Radicalization in Public Schools

Why We are Concerned

by Maha Soliman
January 26, 2017 at 4:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9786/radicalization-public-schools

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• Radicalization is not only manifested through the use of violence, but also through desiring to live by and impose sharia law on society.
• One reason for the increased popularity of sharia is the radicalization of second- and third-generation Muslims in Western societies.
• The school board said it believes that the checks and balances put in place will ensure that the Friday sermons are not used for radicalizing Muslim students; however, as laws against "Islamophobia" become a reality in Canada, and attempts to raise a concern are labelled hate speech, one should not count on it. With the passing of time, vigilance will be abandoned and people who express concern will find themselves vulnerable to bullying and defamation if they try to address an issue or crack down on a violation.
• Saied Shoaaib, a Muslim authority and expert on political Islam, points out that the dilemma for Western societies is that the only version of Islam available to them is the radical version, mostly in mosques and Islamic schools, and also in public libraries.
• The ongoing demand for the accommodation of Muslims in Western societies is a situation worth understanding. In the documentary "The Third Jihad", Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, an American Muslim who dedicates his life to fighting radicalization, explains that it is a cultural jihad that is meant to destroy our society from within -- slowly and gradually to impose the sharia way of life.

On January 10, 2017, I attended the Peel District School Board's meeting where recommendations for allowing Muslim students to write their own sermons (khutbah) for congregational Friday (Jumma) prayers in public schools were received. For more than 15 years, students were allowed to pray in the school but not in a congregational setting. In June 2016, the Jumma prayer was officially adopted but the students were only allowed to read from a list of pre-approved sermons.
Mississauga is one of three cities in the Peel region and the sixth largest city in Canada with high ethnic diversity and a population nearing one million. One of Mississauga's calls to fame is that it is home to at least eight members of the "Toronto 18" -- the first terrorist cell uncovered in 2006 and that aimed to create an Al-Qaida type of operation in Canada. Some of the 18 attended public schools: Saad Khalid, for example, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for pleading guilty to a single count of acting "with the intention of causing an explosion or explosions that were likely to cause serious bodily harm or death or damage property". He was known to have attended the Meadowvale Secondary School. There, he had started an Islamic Club and, in the lecture hall, had led Friday prayers, which he attended with fellow arrestees Fahim Ahmad and Zakaria Amara. If people like Khalid are the champions of organizing Jumaaprayers and Khutbah in their schools, it is no wonder that pre-scripted sermons were the way to protect public safety while allowing Muslim students still to practice their faith.

Canadian police arrest some of the "Toronto 18" terrorist plotters, in 2006. (Image source: CBC News video screenshot)

Today, radicalization in Western societies is becoming epidemic. It has become a reality of life in general, and an everyday concern to parents in particular -- especially parents who want their kids safe from terrorism as well as parents who want their kids safe from radicalization.
This crisis could not be more highlighted than by a segment recently aired by 1010 News Talk, ironically on the same day, the morning January 10, 2017: "What do you do if your child decides to join ISIS?" -- a topic that was probably unimaginable a few years ago, when protecting public safety trumped sensitivity, but has become a reality today as sensitivity seems to overpower protecting public safety.
The school board said it believes that the checks and balances put in place[1] will ensure that the Friday sermons not be used for radicalizing Muslim students; however, as laws against "Islamophobia" become a reality in Canada, and attempts to raise a concern are labelled hate speech, one should not count on it. With the passing of time, vigilance will be abandoned and people who express concern will find themselves vulnerable to bullying and defamation if they try to address an issue or crack down on a violation.
While the case of Ghada Sadaka, a principal in the York Region District School Board, is slightly different. She was forced to apologize for postings on Facebook and comments such as:

"A good start, but where is the voice of Muslims who are not extremists and of which they condemn these acts of terrorism. This is the time of vocalizing "where you stand"!!!"

