'Hardcore' Islamist gets top anti-terror post at Home Office

A “hardcore” Islamist has been given a key Home Office job to tackle terrorism and divert fellow Muslims from the path of violence.

The appointment of Asim Hafeez as head of intervention at the Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism has caused serious concern among more moderate Muslim advisers across Whitehall.

It is seen as a sign of a shift in the government’s policy on radical Islam away from engagement with more moderate groups. There is a sharp divide of opinion within government about whether ministers should engage with Muslims at risk of radicalisation or concentrate on forging links with moderates.

Mr Hafeez was described by one fellow adviser as “hardcore Salafi”. Salafism is a strictly puritanical branch of Islam, often associated with Saudi Arabia. It does not promote violence, but does urge the creation of an Islamic state.

The new Home Office adviser is reported to have raised eyebrows at his new department during the Muslim festival of Ramadan, when he lectured guests at a reception about the benefits of fasting.

Before his appointment at the Home Office, Mr Hafeez worked as an adviser to the Welsh Assembly, government where he had a reputation for his strict views on Islam. He also regularly lectured on Islamic issues at Welsh universities.

The Home Office appointment coincides with a change of regime at the Department of Communities and Local Government, where John Denham has replaced Hazel Blears as Secretary of State.

Sources at the department have told the JC that Mr Denham’s deputy, Shahid Malik, has announced his belief that ministers have been “talking to the wrong people”.

The Home Office last night confirmed that Mr Hafeez had been given the job, but said that all appointments followed government procedures.

Source: JC

Algeria Using Sufism to Stem Jihadist Ideology

July 28

By Boualam Ghimrassa

Algiers, Asharq Al-Awsat-

The Algerian authorities have been trying to propagate Sufism in Algeria to contain a strong Salafi movement in the country, espoused by most members of the armed Islamist groups.

An event was officially launched last Saturday, organized by the Zaouia [religious confraternity] Alaouia, with the participation of 5,000 people from 34 countries.

The event featured lectures and seminars calling for moderation and shunning hardline behavior, and Sufi chants.

As part of a fierce war that has been going on with the extremist Islamist groups since the early nineties of last century, the authorities have found a different way of stemming the influence of the Salafi jihadist ideology which is espoused by the armed hardliners.

This new approach consists of propagating the Sufi thought through bodies that have thousands of followers inside and outside Algeria. In this respect, the Mostaganem Governorate, 250 km to the west of Algiers, has been the scene of festivals commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Allaoui religious confraternity, under the slogan: "Let us sow the seeds of hope in the minds of people."

The organizers of this week-long event say that it is aimed at "encouraging people to return to traditional Islam, the Islam of tolerance and open-mindedness." Its aim is also to "revive the spiritual and cultural heritage."

The event's launching ceremony was marked by a parade of folklore troupes, with the participation of scout groups from several countries. The Algerian news agency said that 5,000 people would be watching the planned spiritual activities, including 2,200 coming from 34 countries such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Jordan, some European countries, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Japan and Indonesia.

According to the event's program, the week-long lectures and seminars will go beyond broaching the spiritual aspects of Islam to include discussions on current world issues such as the environment and communication technology. This will be in parallel with lectures on "revelation," "Sufi spiritualism," and "awareness-raising education."

For their part, the organizers of the event say that the Alaouia-Dargaria-Chadhilia religious confraternity dates back to the time of the descendants of Prophet Muhammad, God's prayers and peace be upon him, and is strongly inspired by the ideas of the man who revived it early in the 20th century, namely Cheikh Allaoui. The latter succeeded his master, Cheikh El Bouzidi, in 1909. The Cheikh Allaoui confraternity is known for associating traditions to modernity in Islam, and its current Cheikh is called Adlan Khaled Ben Tounis. He is a writer and lecturer on Sufism and Islam.

These celebrations are sponsored by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika personally, and call for brotherhood, tolerance, fighting hatred and spreading the values of tolerance. They are keenly used by the Algerian authorities to confront the activity of the propagators of Salafia jihadi ideology, which is infiltrating society through mosques, books and compact discs distributed to the young in various places, including schools.

The Salafia jihadist ideology is also propagated through films inciting combat, which are shown on the Internet. Investigations indicate that a large number of armed groups' members have espoused this ideology as a result of the propagation of a discourse calling for war against the state.

Moreover, the Algerian gendarmerie announced over the weekend that border gendarmes had seized four tons of drugs, two weapons, ammunition, and a mobile telephone in the small town of Oued Ritma, Bechar Governorate, 965 km to the south west of the Algerian capital Algiers.

