Discuss Islam

From the first intelligence surveillance to the final shootout, France’s clumsy handling of its spate of Islamic terrorism in March was a case study in how not to deal with a jihadist. With the largest Muslim community in Europe–nearly 10 percent of the population–and thousands of young Frenchmen going to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Yemen on the pretext of studying the Koran, it does not bode well for the country’s domestic tranquility. neither does the fact that officials have long been in denial, minimizing the threat for fear of alarming the public and antagonizing an increasingly restive ethnic-Arab minority. Thus tranquillized, the French public shrugs and says pas de probl?me: a recent poll shows only 53 percent think the terrorist threat is dangerous, the lowest level of concern since 2001.

Mohamed Merah, the 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent who shot three French soldiers point blank in the South of France, then slaughtered a teacher, his two young sons, and an 8-year-old girl at a Jewish school in Toulouse, said loud and clear that he was acting for al Qaeda. His coolly professional assassinations, intended to “bring France to its knees”–President Nicolas Sarkozy compared them to the 9/11 attacks in the U.S.–bore the jihadist imprint right down to filming them and ensuring he died a martyr’s death seen on the world’s television screens. He signed his social network account “Mohamed Merah-Forsane Alizza,” meaning “Knights of Pride,” an outlawed France-based jihadist outfit.

Yet the government energetically pooh-poohed the idea that France was seriously threatened by Islamic fundamentalists. “These crimes were the work of a fanatic and a monster,” Nicolas Sarkozy insisted. “To look for an explanation?would be a moral fault.” He instructed the French not to blame the attacks on “our Muslim compatriots [who] had nothing to do with the crazy motivation of a terrorist.” most of the obedient French media went along with the politically correct whitewash.

Despite his claims to the contrary, Merah was officially described as a loner with no assistance from any al Qaeda affiliate. indeed, the favorite theory of the chattering class was that he must be a right-wing neo-Nazi. or failing that, just your typical underprivileged, disaffected guy who had had a miserable childhood in the slums. The left-leaning Le Monde reported that he had “an angelic face, a fascinating beauty.” His 15 arrests and doing time for everything from stoning buses to violent theft and fighting with rivals? Liberals outdid themselves to show he was the psychologically disturbed victim of an unjust society. “A pathetic young man?the victim of a social order that had already doomed him, and millions of others like him, to a marginal existence, and to the non-recognition of his status as a citizen equal in rights and opportunities,” explained the Muslim apologist Tariq Ramadan, who was denied a U.S. visa for providing material support to a terrorist organization before the ACLU persuaded Hillary Clinton to lift the ban.

The failure of the French domestic intelligence agency, the DCRI, to spot Merah as a serious threat, and its subsequent efforts at self-justification, would have been comic were we not dealing with tragedy. Its chief called him a self-radicalized young man with a split personality, a lone wolf who operated below the radar. Besides, he pleaded, Merah had not followed the usual path taken by Islamist extremists. He wasn’t visibly part of any network. He even went to nightclubs instead of mosques, for heaven’s sake, so how could we know he was a jihadist? “We had absolutely no reason to believe he was commissioned by al Qaeda to carry out these attacks.” No doubt it would have helped to have a copy of his marching orders on an al Qaeda letterhead.

The DCRI chief and other officials tried to make light of a 2010 trip Merah made to Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, spiritual home of the Taliban. But as information leaked out, it became clear that this poor kid, who lived on welfare payments of about $600 a month, had left tracks all over the Middle East, with somebody else obviously paying the bills. Besides Afghanistan, he later visited Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel in the space of two years. Strangely, he was reportedly arrested by Afghan police on his first trip and handed over to American forces there, who returned him to France. The FBI’s counterterrorism department put him on the no-fly list, barring entry to the U.S. The French ignored this, either through sheer sloppiness or to avoid any appearance of profiling.

They did, however, put him under loose surveillance. nearly a year after his first trip to Afghanistan, a DCRI agent in Toulouse finally called his cell number to ask him to come in for a talk. He didn’t bat an eye when Mohamed answered and said sorry, he couldn’t–he was busy in Pakistan at the time. When he finally did drop in months later, these Keystone Kops approvingly looked over the photos he brought along as proof he was there as a tourist, said something like tr?s bien, mon ami, and let him go. (This casual relationship and other aspects of the case led to speculation that Merah was perhaps a double agent, an informer for the DCRI who was turned by al Qaeda; a lawyer hired by his father claims to have video proof that he was “manipulated” and “liquidated” by the police.)

The official French version that Merah was a lone wolf inspired by his solitary reading of the Koran looked even more foolish when it became known that he had trained for two months in North Waziristan on the Af-Pak border, likely with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of Pakistani factions. He would have been anything but alone. Pakistani intelligence officials told the associated Press that dozens of French Muslim militants, many with dual French-North African nationality, are training there:

The Frenchmen operate under the name Jihad-e-Islami and are being trained to use explosives and other weapons at camps near the town of Miran Shah and in the Datta Khel area, the officials said. They are led by a French commander who goes by the name Abu Tarek.