Sadaka was simply posting her thoughts on social media without addressing a particular issue at schools. Yet, the purportedly moral war launched against her is only a pilot project: it is a warning to any other principal who tries to create awareness about radicalization or condemn it.
Radicalization is not only manifested through the use of violence, but also through desiring to live by and impose Sharia law on society. Under Sharia, polygamy is legal, honour crimes and female genital mutilation (FGM) are not punishable, amputations are welcome as a form of punishment, gays and apostates should be killed, and women's rights are no more.
A 2016 survey noted that one in four UK Muslims prefer to live under Sharia. This troubling finding led to former head of the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips, who popularized the term "Islamophobia", to admit that he was wrong. He said: "I thought Muslims would blend into Britain... I should have known better." Today, the UK is plagued with having two parallel legal systems: the UK courts and the Sharia courts.
One reason for the increased popularity of sharia is the radicalization of second and third generation Muslims in Western societies. Uncovering the root cause of that radicalization can be found in the book Lovers of Death, authored by the Muslim authority and expert on political Islam, Saied Shoaaib. In his book, Shoaaib points out that the dilemma for Western societies is that the only version of Islam available to them is the radical version, mostly in mosques and Islamic schools, and also in public libraries. Even when he visited the Ottawa public library and handed them books that represent a more peaceful outlook on Islam to balance out what is already there, the library never considered including them in their Arabic language collection.
The idea of increasing the Islamic content in the public sphere is pathetic; especially in a society where so many people seem to have agreed that the founding Judeo-Christian values should take a back seat in an attempt to make everybody feel "included". These accommodations result in the immense risk to our freedom of speech and way of life. There is also an economic penalty, as in the reduced opportunities for employment and lost business recently highlighted by the closure of the Peugeot auto plant, due to the excessive prayer breaks requested by Muslims who constitute the majority of the workers.
The ongoing demand for the accommodation of Muslims in Western societies is a situation worth understanding. In the documentary "The Third Jihad", Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, an American Muslim who dedicates his life to fighting radicalization, explains that it is a cultural jihad that is meant to destroy our society from within - slowly and gradually to impose the Sharia way of life. Produced exactly 10 years ago, the documentary was re-released in 2017, to demonstrate how his accurate predictions of societal transformation have come to pass. Now, for an accurate prediction of where Canada will be in 2026 if we continue on the same path, one need to look no farther than the report, "The Islamization of Britain in 2016" at Gatestone Institute, by the meticulous scholar, Soeren Kern.

Maha Soliman is based in Canada.

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[1] Recommendations included:

• All prayer spaces will continue to be supervised by school staff.
• Prayer will be led by students only, on Friday, for Jummah prayer.
• Two or more students can pray together on any other day but prayers would not be led nor include a sermon.
• Students may write their own sermon (khutbah) or can use a sermon (khutbah) from a bank of prewritten sermons, obtained from the school MSA or a local faith leader.
• Sermons will be presented in English, except for any verses quoted directly from the Quran.
• Sermons must comply with the school code of conduct, the Education Act, its Regulations and the Ontario Human Rights Code.
• As with all student activities in schools, appropriate disciplinary and corrective action will be taken where there are any contraventions of the Ontario Human Rights Code or the school code of conduct.
• https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9786/radicalization-public-schools

To the Muslim Brotherhood: Quit Shouting Islamophobia and Quit Attacking Muslim Families

by Saied Shoaaib
December 15, 2016 at 5:30 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9577/muslim-brotherhood-shouting-islamophobia

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• Islamists, including Majzoub, have a long history of dragging prominent people and organizations into their arguments about extremism, terrorism and radicalization. These Islamists do not use their influence to drain the resources of Islamic terrorism in Canada and elsewhere, nor do they seek to stop young Canadians from joining ISIS. They do not use their knowledge or money to dismantle the infrastructure of extremism, nor do they attempt to dismantle the historical and religious arguments in favor of terrorism. Rather than do any of this, they instead make it their priority to intimidate, harass or sue those who speak out against Islamist extremism and its accompanying terrorism.
• The prevailing religious interpretation of groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and its adherents is that anyone who objects to their interpretation of Islam is to be considered a disbeliever. Because of their disbelief, they deserve to be killed in the present life and should then suffer the punishment of Allah in the next life. If killing them in this life is not an option, then spreading hate and anger against them is acceptable.
• The other main problem the Parliamentary action against "Islamophobia" is that it gives the false impression that groups such as the Canadian Muslim Forum or the Muslim Brotherhood can speak for Muslims. In fact, they do not. In the UK, it was recently revealed that only about 2% of UK Muslims feel that the Muslim Council of Britain represents them.
• It is not just that they have extremist literature in Canadian schools and mosques, it is that in some instances they have nothing but extremist literature. The Ottawa Public Library, for instance, has nothing but extremist literature in its Arabic language collection.
• The first victims of this will be secular and modernist Muslims who oppose extremism -- and their families.