In this respect, an Algerian source stated that border guards in Oued Ritma ambushed and opened fire on a convoy composed of four vehicles belonging to drug smugglers; the gendarmes arrested four and seized 4,060 kg of treated drugs and an automatic weapon.

Source: Asharq Alawsat

United States' Speech to Islamic World: half-Truths about Koran, historical Falsehood, Charity to Terrorists

Sound and Fury in Cairo

Friday, June 05, 2009 - by Baron Bodissey

At least 95% of Barack Hussein Obama’s speech yesterday in Cairo was feel-good boilerplate. It was mostly a batch of unremarkable oats for the nose-bags of all those Birkenstockers and Trustafarians back in the United States who were responsible for his election.

But as for the rest… Well, most of the rest consisted of blatant pandering to the “Muslim World”. And there were a few scary parts, such as this sentence, which had nothing whatsoever to do with Islam:

And I want to particularly say this to young people of every faith, in every country — you, more than anyone, have the ability to reimagine the world, to remake this world. [emphasis added]

Let’s remake this world.Ladies and gentlemen, this is a fascist pronouncement. People who want to remake the world slide inexorably into totalitarianism, because they have to act against that annoying and persistent impediment known as “human nature”. The 20th century was strewn with millions of corpses in mass graves and killing fields as the result a variety of ideologies that attempted to remake the world.Thank God for the ongoing financial crisis, which will serve to reduce the ability of Barack Hussein Obama to realize his grandiose dreams.

Other bloggers and writers have provided excellent analyses of this speech. Robert Spencer does the best job of fisking it at Jihad Watch, and Melanie Phillips and Caroline Glick have supplied their own pertinent commentary.

Mr. Obama said:

Now, much has been made of the fact that an African American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President.Actually, this topic was off-limits in polite society before the election. Pamela at Atlas Shrugs reminds us that much was not made of “Hussein”:

Obama deceitfully hid his Muslim background and schooling and his agenda. Little did America know that Obama’s objective would be a conversion of this nation to “the largest Muslim country in the world”.

The President spoke at length about the Arab-Israeli conflict, displaying the mealy-mouthed “moral equivalence” that so often characterizes the rhetoric of Western leaders:

For decades then, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive.

But not all of his examples were this even-handed. As Yid With Lid points out, the President singled out the Holocaust and European anti-Semitism without even hinting at the single greatest sinkhole of anti-Semitism in our own time: the Muslim Middle East.

Mr. Obama also proudly cited the Koran:

The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent is as — it is as if he has killed all mankind.The passage referred to above is part of 5:32:

Therefore We prescribed for the Children of Israel that whoso slays a soul not to retaliate for a soul slain, nor for corruption done in the land, shall be as if he had slain mankind altogether; and whoso gives life to a soul, shall be as if he has given life to mankind altogether. Our Messengers have already come to them with the clear signs; then many of them thereafter commit excesses in the earth.The President neglected to mention the verse immediately following it (5:33), which says:

This is the recompense of those who fight against God and His Messenger, and hasten about the earth, to do corruption there: they shall be slaughtered, or crucified, or their hands and feet shall alternately be struck off; or they shall be banished from the land. That is a degradation for them in this world; and in the world to come awaits them a mighty chastisement.

This text is bad enough in itself , but it should also be noted that the phrase “those who fight against God and His Messenger” is widely interpreted by mainstream Islamic scholars to mean anyone who opposes Muslims and resists the spread of Islam.

Yet if you believe Barack Hussein Obama, Islam means “tolerance”. He said:

Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition. I saw it firsthand as a child in Indonesia, where devout Christians worshiped freely in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. That is the spirit we need today. People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind and the heart and the soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive, but it’s being challenged in many different ways.

Let’s overlook the putative tolerance of the past and consider the facts on the ground right now, in the tenth year of the 21st century. If Islam is so tolerant, why have we seen all the Muslim-majority countries — Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, etc. — steadily drained of their Christian, Jewish, and Hindu populations?

Stories like this one from Asia News have become more and more frequent in Islamic countries under the influence of Salafist doctrine:

Non-Muslims in villages along the northern Afghan-Pakistani border are forced to pay the jizya. Lashkar-e-Islam wants a thousand rupee per adult male to allow non-Muslims to live there with the right to travel. In Orakzai area the Taliban take over two stores and various houses owned by Sikhs. Some families are forced to pay up to 20 million rupees in order to stay.