When they return to France, all it will take to waken these sleeping agents will be a call from Kandahar.

Merah certainly learned about firearms. somehow, right under the noses of French surveillance and with financial assistance from guess who, he amassed a stash of guns, including several Colt .45 automatics with extra magazines, an automatic Sten pistol, a Colt Python revolver, a pump-action shotgun, and an Uzi submachine gun, along with ingredients for Molotov cocktails. With this arsenal he was able to intimidate and toy with a 15-man French SWAT team for all of 32 hours, wounding five and repeatedly forcing them to retreat when they tried to enter his small, three-room apartment in Toulouse.

Actually the effort to take Merah down was as amateurish as the earlier intelligence failures. When the SWAT team finally did succeed in blowing off the door and entering, they riddled him with bullets instead of taking him alive for interrogation as they were ordered to do. much of France wondered along with Christian Prouteau, the retired chief of the gendarmerie’s elite GIGN commando unit (the SWAT team were police, not better-trained paramilitary gendarmes), who asked, “How can a top police unit botch the capture of a lone gunman? If they had pumped his apartment with tear gas, he wouldn’t have lasted five minutes.” some Israeli security experts were even harsher. Alec Ron, a former head of the Israel police commando unit, told Israeli public radio the operation was marked by “utter confusion and unprofessionalism.? It was an absolute disgrace.”

One reason for this foul-up was that Sarkozy ordered the merger of two domestic intel agencies three years ago, a fusion that has yet to gel. Another might have been political interference, in an election year, with police work. But the main problem is that France is ill equipped, psychologically and politically, to deal with a huge, unassimilated Muslim population increasingly tempted by radicalism. France poses as a beacon of human rights and ?galit?, which to the Gallic mind rules out affirmative action (that would be unequal) or even accepting the reality of ethnic diversity. With impeccable logic, it officially has no minorities–everyone is by definition French and therefore equal; the law prohibits statistics based on race or religion. There’s no yardstick even to begin to measure the problem.

This in turn has meant that the government, ever so careful about treading on anybody’s toes, tries to avoid any appearance of cracking down on Muslim activism that could lead to radical Islamicism. If, as Mao wrote, the guerrilla must swim in the people as a fish swims in the sea, jihadist guerrillas must find good swimming in French Muslim waters. It might get even easier for them to disappear from police view if Socialist Fran?ois Hollande becomes president. He has made the ultimate politically correct campaign promise: if elected he would ask parliament to remove the word “race” from the constitution.

Whatever the outcome of this month’s election, the slaughter of the innocents in Toulouse is a wake-up call that France ignores at its considerable peril. As an adviser to Sarkozy said, sotto voce, “This is going to raise questions about our system of integration, our approach to fundamentalism, and our tolerance of certain practices here.” For sure. meanwhile, no one knows when or where the French Islamist powder keg will blow next.

TEN youths were chosen to compete in the semi-finals of the National Level Youth Musabaqah Tilawatil Quran competition at the Brunei-Muara district level.

The winners were officially announced yesterday afternoon at the Riadah Hall of the Youth Centre in the capital, where only ten youths were chosen out of 59 participants.

According to Ustaz Hj Rosli Hj Batang, the chairman of the panel judge, the first place qari was won by Hazwan Hj Salim from Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA) with a score of 87.5 per cent.

While second and third place was nabbed by Hj Ahmad Faez Hj Daim from Tahfiz Al-Quran Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Institute and Abdul Qaiyum Hj Metussin from Seri Begawan Religious Teachers University College (KUPU SB) respectively.

Meanwhile the qariah champion was Maizatun Nadzeerah Hj Md Daud from Brunei Shell Petroleum with a score of 87.5 per cent.

The second and third place was won by Dk Siti Ummi Syazana Pg Hj Marjuki from Duli Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah College and Yumni Haziqah Mohammad respectively.

In her opening speech, the Head of the Youth and Sports branch (Brunei-Muara district) Shahrinah Hj Abd Rahman reiterated that the objective of the musabaqah this year was the same as every other year: “to increase the level of awareness towards the holiness of Islam through the Al-Quran”.

Shahrinah reminded those present that Al-Quran’s role is to correct one’s faith and shape one’s personality to fulfill the requirements according to Islam.

She also explained the reason why the musabaqah was held. “It is in preparation for the selection of youths that can represent the country at the Southeast Asian competition level organised by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports,” she said.

According to the programme booklet of the event, the national Quran reading competition for youth is held as preparation for selection of participants to the Musabaqah Tilawatil Quran Belia Asia Tenggara (Quran reading competition for youth of Southeast Asia).

Among other aims, the competition was held in response to the titah of his Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam delivered in October 13, 1996 at the National Quran Reading Competition for adults.