Islamist front groups in Canada and the West have dragged the media and the political "elites" into their extremist messaging. Rather than learning about why extremism and terrorism come out of their religion, Islamists instead concentrate on preventing the victims of their violence from speaking out. They do this by shouting "Islamophobia" at every opportunity, and do so most loudly at modernist or secular Muslims.
The Parliament of Canada, for example, passed an "anti-Islamophobia" motion on October 26, 2016. Samer Majzoub, the president of the Canadian Muslim Forum, was the person behind the Parliamentary petition against "Islamophobia"; it generated some 70,000 signatures. The sponsor of the motion in the House of Commons was MP Frank Baylis.
Both Majzoub and the Canadian Muslim Forum have a rather long list of dubious connections to Islamist groups and the foreign money used to support them. This includes the Muslim Brotherhood.
What is the real intent of Samir Majzoub, the Canadian Muslim Forum and its exploitation of the over-hyped concept of "Islamophobia"? As noted, Islamists, including Majzoub, have a long history of dragging prominent people and organizations into their arguments about extremism, terrorism and radicalization. These Islamists do not use their influence to drain the resources of Islamic terrorism in Canada and elsewhere, nor do they seek to stop young Canadians from joining ISIS. They did not stop suicide bombers in Canada such as Aaron Driver or Calgary-based Salma Ashrafi, who became a suicide bomber in Iraq. They do not use their knowledge or money to dismantle the infrastructure of extremism, nor do they attempt to dismantle the historical and religious arguments in favor of terrorism. Rather than do any of this, they instead make it their priority to intimidate, harass or sue those who speak out against Islamist extremism and its accompanying terrorism.

Samir Majzoub (left), the Islamist president of the Canadian Muslim Forum, was the person behind the recent Canadian Parliamentary petition against "Islamophobia." Both Majzoub and the Canadian Muslim Forum have a long list of dubious connections to Islamist groups and the foreign money used to support them. This includes the Muslim Brotherhood. (Image sources - Majzoub: Canadian Muslim Forum video screenshot; Parliament: Saffron Blaze/Wikimedia Commons)

Why should life be dangerous for Muslims, their families and others who reject the charges of Islamophobia?
The prevailing religious interpretation of groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and its adherents is that anyone who objects to their interpretation of Islam is to be considered a disbeliever. Because of their disbelief, they deserve to be killed in the present life and should then suffer the punishment of Allah in the next life. If killing them in this life is not an option, then spreading hate and anger against them is acceptable.
The side effects of the supposed "Islamophobia" activity is an increased threat to Muslim families in Canada and the USA. Modernist and secular Muslims are afraid to speak out against extremism, for fear of being labelled as traitors to their own community. They also fear for their businesses and their children, who may come under verbal and physical attack. Because of petitions and Parliamentary actions such as those in Canada, modernist and secular Muslims and their families are forced either to agree with the false precepts of "Islamophobia" as advanced by extremist front groups, or to disagree with them but remain silent. Unfortunately, disagreeing with the Muslim Brotherhood and its front groups can be dangerous and even fatal.
The other main problem with the Parliamentary action against "Islamophobia" is that it gives the false impression that groups such as the Canadian Muslim Forum or the Muslim Brotherhood can speak for Muslims. In fact, they do not. Groups such as the Canadian Muslim Forum or the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) have little evidence to show they have anything approaching majority support. In the UK, it was recently revealed that only about 2% of UK Muslims feel that the Muslim Council of Britain represents them. Moreover, CAIR, despite its claims of moderation, was declared to be a terrorist entity by the United Arab Emirates.
With no mandate to speak on behalf of Muslims, Islamists such as Majzoub should not be regarded as "leadership" figures. They intimidate other Muslims and work to silence anyone who speaks against them. This is a sort of intellectual fraud: no one elected them to speak on behalf of Muslims. From an Islamic religious perspective, it should be noted that Allah has no agents or representatives on Earth, so their claim to speak on behalf of Muslims is theologically weak, at best.
At the same time, these Islamists do all they can to hide their finances; they refuse to show how much money they receive from Saudi Arabia or Qatar. They are constantly caught financing terrorism and their front-group members are often charged with criminal offences related to extremism and terrorism.
In Canada, Islamist-run schools use extremist literature from the Middle East to teach their children. It is not just that they have extremist literature in Canadian schools and mosques; it is that in some cases they have nothing but extremist literature. It is also not just Islamist-run schools and mosques that are the problem. The Ottawa Public Library, for instance, has nothing but extremist literature in its Arabic language collection.