Non-Muslims have to pay if they want to retain their religion and live among Muslims.It’s worth noting that exactly the same system was in force in Cordoba and Andalusia a thousand years ago, during the “Golden Age of Islam”.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A couple of Gates of Vienna readers have contributed their own observations about the President’s speech. First a reaction to this passage from the speech:

As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam. It was Islam — at places like Al-Azhar University — that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.

This is Fjordman’s response:

Is there even a single truthful statement in this entire paragraph? Perhaps they had some nice calligraphy, and a few Muslim scholars, especially al-Khwarizmi and Omar Khayyam, made contributions to algebra, but apart from that it’s almost total nonsense. The magnetic compass was invented by the Chinese, and possibly by Europeans independently. Printing of books was invented by the Chinese and stubbornly and persistently rejected by Muslims for a thousand years or more due to Islamic religious resistance. Al-Azhar focused on Islamic religious learning — sharia law — not on natural philosophy or science, as did European universities. This is why arguably the greatest original scientific work ever written in the Arabic language, Alhazen’s Book of Optics, was written in Cairo but almost totally ignored in the Arabic-speaking world afterward, including at al-Azhar in Cairo. It was studied in Europe.Modern algebra, too, was developed in Europe. Muslim scholars did not understand how disease spread or how it could be cured. This was proved in late nineteenth century Europe with scholars such as the great Frenchman Louis Pasteur and the German Robert Koch. The germ theory of disease could only be proven after the creation of sufficiently powerful microscopes. The microscope was an exclusively European invention with no known equivalent anywhere else in the world.

Concerning Islamic charitable giving, or zakat, the President said:

For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That’s why I’m committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat.A reader sent this response by email:

Given that we know that zakat is used “for Allah’s cause” (i.e. for mujahideen, those fighting in holy battle, jihad), could BHO’s support for it — if he proposes legislation to that effect — be grounds for impeachment in that he is failing to protect the US since zakat is inherently seditious against non-Islamic governments and their peoples?

Of course, it would also be grounds for any congressmen/women to oppose such legislation, so it is essential that we get this info out on as many sites as possible.Also, if we can put this point across about zakat, it can form the basis of suing mosques and other recipient organizations of zakat, as third-parties in legal cases against Islamic terrorism. I noticed a few years back a US court granted in favor of people whose relatives had been killed by Moslem terrorists and the US court found Iran ‘guilty’, but of course no costs could be recovered. If we can show that all mosques do collect zakat, then we have a basis for helping to dismantle the financial strength of jihad worldwide. These mosques and “charities” are the real conduits for terrorism; dismantle them with lawsuits and expose their seditious natures and that is half the battle.

Shariah Finance Watch is thinking along the same lines: any laws that are passed to enable shariah finance are by definition unconstitutional, and are vulnerable on First Amendment grounds.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

There is much, much more that could be said about yesterday’s speech in Cairo. Whole dissertations could be written about the dissimulations, exaggerations, and untruths contained in Mr. Obama’s words.

However, I’ll leave it at that for now.

I’d like to think this is the last bit of pandering to Islam that we will see from our current president. Unfortunately, it’s in all likelihood just the beginning of his administration’s plunge into complete dhimmitude.

The illustration at the top is from Jyllands-Posten. Thanks to TB for the tip.

Defeating Salafism and Wahhabism the Right way

By M. Zuhdi Jasser

At first glance, Tajikistan seems to have all the makings of a “moderate” Muslim nation. The vast majority of Muslims in this former Soviet bloc nation are of the Sunni Muslim Hanafi school, who seem to openly reject Salafism and Wahhabism. Their rejection of the extremist, militant, and exclusivist ideologies of Salafism and Wahhabism is refreshing. However, they have gone beyond simply rejecting the ideas of Salafism and have now gone so far as to outlaw its existence. Joseph K. Grieboski, of the Institute on Religion and Foreign Policy recently stated,

"While we sympathize with the Tajik government in its efforts to fight terrorism, banning an entire religious community is not the right answer. Banning Salafism will only send potential extremists underground and engender further hostility to the government. Banning individual religious communities sets a dangerous precedent both for Tajikistan and the region as a whole."

Banning the Salafi Movement – Does the ends justify the means? Read more ...