In the titah, his Majesty said, “We will be proud with youth who are pious.”

The national Quran reading competition for youth was open to locals and permanent residents between the ages of 17 and 22 years-old and have never entered the finals of the national Quran reading competition for adults at regional or international level.

The event was organised by Youth and Sports Department (JBS) under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS).

"the Crusaders once again repeated their crime by insulting the holy Koran, and once again mocked the messenger of Allah," Mr Zawahiri said in a SITE English-language translation.

In February, thousands of Afghan protesters attacked the biggest US military base in their country, at Bagram near Kabul, reacting to reports that troops inside had burned copies of the Koran.

Around 40 people were killed in several days of violent protests.

American officials say the Korans had been confiscated from prisoners as they used them to communicate between each other.

The incident led US President Barack Obama to apologise for what he described as an error.

In today's video which the US-based SITE said was posted on extremist forums, Mr Zawahiri criticised Obama's apology.

"After each of their crimes, they pretend to be sorry, and they claim they will investigate what happened, which is a silly farce that Obama and his secretary repeated this time also," said the chief of the terror network.

"the American Crusaders and their allies showed over and over again their hatred and envy of Islam, the book of Islam, the prophet (of) Islam," Mr Zawahiri said.

He urged Muslim across the world to "fight the enemies of Allah and the enemies of his Messenger."

Mr Zawahiri delivered a similar message in March, urging Afghans to rise up against "Crusader pigs" after US Marines were shown in an Internet video urinating on the corpses of Taliban militants.

A fresh scandal has rocked the alliance between the United States and the Afghan government every month this year in their joint efforts against Taliban insurgents.

A US soldier in March went on the rampage and murdered 17 Afghan villagers in their homes.

• Keywords: ?
• Ayman al-Zawahiri,?
• al qaeda,?
• koran

Students walk into the school near the shrine of 15th-century Sufi scholar Abdel Salam al-Asmar in Zlitan city, about 160 km (90 miles) west of Tripoli March 13, 2012. In early March, word reached the keepers of the shrine, the most important of its kind in Libya, that ultra-conservative Salafis were on their way to destroy it as part of a campaign to wipe out any symbols they see as idolatrous. the attack never came. Students from all over Libya come to study Islamic law and to memorize the Islamic holy book, the Koran, at the university and school built around the shrine. Now, numbers are down as parents are afraid the Salafis will attack, according to a teacher. the struggle over the shrine is the story of Libya as it struggles to re-shape itself after Muammar Gaddafi’s rule. Picture taken March 13, 2012. to match Feature LIBYA-RELIGION/SHRINES REUTERS/Anis Mili (LIBYA – Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST RELIGION EDUCATION)

Published date: 05/16/2012

WASHINGTON, DC, May 16, 2012 – Two battles on the English Channel, one in England and the other in France, forever altered the course of history.  The first was the Battle of Hastings in the year 1066.  The other was the D-Day invasion of Normandy in June of 1944.

There have been two other conflicts during the past 1,500 years, though largely unknown, that have had a significant impact on just about everyone who is alive today.

In the year 622, the Prophet Muhammad left his home city of Mecca with a small group of Muslim followers and established his base in Medina.  The event is known as the Hijra, which is designated as the beginning of the religion of Islam.

Though Muhammad lived mostly in harmony with Jews and Christians during his time in Mecca, he was not regarded as a favorite son, a fact which greatly affected his beliefs for the remainder of his life after moving to Medina.

When Muhammad learned that a trade caravan was heading toward Mecca from Syria carrying a large amount of gold in March of 624, he decided to march against the traders.  during their escape from Mecca, the Muslims left their all of their possessions behind, and Muhammad was determined to recapture his lost wealth. 

Some of his Muslims followers were reluctant to attack because they did not want a war.  In Sura 66, verse 9 of the Koran, Muhammad calls his peaceful followers “hypocrites” and condemns them to Hell.  he also demands that they be harshly treated by true Muslims.

In an effort to avoid the conflict, Abu Sufyan, the leader of the caravan changed his course and moved to the east.  he also sent a messenger to Mecca to request reinforcements for his small group.  Mecca responded and dispatched approximately 900 men to aid the caravan.

Muhammad’s soldiers were outnumbered by three to one, but he relentlessly pursued the Meccans and eventually forced them into battle by deliberately choking off the wells that supplied their water.  The Prophet’s army only had two horses and 70 camels.  Most of his men were old, starving or sick and possessed little more than swords and spears to counter the Meccan attack.

Eventually, at the wells of Badr, the battle erupted, though it was little more than a skirmish by today’s standards.  despite overwhelming odds, Muhammad’s forces prevailed.  In the aftermath, he had the severed heads of his enemies delivered to him and then walked among the dead Meccan bodies on the battlefield and chided them.