Conclusions

The Parliamentary motion condemns all forms of "Islamophobia," without making any attempt to define what that means. As Judith Bergman put it:

The questions need to be asked: What exactly are they condemning? Criticism of Islam? Criticism of Muslims? Debating Mohammed? Depicting Mohammed? Discussing whether ISIS is a true manifestation of Islam? Is any Canadian who now writes critically of Islam or disagrees with the petitioners that ISIS "does not reflect in any way the values or the teachings of the religion of Islam now to be considered an "Islamophobe"?

The Canadian Parliamentary motion on "Islamophobia" is indeed a large stick that is designed to be swung at anyone who makes even the vaguest criticism of extremist Islam and its front groups. Rather than draining the extremist swamp or defunding their centers of activity, motions such as this are intended to weaponize words so that critics can be silenced by criminalizing anything that varies from political correctness, as in the clearly politically-motivated conviction of Dutch MP Geert Wilders last week.
The first victims of this will be secular and modernist Muslims who oppose extremism -- and their families.

Saied Shoaaib is a journalist and author originally from Egypt. He was the editor and manager of the Alyoum7 news website and the manager of "United Journalist." In 2007, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt raised questions about his work in the Egyptian Parliament. The questions were specifically aimed at the Attorney General of Egypt. For many years, his life and his family have been at risk because of constant threats aimed at his writings against and Islamists, terrorism and Islamic extremism. He has written several books on extremist Islam, journalism and the electronic media.

• Follow Saied Shoaaib on Twitter
• https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9577/muslim-brotherhood-shouting-islamophobia

Why Does Canada Accept the Existence of a Secret International Organization on its Soil?

Extremism | 

What would your reaction be if you found out that a Canadian citizen who works for the police or a political party was a member of a secret international organization? How would you feel is this individual’s first loyalty was to a non-Canadian group and they were receiving commands to implement the plans of this secret organization? I think you would be very worried and you would be looking for ways to protect Canada from this secret organization.

One such secret organization in Canada is the Muslim Brotherhood. It is important to recognize that this group is the well spring from which most of the Islamacist terrorist organizations have grown. We will have more on this in the next article.

The long term goal of this largely secret organization is to create an Islamacist Caliphate which will enforce their version of an extremist and politicized Islam.

Of course, the control of Canada by the Muslim Brotherhood or any Islamacist organization is impossible in the short term. However, it should be remembered that several tens or hundreds of Islamacist terrorists can spread terror and damage economies. The Paris attacks of 13 November 2015 are only the most recent example of this.

As can be expected, some of the Muslim Brotherhood deny the existence of such a secret aspect of their organization, as was noted by Dr Hassan Prince. Dr Prince is the leader of the Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt and he told Radio Sawa in Egypt that such a position helps relieve them of some of the risk associated with have meetings and conversations between the members from 85 countries around the world.

The existence of the group has also been confirmed by former and current members of the group, including Al Jazeera broadcaster Ahmed Masnour. On his Facebook page, he called upon the secret wing of the organization to reform itself. Also, the Kingdom of Jordan has been involved in a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood while at the same time, the Muslim Brotherhood has been resisting efforts of the state to impose a new organizational president on them. The result has been a split in the Muslim Brotherhood there.

Tharwat Kherbawi, a former leadership figure of the Muslim Brotherhood says it is likely that the number of Canadians in this international secret organization ranges from 700 to 1000. They follow the direction of the Head of the Shoura Council of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States of America. A large number of Muslim Brotherhood members have emigrated to Canada in the wake of the revolution that toppled them from power in Egypt in 2013.

Mr. Kherabawi has stated that the goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is to covert other states into Islamic States gradually. Canada’s secular democracy is a target and it is at long term risk of devolving and allowing Muslim Brotherhood ideology to shape policy in Canada.

When was the International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood Founded?

The founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al-Banna created the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928. In 1933, he created the department of external communication for its operations in various countries around the world. Its very first international outreach was to Djbouti and now that outreach involves some 85 countries.

Hassan al-Banna said, “the geographical and political divisions created by a political border does not separate our souls and will not interfere with the meaning of the Arab and Islamic unity, which the hearts gathered in the hope of one and one goal, and made the place all of these countries are one nation.” This was confirmed again by Dr. Mohamed Badie in the wake of the group’s take over of Egypt.