Source: Family Security Matters

Wahhabism: Its Foundations and Dangers

By Ibrahim Lone

Introduction

What is Wahhabism? This is a fundamental question that arises in the minds of those who are not fully acquainted with the nuances of this cult within the cult of Islam. Wahhabism is Islam personified in today’s age. Wahhabism is reiterates the same philosophy which the Prophet of Islam had brought about to the 1400 years ago. The philosophy of the Superiority of the Arabs. Before we proceed further, let us understand what Wahhabism is not about. Wahhabism is not about religion, its not about spirituality or God, it is about the superiority of the Arabs over all other nations. I have tried to bring forth the character and the personality of the Prophet of this sub-cult and his mentor Abdullah Ibn Sa’ud. It is extremely important that we know, who the founding fathers of this cult were, in order to understand the cult itself. It is simply because, it is important to go through the mind of the leader before examining the cult. Just like no study of Islam is complete without studying Prophet Muhammad, the study of Wahhabism is incomplete without studying its founding father. Read more ...

Source: Islam Watch

Rejected Complaint Still Makes its Point

A Canadian human rights council has rejected a complaint from an online magazine editor against an imam the editor accused of engaging in "hate propaganda." The Canadian Human Rights Act prohibits communication which "is likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt by reason of the fact that that person or those persons are identifiable on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination."

Imam Abou Hammaad Sulaiman Dameus Al-Hayiti did just that to gays, women, Jews and people he considers infidels in his book, "Islam or Fundamentalism? In light of the Qor'an and the Sunna," Marc Lebuis said in his complaint. Al-Hayiti writes gays and lesbians should be "exterminated in this life" and beheaded if caught performing sodomy. Women are inferior to men. Jews "spread corruption and chaos on earth" and "injustice will never disappear from the face of the earth before Islam and Sharia are properly applied throughout the world." Those who leave Islam should have their necks cut, the book said.

But in a December 5 letter, a Canadian Human Rights Commission official said the imam's writing weren't likely to provoke hatred or contempt and the complaint would be dropped. Read more ...

Source: IPT Blog

Ultraconservative Islam on rise in Mideast

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - The Muslim call to prayer fills the halls of a Cairo computer shopping center, followed immediately by the click of locking doors as the young, bearded tech salesmen close up shop and line up in rows to pray together.

Business grinding to a halt for daily prayers is not unusual in conservative Saudi Arabia, but until recently it was rare in the Egyptian capital, especially in affluent commercial districts like Mohandiseen, where the mall is located.

But nearly the entire three-story mall is made up of computer stores run by Salafis, an ultraconservative Islamic movement that has grown dramatically across the Middle East in recent years.

«We all pray together,» said Yasser Mandi, a salesman at the Nour el-Hoda computer store. «When we know someone who is good and prays, we invite them to open a shop here in this mall.» Even the name of Mandi's store is religious, meaning «Light of Guidance. Read more ...

Source: AP
H/T: Weasel Zippers

Hezbollah & Sudan's Salafi Regime Converge

September 16, 2008
Dr. Walid Phares

The convergence between Jihadi Khomeinists and Jihadi Salafists seems to be developing as strategists and terrorism analysts are debating the near future of the global jihadi movement.

Moving fast to reach out to the Islamist regime in Khartoum, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization openly declared its backing of Omar Bashir's government as the latter in turn solidified its alliance with Hezbollah.

This development, which surfaced as of the end of July, comes in parallel of an attempt by the Khomeinist-inspired organization to sign a collaboration agreement with Salafist factions in Beirut a few weeks ago. But the Hezbollah-Sudan exchange of declarations of support is by far the most significant convergence of Jihadi forces from the two branches of Islamism since Iran began funding Hamas and Islamic Jihad more than a decade ago.

On July 31, Lebanon Now reported that as he was welcoming the Sudanese presidential envoy Qutub al-Mahdi, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's secretary general, called the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment of President Bashir for genocide as "part of the international conspiracy to strike elements of force in the Arab and Islamic nations, and to destabilize internal stability."

It is worth noting that the ICC had issued a warrant for the arrest of the head of the Sudanese regime for his responsibilities in the mass murder of Black African tribes in Darfur. As I wrote in an op-ed titled "Brotherhood against Democracy" last July, a surge in the region bringing together authoritarian forces and regimes, all of them opposed to international efforts, U.S.-led or not, to back democracy in the region. Within this expanding jihadi-authoritarian axis, Lebanon-based Khomeinists have been playing a significant role in the rapprochement with Salafist movements and regimes.

As reported in the independent Beirut daily an-Nahar on Aug. 1, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said "international meddling in Sudan's affairs has reached dangerous levels."

According to an-Nahar, Nasrallah declared he is backing the Sudanese regime and Bashir "in this fateful confrontation."

The pro-Syrian daily al-Akhbar (Aug. 1) quoted Nasrallah as saying the "conspiracy (against Bashir) aims at striking the elements of strengths in the Arab and Islamic Umma."