The Battle of Badr is one of the few battles that is specifically mentioned in the Koran, and it is regarded as the defining moment in the early days of Islam; the Muslim equivalent of D-Day.  it was the turning point for Muhammad’s authority as a prophet, which he claimed was the direct result of divine intervention.

In the 8th Sura, verse 9, Muhammad states, “Remember ye implored the assistance of your Lord, and he answered you: ‘I will assist you with a thousand of the angels, ranks on ranks.’”

Only Muhammad actually saw the angels as stated in Sura 8, verse 50, “if thou couldst see, when the angels take the souls of the Unbelievers (at death), (How) they smite their faces and their backs, (saying), ‘Taste the penalty of the blazing fire –‘”

Now convinced that his victory was divinely ordained, Muhammad continued his warring ways for the rest of his life.  had the Battle of Badr resulted in the Prophet’s defeat, it is very likely that Islam would not have survived.

More than a thousand years later, in the year 1683, another important battle took place in Vienna.  Some historians believe the siege of Vienna was the turning point in the 300-year struggle between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

A second theory is that the battle represents the final chapter in the steady decline of the Ottoman dynasty which marked the end of Muslim expansion to the west. 

Either way, the outcome established the political power of the Hapsburg dynasty throughout the Holy Roman Empire and central Europe. 

Strangely enough, more than 300-years later, there are lasting ramifications to this conflict that linger in the hearts and souls of people today, for we have all felt its significance.  for fourteen centuries, the clash of religions has witnessed an on-going ebb.  A major turning point in that confrontation came at the gates of Vienna in 1683 when the Islamic defeat ended a thousand year effort to conquer Europe.    

Unlike the Battle of Badr, the siege of Vienna was a full-fledged military operation involving hundreds of thousands of combatants.  it began in mid-July when the Ottoman army of about 150,000 men attacked an alliance of the Holy Roman Empire and the Polish/Lithuanian Commonwealth. after prolonged fighting that lasted two months, the Austrian/German/Polish garrison was in dire straits from the constant bombardment by its Turkish enemy.

At the 11th hour, under the leadership of King Jan III Sobieski of Poland, reinforcements of 40,000 men arrived at a hill outside Vienna.  In just three hours the decisive battle was over when Sobieski punched a hole in the Muslim lines enabling his forces to march toward the city and strike them from behind.

It would take two more centuries for the Ottoman Empire to totally decline beginning with a withdrawal in the Balkans, Greece and Asia Minor.  In the minds of the Islamic forces, the defeat was not only devastating but never forgotten. 

And the date when that decisive battle began….September 11, 1683.

Coincidence?  perhaps, but not likely.

Osama bin Laden had a long memory and so do his followers.  There is no end to the hatred, only lulls during dormant periods of when Islam is no longer in control or it is out of power. 

Muhammad was a warrior.  during the last ten years of his life, either he, or his armies, were involved in more than 80 battles.  Even today, the conflicts in his name continue on a regular basis.

The Battle of Badr and the siege of Vienna may be little known events in the cyclorama of history, but their impact has had, and will continue to have, major significance for generations to come.

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The senior commander in the U.S. military recently ordered a course taught at a staff school for the last eight years to be revised to eliminate any mention of a war between Islam and the West. The course (“Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism”) pointed out that Islam, at least according to many Islamic clerics, is at war with the West. The U.S. has officially denied that since shortly after September 11, 2001, despite the fact that many Islamic clerics and government officials in Moslem nations agree with the “Islam is at war with the West” idea. But many Western leaders prefer to believe that by insisting that such hostile attitudes are not widespread in Moslem countries, the hostility will diminish. To that end the U.S. government has, for years, been removing any reference to “Islam” and “terrorism” in official documents. this comes as a shock to military or civilian personnel who have spent time in Moslem countries. The “Islam is at war with the West” angle is alive and well among Moslems.

there is plenty of evidence. for example, twenty nations account for over 95 percent of terrorism activity in the world. of these twenty (Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Yemen, Iran, Uganda, Libya, Egypt, Nigeria, Palestinian Territories, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Colombia, Algeria, Thailand, Philippines, Russia, Sudan, Iran, Burundi, India, Nigeria, and Israel) all but four of them (Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Colombia, and Burundi) involve Islamic terrorism. In terms of terrorism fatalities the top four nations (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia) accounted for 75 percent of the world total of terrorism related deaths. all of these were the result of Islamic radicalism, often directed at other Moslems and not just non-Moslems (“infidels”).

this has been the case for decades, and the Moslem world does not like to dwell on this fact. Many Moslem leaders admit that there is a lot of Islamic terrorism but insist that it’s all the fault of Infidels who are making war on Islam, so some Moslems feel compelled to fight back. The catch-phrase Moslem leaders like to repeat is that Islam is the “religion of peace.” It is not, and the historical record makes that very clear.