Hassan al-Banna further added that one of the founders of the external communications department, Dr. Mohamed Mahmoud Sawaf, established within this section:

1. The Committee on the Near East, including Arab and Muslim countries and peoples in Africa.
2. Commission the Far East, including the countries of East Asia and Central.
3. The Committee on Islam in Europe.

In the 1980s, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mahdi Akef, was chosen to lead the Munich Mosque/Centre. This centre has contributed to the rise of the growth of Islamacist organizations in Europe. Mahmoud Abu Halima, convicted for his role in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, was part of this effort.

How Does this Secret International Organization Work?

Tharwat Kherbawi was previously a leadership figure in the Muslim Brotherhood. He had specific responsibility for arranging the travel documents of any Muslim Brotherhood member to travelling to any Arab country. As a part of their organizational structure, he realized that it was important to modify the regulations of the organization to assist in expansion. One such change was a document which would allow a Muslim Brotherhood member to be recognized by other Muslim Brotherhood members anywhere in the world.

Other changes were made in the oath of allegiance included words to say that loyalty to the group is forever. The work of the group depends on the Qur’an as the book of God, they work to His profit and for the Victory of Islam.

Funding

The Muslim Brotherhood has a variety of economic activities in Egypt and abroad. According to the Masrawy website, it had a controlling interest in many companies in Egypt as well as a number of companies in the city of Dubai, Qatar and in other Gulf countries. They also invested in Japan where they bought shares in a major company specializing in the automotive and electrical appliances.

The Muslim Brotherhood also found that the investment in the automotive industry could achieve large profits and they bought shares in the company “Daewoo” in Korea before it collapsed. For years, the Muslim Brotherhood has stated they have funds in international banks such as Societe Generale and Barry Bahy France.

The problem of undeclared money is both inside and outside of Egypt. This is a secret activity on behalf of the members who are largely unknown or unrecognized and move from country to country to finance the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood. This is why such a risk exists. It is probable that some of this money supports terrorist organizations that came out of the Muslim Brotherhood and maintain a strategic alliance between them.

Saied Shoaaib

Egyptian writer and researcher

saiedshoaaib@gmail.com

http://tsecnetwork.ca/2015/12/10/why-does-canada-accept-the-existence-of-a-secret-international-organization-on-its-soil/

لماذا لا يصارح المسلمون انفسهم بأن معظمهم ارهابيون محتملون؟

نعم السؤال صحيح تماماً . مؤلم لي كمسلم متدين، اعرف أنه مؤلم لكثيرين غيري من المسلمين. لكنها الحقيقة التي يجب أن نصارح انفسنا بها. فداعش والقاعدة وغيرها من التنظيمات المتطرفة والإرهابية هم ابناء شرعيين، وليس نشاذ كما يدعي كثير من المسلمين. داعش تستند الى آيات في القرآن الكريم وفي الأحاديث والسيرة النبوية والتاريخ الإسلامي. استناد داعش وغيرها لا يعتمد على تأويل خاطئ، ولكن على نصوص مباشرة صريحة ووقائع واحداث واضحة وصريحة للنبي محمد عليه الصلاة والسلام وللصحابة وللتاريخ الإسلامي. إنها الثقافة الدينية التقليدية لدى المسلمين، السنة على وجه الخصوص، والتي تجعل كثيراً منهم ارهابيون محتملون، تجعلهم ابناء لداعش . واذا لم يحدث أن صار المسلم متطرف أو ارهابي، فهذا معناه أنه تجاهل هذه الثقافة ، أو أنه استقر على أن يتصالح مع نفسه باعتباره “مسلم غير ملتزم”.

الأمر هنا لا يتعلق بمنطقة الشرق الأوسط فقط، رغم أنها المنطقة التي ظهرت فيها معظم الأفكار المتطرفة والإرهابية وصدرته الى كل مكان في العالم. فهذه الثقافة ستجدها بعد ثورة الإتصالات والإنترنت في كل مكان ، في الشرق وفي الغرب، في كندا والمانيا واستراليا ونيجيريا والفلبين وغيرها وغيرها. لقد سمعت تجليات هذه الثقافة في مساجد بكندا، مثلما سمعتها في مساجد مصر، مثلما يمكن أن تسمعها على اليويتويب لمشايخ وائمة في كل بلاد الله. لذلك ليس غريباً أن تنتج هذه الثقافة ارهابيين من جنسيات مختلفة ومن كل مكان في العالم.

