russian royalty does not run through my veins so my claim need not be taken seriously.

  In closing I will also say that the sad tale of Mr. Knight whose life would have been much better if he would have went to jihad in Chechnya and died for the cause of Islam before leaving the deen is also a white story. There are a lot of white Muslims I love dearly and have known for years ; Ismail Royer, Imam Suhaib Webb, Brother Muadh, Abu Noor, etc. However, Mr. Knight does represent a certain kind of Muslim that has grown since 9-11 ( where a white guy can get liberal street cred for converting to the religion of the oppressed).

  What’s needed is for people who are struggling with Islam as Knight has and does is to not give up on it.

   
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  johnpi 11:23 am on November 9, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: converts (13), Fort Hood attack (59), Mentally Ill Converts (3), Nidal Malik Nasan (27), prison converts (6), trophy converts (4), white converts

  A convert who was being advised through his conversion in the ways of the deen by Hasan refused to denounce Fort Hood attack.

  It’s been my experience that new converts often get approached by the ‘most hardcore of Muslims.’ This shows further the wisdom of the local imam who refused to recommend Hasan for a lay Muslim leadership position at Fort Hood.

  The convert’s name is Duane Reasoner.

  “He said he should quit the Army,” Reasoner said. “In the Koran, you’re not supposed to have alliances with Jews or Christian or others, and if you are killed in the military fighting against Muslims, you will go to hell.”

  But when he was interviewed by Gavin Lee of the BBC, he went further.

  Even if the Muslims involved are engaged in acts of indiscriminate violence against you and other Muslims?

  Update: I’ve changed my earlier wording from “the most strident among us” to a phrase Asra Nomani used.

  (More …)

   
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  johnpi 7:03 pm on October 20, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: converts (13), crazy convert (3), Extremism (166), Terrorism (399), trophy converts (4), white converts

  Washington Post: ‘Rising number of Westerners travel to Afghanistan, Pakistan to become terrorists.’

  In the past, such volunteers were largely self-motivated and had to find their own way to South Asia. Today, however, al-Qaeda and its affiliates have developed extensive recruiting networks with agents on the ground in Europe, counterterrorism officials said. The agents provide guidance, money, travel routes and even letters of recommendation so the recruits can join up more easily.

  In a recent report, the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service said there were a “growing number of indications” that more Europeans were attending camps in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

  The Obama administration has said that al-Qaeda’s command structure and operations wing have become weaker in the past year because many of its leaders have been killed in drone missile attacks. But in its report, the Dutch intelligence agency offered a different assessment, saying that al-Qaeda’s ability to carry out attacks has generally improved in recent years largely because it has successfully bolstered its alliances with other terrorist groups.

   
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  johnpi 5:55 pm on September 27, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: germany (36), Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Pakistan (569), taliban (260), white converts

  Pakistan discovers ‘village’ of white German al-Qaeda insurgents.

  The village, in Taliban-controlled Waziristan, is run by the notorious al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which plots raids on Nato forces in Afghanistan.

  A recruitment video presents life in the village as a desirable lifestyle choice with schools, hospitals, pharmacies and day care centres, all at a safe distance from the front.

  In the video, the presenter, “Abu Adam”, the public face of the group in Germany, points his finger and asks: “Doesn’t it appeal to you? We warmly invite you to join us!”

  According to German foreign ministry officials a growing number of German families, many of North African descent, have taken up the offer and travelled to Waziristan where supporters say converts make up some of the insurgents’ most dedicated fighters.

  The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which has a foothold in several German cities, has capitalised on growing concern over the rising profile of German forces in Afghanistan. Their role has become increasingly controversial in Germany in recent weeks after dozens of civilians were killed in an air strike ordered by German officers.

   
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  johnpi 2:28 pm on September 21, 2009 | 4 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: converts (13), trophy converts (4), white converts, White Muslims (8), white privilege (5), whiteness (2), Zeitoun (3)

  Kathy Zeitoun and Muslim women as change agents.

  While author Dave Eggers gives readers a lot of insight into what Kathy Zeitoun faces and her incredible character and spirit, there really has been little attention given to her following the book Zeitoun’s release. This lack of interest is a part of a larger problematic trend when it comes to highlighting the power of Muslim women in effecting change and being change agents in their respective societies.

  Does Kathy Zeitoun’s experience, as a white convert, “highlight the power of Muslim women,” or the power of white women? Also, do Muslims themselves recognize Kathy Zeitoun’s experience as being representative of anything about Muslims, since she is a white convert?

  Here’s something Talk Islam contributor Willow wrote earlier this year about white converts in Islam:

  We are guests–protectorates, wards, bit players–in the Islamic narrative. If this was a Shakespearean drama, we’d be Second Spear-Holder From The Left. What we contribute to that narrative will, in all probability, never be of direct benefit to us as individuals. We will always be outliers, both in our birth communities and in our religious communities. Our significance, and more importantly, our relevance, is massively exaggerated.

   
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  johnpi 6:36 am on September 4, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: converts (13), Hispanics, Oklahoma (3), white converts

  The Muslim population of the US state of Oklahoma is growing – fueled partially by conversions among white women and Hispanic families.

  As Oklahoma’s Muslim community observes the fast of Ramadan this month, they are also taking time to reflect on the growth of their community statewide.

  There are currently five mosques in the Oklahoma city metro area, including one in Norman and one in Edmond. Some of the growth has come from immigrants from south and central Asia as well as the Middle East, but there has been a surprising surge in converts from two other demographics: white females and Hispanic families.

  (via)

   
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  johnpi 10:11 am on July 5, 2009 | 28 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Masculinity (5), white converts

  Umar wants to address the problems with masculinity that he believes white converts from secular, educated backgrounds bring into the Muslim community with them, such as interest in sado-masochism and the inability to be a strong male leaders to their families. Reports that desi women are rejecting men of their ethnicity for lack of masculinity too.