It’s not just an historical record of Moslem violence. Currently, you find Moslems attacking Buddhists in Thailand, Jews everywhere, Baha’is in Iran, and Christians in Egypt, Iraq, the Philippines, Pakistan, Malaysia, and elsewhere. this is not a sudden and unexpected outburst of Moslem violence against non-Moslems. It is normal and at the root of Islamic terrorism. while this violent behavior represents only a small number of Moslems, it is a large minority (from a few percent of a population to over half, according to opinion polls). moreover, the majority of Moslems has not been willing, or able, to confront and suppress the Islamic radicals that not only spread death and destruction but also besmirch all Moslems. this reveals a fundamental problem in the Islamic world, the belief that combining righteousness with murderous tactics is often the road to power and spiritual salvation. throughout history, when these tactics were applied to non-Moslems, they often failed. The non-Moslems were unfazed by the religious angle and, especially in the last five hundred years, were better able to defeat Islamic violence with even greater violence. thus, until quite recently, the Moslems fought among themselves and left the infidels (non-Moslems) alone. But after World War II that began to change.

Naturally, this began to show up first in the Middle East. During the Lebanese civil war of 1975-1990, Christian and Moslem Arabs fought bitterly over political, cultural, and, ultimately, religious differences. The capital, Beirut, was divided into Christian and Moslem sections by the Green Line. The name came from the fact that in this rubble filled no man’s land only grass and weeds survived. And that the line on a ceasefire map was drawn in green. there have been a lot more Green Lines since then. Few realized it at the time but this war was but the first of many major conflicts between Christians and Moslems in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Many of the earliest Moslem converts were Christians. And many of the people Moslem armies unsuccessfully sought to conquer were Christian. The original Crusades, which modern Moslems portray as Western aggression, were actually a Western attempt to rescue Middle Eastern Christians from increasing Islamic terrorism and violence. But Islam as a political force was in decline for several centuries until the 1970s. then things changed and they continue to change. Fueled by oil wealth and access to Western weapons and technology, Islamic radicals saw new opportunities. Islam was again on the march and few have noticed the many places where it was turning into religious war with Christians and other non-Moslems.

In Asia we have a Green Line between India and Pakistan. Inside India many Moslem communities remain and feelings aren’t always neighborly. Indonesia and the Philippines suffer growing strife between Moslems and non-Moslems. Malaysia has fanatical Moslems persecuting more laid-back ones and non-Moslems in general. China has a large Moslem community that generates an increasing amount of violence. Russia and America have formed a curious partnership to deal with Islamic-based terrorism coming out of Afghanistan and Pakistan. And in Chechnya Russia faced Islamic-inspired violence all alone in the 1990s.

Africa has a rather dusty Green Line, south of the semi-arid Sahel region. Many African nations are split by increasingly sensitive religious differences. The Moslems are in the north, Christians and animists in the south. Nigeria, Egypt, and Sudan are among the more violent hot spots at the moment. when the Moslem Somalis stop fighting each other they will return to raiding their Christian and animist neighbors to the south.

The Middle East still contains many non-Moslems. none have their own country, except for Israel. But Egypt contains five million Copts, native Christians who did not convert to Islam. Similar small Christian communities exist throughout the Middle East and growing hostility from Moslem neighbors causes many to migrate or get killed.

Moslems also have turned their righteous wrath on dissident Moslem sects. The Druze and Alawites are considered by many Moslems as pagans pretending to be Moslems. Similarly, the Shias of Iran and neighboring areas are considered less orthodox, not just for their admitted differences but because many adherents openly practice customs of the pre-Islamic Zoroastrian religion. These differences are less frequently overlooked today. To survive many Druze have allied with Israel and most of the current Syrian leadership are Alawites who pretend to be more Shia than they really are.

Even Europe has a Green Line. The Moslems in the Balkans (Albanians and Bosnians) have been a constant source of strife for the last decade. Moslem migrants in Europe face even more persecution because of all those Green Lines, and this makes it easier for radical groups to recruit and carry out their crusade against Christians. In many European cities with Moslem minorities there are neighborhoods non-Moslems are advised to stay out of.

But the Green Lines are about more than religion. A lot of it is politics. one of the reasons Islam ran out of steam centuries ago was that the Moslem areas never embraced democracy and intellectual progress. until the 20th century most Moslems lived as part of some foreign empire, under local totalitarian monarchs. The foreign empires are gone but democracy has had a hard time taking hold. The dictatorships are still there. And the people are restless.

Radical Islam arose as an alternative to all the other forms of government that never seemed to work. In theory, establishing “Islamic Republics” would solve all problems. People could vote but only Moslems in good standing could be candidates for office. A committee of Moslem holy men would have veto power over political decisions. Islamic law would be used. It was simple and it makes sense to a lot of Moslems in nations ruled by thugs and thieves, especially if the people are largely uneducated and illiterate.