The leader of Hezbollah committed to fight back against "what is called international community with determination," asserting that this conspiracy targets the Arab and Muslim states one after the other, especially those whom he called the "obstructionist forces" (al-qiwa al-mumania).

The pro-government daily al-Mustaqbal quoted Nasrallah accusing the United States and some groupings in America with links to Zionism of "working on dividing Africa and spread chaos on the continent."

Responding to Hezbollah declarations of collaboration, Sudan's regime declared its solidarity with the Iranian-funded militia, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and a number of Western countries. According to the Chinese News Service Xinhuanet (Aug. 12) Bashir expressed his "admiration for Lebanese (based) Hezbollah and for its secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah."

His statement came during a visit by a Hezbollah delegation, led by Lebanese MP Hassan Hajj Hassan to Khartoum to express solidarity. Hassan said that his organization repudiate the demands of the prosecutor general of the ICC and "as a resistance in Lebanon we will be together with the Sudanese to confront the conspiracy of the 'arrogant American' against the interest of our Umma in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Sudan."

The ties between Hezbollah -- and regionally the Iranian regime -- and the Islamist establishment in Sudan are neither new nor a surprise. For observers have long noted the back and forth movement between the Tehran Khomeinist networks and Khartoum's Salafi Islamists. Already, in the early 1990s a delegation from the Pasdaran attended the all out Jihadi Conference in Sudan organized by Dr. Hassan Turabi, one of the main Islamist ideologues of the late 20th century. But in the past few years, especially as the Darfur crisis emerged in international relations, reports asserted that "Hezbollah has sent military trainers to Sudan to train elements of the militia movement there that Sudanese President Bashir has recently established to deal with the 'American campaign' against his regime," according to Stratfor an intelligence newsletter (Aug. 28).

But reality may be even more critical. Sources in the region believe Hezbollah has already established permanent basis in Sudan around Khartoum, in the Darfur areas controlled by the Janjaweed militia and close to the southern Sudan districts managed by the SPLA. The Iranian regime has dispatched the Arabic speaking Hezbollah trainers to Bashir a while ago, in the framework of collaboration against the U.S., Europe and the Arab moderates. The direct mission of the Hezbollah "expeditionary corps" is more strategic than Western analysis has already absorbed. First, the "advisors" will be training Sudanese regime militias to strike at the forthcoming "international force" to be deployed in Darfur. Second, they will coach the Khartoum Islamist forces in a potential return of hostilities with the southerners. Hezbollah will practically help Bashir's Jihadists to crush any move towards self determination in the south. Last but not least, a Hezbollah base in Sudan, will offer Tehran an ideal launching pad for potential terrorist operations against U.S. targets in the entire region including the Red Sea, the African Horn and provide a sea shore for Iranian activities south of the Suez Canal.

This tremendous geopolitical opportunity was not even considered by many experts and analysts advising Washington and Brussels as they refused even to consider the mere possibility of cooperation between Sunni Salafism and Shia Khomeinism. This is another troubling example of how academic apology can lead to future strategic catastrophe in the real world.

Source: New Media Journal

Lebanese Islamist Sheik Omar Bakri: The Problem with Britain Is That It Does Not Apply Islamic Law. The Terrorism of the Mujahideen Is Blessed.

Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese Islamist Sheik Omar Bakri, which aired on OTV on August 22, 2008

Sheik Omar Bakri: This is true Salafism: Pure and complete religious preaching, and we only brandish our weapons against those who fight us. If we are fought and prevented from calling people to join Islam, a right that everybody has... You call this “freedom of expression,” but I call it a religious duty to preach for the sake of Allah. If I am prevented from performing this duty, I must either defend myself or emigrate. They prevented me from doing this in Britain, so I emigrated to Lebanon.

Interviewer: What is your problem with the British? We all know that you left before they decided you would not be allowed to return, and revoked your British citizenship, even though your family still has citizenship.

Bakri: The problem with Britain is that its law is not the law sent down by Allah. This country says that it implements democracy, freedom of expression, personal liberties, and the right to own property, but when I expressed my belief by preaching to Islam – there was an impressive response in the universities, and George and Michael became Omar and Abd Al-Rahman, and Jane became Hadija... When they saw that Islam was spreading in British universities at an unprecedented rate, and that the non-Muslims – the Hindus, the Christians and the Jews – were accepting Islam at an average rate of 21 people a days, it began to endanger their society. Within 20 years, British society will have a Muslim majority. Of course, this cannot be allowed by this secular regime, which wants to strip society of any religious values connected to Allah. More ...

Source: MEMRI