Islamic Republics don’t work. The only one that has been established (not counting others that say they are but aren’t) is in Iran. The major problems were twofold. first, the radicals had too much power. Radical religious types are no fun, and you can’t argue with them because they are on a mission from God. most people tire of this in short order. To speed this disillusionment many of the once-poor and now-powerful religious leaders became corrupt. this eventually sends your popularity ratings straight to hell.

It will take a generation or so for everyone in the Moslem world to figure out where all this is going. this is already happening in Iran, where moderates are getting stronger every day but everyone is trying to avoid a civil war. while the radicals are a minority they are a determined bunch. The constant flow of Islamic radical propaganda does more than generate recruits and contributions in Moslem countries; it also energizes Moslem minorities (both migrants and converts) in Western countries to acts of terrorism. In the United States you find such Moslems regularly getting arrested for attempting to carry out religious violence.

Radicals throughout the Moslem world continue to take advantage of dissatisfaction among the people and recruit terrorists and supporters. To help this process along they invoke the ancient grudges popular among many Moslems. most of these legends involve Christians beating on Moslems. To most radicals it makes sense to get people agitated over faraway foreigners rather than some strongman nearby.

most radicals lack the skills, money, or ability to carry their struggle to far-off places. so most of the agitation takes place among Moslem populations. Any violent attitudes generated are easily directed at available non-Moslems. thus we have all those Green Lines. But the more violence you have along those Green Lines the more really fanatical fighters are developed. These are the people who are willing to travel to foreign lands, deal with non-believers, and kill them for the cause. we call it terrorism, the fanatics call it doing what has to be done.

Not surprisingly, Moslems get motivated to do something about Islamic radicalism when the violence is literally next door. That’s why terror attacks in the West are so popular. The infidels are being attacked, without any risk to those living in Moslem countries. Iraq changed all that, and during the course of that war (2004-7) the popularity of Islamic terrorism, in Moslem countries, declined sharply because the terrorists were killing so many Moslems. That, in the end, is what has killed, for a while, most Islamic terrorism in Iraq. Worldwide, al Qaeda never recovered the popularity (in the Moslem world) it enjoyed after September 11, 2001. It would also be nice if the Moslem world got their act together and expunged this malevolent tendency once and for all. Don’t hold your breath.

Supporters of Abdelmadjid Menasra, leader of the Islamist party front of Change (FC), hold up the national flags during a parliamentary election campaign rally in Algiers may 5, 2012. (REUTERS/Louafi Larbi)

The monthly journal Foreign Policy recently published an essay by Mona Eltahawy titled “why Do they Hate Us?”

Eltahawy is an American of Egyptian origin, a graduate from the American University in Cairo with a master’s degree in journalism, who publishes views on politics and culture inside the Arab world.

In the large amount of reporting from and about the Middle East, Eltahawy’s writings convey the perspectives, and hurt, of Arab and Muslim women trapped in the web of a patriarchal culture with its endemic misogyny and violence. her recent essay was written after her own traumatic experience last November in Cairo.

There she was assaulted, groped and beaten by goons linked to security forces in Tahrir Square where the so-called “Arab Spring” gathered pace and toppled Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship.

There is, however, the denial and the apologetics of those made uncomfortable by light shed on the disgusting reality of how in the name of Islam a pre-modern culture continues to degrade women in our day and age.

Once upon a time — and a long, long time ago — Islam brought improvement for women in a world characterized by patriarchy. this improvement in the relative sense allows for many Muslims to engage in polemical defence of Islam for advancing women’s rights long before the subject took hold in the West.

The making of the modern world left the Arab-Muslim region behind in every aspect of human progress and, as Eltahawy indicates, the latest Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum on the status of women ranks the Arab countries at the bottom of the list.

“name me an Arab country,” writes Eltahawy, “and I’ll recite a litany of abuses fuelled by a toxic mix of culture and religion that few seem willing or able to disentangle lest they blaspheme or offend.”

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is moving full steam ahead to establish an Islamist order. this is a leap backwards in time and, without mincing words, an Islamic variant of fascism.

But when it comes to the status of women, Saudi Arabia stands as the model for Islamists in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world.

Eltahawy does not mince words to describe the Saudi kingdom which, she writes, is “unabashed in its worship of a misogynistic God and never suffers any consequences for it, thanks to its double-whammy advantage of having oil and being home to Islam’s two holiest places, Mecca and Medina.”

Muslim women have known from the earliest days the promise of Islam and its oppressive reality as practised by Muslim men. the promise indicts Muslim men for their misogyny — apologetics aside — and in our age the Shariah-based sanction for the abuse of women is a crime against humanity.

Eltahawy is one courageous voice of Arab women. There are others. And they remind all that the genuinely revolutionary force for change in the Arab-Muslim world is women.

Yet the situation of women in the Arab-Muslim world of patriarchy and misogyny, if this can be imagined, has worsened. the reason is, as Eltahawy observes, the “Islamist hatred of women burns brightly across the region — now more than ever.”

BY DAVE MCKINNEY Springfield bureau chief dmckinney@suntimes.com may 17, 2012 4:16PM

Munir Muhammad, one of the founders of the Coalition for the Remembrance of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. | Brian Jackson~/Sun-Times

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Updated: may 18, 2012 2:27AM

SPRINGFIELD — In a rebuke to Gov. Pat Quinn, the Illinois Senate on Thursday rejected a Nation of Islam follower whose website advocates black separatism for a third term on the state Human Rights Commission.

The Senate voted down public-access cable television personality Munir Muhammad for the $49,960-a-year post after Republicans condemned his group’s Web page, which warns against racial mixing and advocates a separate territory within the U.S. for the descendents of slaves, both ideologies advanced by Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad.

Munir Muhammad’s group, the Coalition for the Remembrance of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, also parrots Elijah Muhammad’s views on its website that blacks should not be taxed and black children be taught separately “by their own teachers.”

“To appoint someone with these radical views to the Human Rights Commission, I think, is a travesty,” said Sen. Tim Bivins (R-Dixon).

Bivins also pointed to excerpts from one of Munir Muhammad’s television broadcasts in which he praised Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a “patient man.”

Muhammad, first appointed to the post in 2003 by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, needed 30 votes to win reappointment. But he drew only 20 votes, with 30 senators voting against his nomination and four voting present.

“He’s not being appointed to some transportation authority or some other benign committee. He’s making decisions about human rights, and he says himself that he ascribes to a belief that says race-mixing and interracial marriage is wrong,” said Sen. Dale Righter (R-Charleston). “Can there really be a debate here that this person has no business being on the Human Rights Commission?”

Muhammad, of South Holland, hosts two talk shows, “Muhammad and Friends” and “The Munir Muhammad Show,” which air across the country. He has had a political who’s who on his programs.

Guests on his program have included Barack Obama when he was a U.S. senator from Illinois; Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.); former Mayor Richard M. Daley; Blagojevich, and Cardinal Francis George.

Responding to GOP criticism, several black senators defended Muhammad, insisting he didn’t embrace the views on his organization’s website and claimed he would take them down. They said he is an open-minded individual.

“I don’t agree as a Christian with all the teachings of Muslims. But in an America and in a tolerant society, I don’t think we can be biased, just because someone is of the Muslim faith,” said Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago), pastor of Salem Baptist Church. “I stand in strong support of Munir Muhammad. I’ve appeared on his television show a number of times. He’s highly respected in the community, and he’s a good man.”

Other supporters said Muhammad, 64, had served ably on the panel but had poor computer skills and thus bore no responsibility for his website’s contents. State Sen. Maggie Crotty (D-Oak Forest) said she confronted Muhammad about his website’s language against racially mixed relationships.

“He said he did not believe in that, and as a matter of fact, he had family members who were interracial marriages, and again, he was embarrassed,” Crotty said.

Attempts to reach Muhammad at his coalition headquarters were unsuccessful. someone answering the phone there hung up on a Chicago Sun-Times reporter three times.

Joining Republicans in voting against Muhammad were seven Democrats, and another four Democrats accounted for the present votes.

In 2006, the Sun-Times first reported on controversy over Muhammad’s appointment to the human rights panel and his group’s interaction with state government, including a succession of grants it received under Blagojevich to promote prostate awareness and highway work-zone safety.

In February of that year, Blagojevich recognized the coalition with an honorary day and described the organization as “an invaluable institution and an important voice in both the African-American community and among the general public.”

Meanwhile, on other legislative fronts Thursday, the Senate followed the House in voting to give Auditor General William Holland another 10-year term in office.

The Senate also approved legislation inspired by a Sun-Times investigation on abuses of handicapped parking placards. the crackdown has passed both chambers of the Legislature and awaits action by Quinn.

KUALA LUMPUR — PAS has agreed to field non-Muslim candidates to contest in the coming general election in Sarawak and Johor.

Non-Muslim PAS Supporters Congress (DHPP) chairman, Hu Pang Chaw said they would contest in the Tiram State constituency in Johor and a parliamentary constituency in Sarawak.

“The matter is already agreed upon by PAS headquarters. DHPP has also asked PAS to field a candidate from DHPP for one seat in every state, regardless whether they are state or parliamentary seats.

“However, it is still at the discussion stage. the final decision depends on the PAS headquarters,” he told Bernama here, today.

DHPP is a wing of PAS representing their non-Malay and non-Muslim supporters.

Hu said a list of candidates from DHPP would be submitted to the PAS headquarters.

To date, candidates for Kedah, Perak, Selangor, Johor and Sarawak had been identified.

In the 2008 general election, PAS fielded a candidate from the Indian community to contest the Tiram State seat in the Johor Baharu Parliamentary Constituency.

However, the candidate R. Kumutha lost to Maulizan Bujang from Barisan Nasional.

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Allison Carey, The Plain DealerBoody Qur’an draws fashion inspiration from greats like the late Alexander McQueen.

Boody Qur’an, 25, Lakewood

‘Jack of all trades’ at Dolce Wraps Rotisserie Grill restaurant at Westgate, Fairview Park.

So you’ve been here for three years. Where did you move here from?

I was born in Jerusalem. It is holy and beautiful, but there is too much war among the religions and among the nationalities. I was there for 19 years, and then I went to Italy. from Italy, I was in the Middle East, then I came here. my story is featured in a documentary called “City of Borders.”

Tell me about Italy. It sounds like a brave move to make on your own.

I wanted to go to Europe because it’s beautiful and fashionable. I worked as a translator for Dolce & Gabbana; I speak four languages. I also modeled, but it was too stressful there. my pictures appeared in magazines in Milan and Rome. It was cool. Then I traveled to Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. I recorded music; I love the arts. In Jordan, I worked for a famous chain of luxury hair salons called Pace e Luce. after five years of travel, I came here to be with my family. I love America! Americans are sweet people; they don’t judge. I got lost on my way here today. three people happily helped me. In Europe, no one would help.

When did fashion become one of your interests?

I have loved fashion all of my life. When I was 6, my mother gave me sketchbooks. I drew pictures of clothing; I wanted to be a fashion designer. I could wear whatever I liked behind the doors of my house, but when I went to school I had to adapt, be like everyone else, not stand out. my mom is my angel. she is down to earth and so supportive of me. that is what’s important.

It seems that the way you dress has been a theme in your life.

The way you dress shows what you’re feeling inside. I had to dress like everyone else in school, but now I can’t be like everyone else — I have to be me. my clothes express who I am. I do my own thing.

Allison Carey, The Plain DealerBoody Qur’an was born in Jerusalem and says he likes how free he feels to make a statement with style here in United States.

I first met you at Dolce Wraps. how do you always look so put together when you work so hard?

I love cooking; I love making people the [Middle Eastern] food. I know the food so well, and I know how people like it. we try to keep it a calm, no-stress place. I am used to the heat, so I don’t ruin my clothes sweating all day. I have certain clothes for work; I keep them clean and neat. They’re fashionable, too.

I love your outfit. You make a great statement with an interesting mix of fabric, layers, and the shoes, and your accessories are fabulous.

I love jeans from the ’90s. they have a little higher waist with skinny ankles but are loose in the leg. They’re coming back. I bought the jacket in Italy; it was worth the money because I still love it. The boots are from Aldo at the mall. they were about $100. I collect boots. I like to rework everything. I make accessories; I take things apart and put them with other things. nothing that I’m wearing came this way. my T-shirt is from American Eagle. Big stripes and bold colors are really in. I love hats. I shave my head; it’s so easy. I made the white wrap bracelet, and I carry this bag everywhere.

Where do you like to shop?

Aldo has great shoes and accessories. for clothes, my favorite is H&M. It’s affordable, and they have good designs. I always check the sale section. I don’t like to spend a lot because styles change quickly. I don’t like high retail prices. Hot Topic has fun stuff, I like Express, and Hugo Boss has great quality and it’s made right here! I shop online; I like eBay. Target has great hats. I look at designer sites to see what’s going on in fashion. I watch people to see how they put things together. I pick up the free magazines at H&M and Express to keep up with everything.

How do you describe your style?

When it comes to fashion, I think you have to be fierce, be yourself! You have to show what you feel inside. I like to be comfortable, but I will put fashion before comfort. I like to take a risk, but I’m more mature, not as rebellious as I used to be. I like a simpler life now.

You must have some fashion icons — who are they?

Alexander McQueen was so awesome. Versace, Dolce & Gabbana. I look at Zuhair Murad and Elie Saab. These are all geniuses in fashion. I like to go to their websites . . . I like to see the thoughts of the designers in the finished products.

Since you are fashionably fierce, do you stick to any rules?

Yes, don’t wear a belt and shoes that don’t work together. I like a simple look that makes a statement. Fashion lets you make any kind of statement you want, but I like small amounts of colors and well-fitted clothes. I like a classy look, but one that is a little unusual. I am freer here in America to make a statement. Glasses and watches fascinate me. I wear lots of looks by changing my accessories.

You have a good eye. have you considered being a stylist?

Eventually I would like to work in fashion and clothes. I would like to dress mannequins, put outfits together. I miss being around more people who are like me. at Dolce & Gabbana, everyone lived for fashion, all day long. I miss that. It’s hard here to hang out with really fashionable people, because I don’t go to bars or clubs. I live every day to help people. I work against bullying. I worked with Dare2Care [Unite against Bullying]. That’s where you meet great people, the people who help people.

Those people are the best people!