هذه الثقافة الدينية التقليدية السنية تحول المسلم العادي الى قنبلة موقوتة يمكن أن تنفجر في أي لحظة، في أي مكان.اذا سنحت الظروف والبيئة الحاضنة لها. تزيد أو تقل حسب طبيعة وظروف كل بلد. لكنها حتماً موجودة. فهي الأرضية الصلبة التي انتجت تنظيمات مثل الإخوان المسلمين والتي منها خرجت القاعدة والجهاد وداعش وغيرها. فالأساس الفكري الديني لكل ذلك مشترك. لا فارق في الجوهر، الإختلاف في الدرجة وليس النوع. داعش تؤسس دولة الخلافة بقسوة ودموية. الإخوان المسلمون يريدونها ديكتاورية دينية بطلاء ديمقراطي لطيف لا يختلف كثيراً عن نظام الملالي في ايران.

صحيح أن هناك رؤي اسلامية متسامحة، وصحيح أن هناك اجتهادات عظيمة تصالح بين المسلم وبين العالم ، لكن الصحيح الذي نحتاج الى الإعتراف به كمسلمين، وأنا أولهم ، هو أن هذه ليست الثقافة الدينية السائدة في اوساط عموم المسلمين السنة. ولابد أن نصارح انفسنا كمسلمين بأن الخطاب الديني السائد في اوساط المسلمين السنة في أي مكان في العالم، هو خطاب في معظمه عدائي عنصري دموي، قابل للإنفجار عندما تسنح الفرصة. لذلك لم يعد الإرهابيون فقط هم القادمون من الشرق الأوسط، بل القادمون من كل مكان في العالم، بسبب انتشار ثورة الإتصالات التي سهلت التعاطي مع هذا الخطاب الديني الإرهابي.

من اين تأتي هذه الثقافة الدينية الإرهابي؟

من النص القرآني ذاته. فالحقيقة هي أن القرآن الكريم مليئ بالعديد والعديد من آيات التسامح وحرية التدين واحترام الإختلاف .. الى اخر القيم الإنسانية العظيمة. لكنه ايضاً مليئ بآيات تحرض على القتل والكراهية . لذلك من الطبيعي ان تجد الكثير والكثير من المسلمين والكثير والكثير من الأئمة والمشايخ يقولون لك وهم صادقين أن ما تفعله داعش ليس هو الإسلام. السبب أنهم يستندون الى آيات كثيرة تدعو للتسامح والمحبة وغيرها من القيم الإنسانية الرفيعة ، لكنهم لا ينفون الآيات المعاكسة، التي تدعو للكراهية والقتل ، وهي التي تستند اليها داعش.

ذات الأمر ستجده في الأحاديث والسيرة النبوية التي نُقلت عن النبي العظيم محمد صلي الله عليه وسلم. فهناك احاديث غاية في الإنسانية وهناك غيرها يحرض على القتل والتنكيل بالخصوم من الكفار واليهود والمسيحيين وغيرهم. فالنبي لم يكن مجرد رسول ولكنه في ذات الوقت ولأسباب متعلقة بطبيعة المجتمع البدوي الذي ظهرت فيه رسالة الإسلام، كان مضطراً لخوض المعارك المسلحة بكافة اشكالها ضد الخصوم، وهم الكفار واليهود وغيرهم. فمن أين نأخد عنه، هل الرسول صاحب الرسالة السامية أم الرسول المحارب والمقاتل.

صحابة النبي والخلفاء الراشدين في السير المنقولة عنهم الكثير من التسامح، ولكن هناك ايضاً الكثير من الدم، والكثير من نشر الإسلام بقوة السلاح وباحتلال بلاد اخرى، وما يتبع ذلك من جرائم حرب وجرائم ضد الإنسانية. بل وخلفاء النبي صلي الله عليه وسلم خاضوا حروباً دموية ضد بعضهم البعض في صراع محموم على الحكم . وثلاثة منهم قتلوا بالسلاح ( عمر بن الخطاب وعلي بن ابي طالب وعثمان بن عفان).

عموم التاريخ الإسلامي فيه جانب دموي، مثلما هو مليئ بالقيم العظيمة ومليئ بالحضارة التي ساهمت في التقدم الإنساني.

دعني اقول لك إن الإسلام ليس استثناءً في هذا التاريخ الدموي. فهكذا كل الديانات، بما فيها المسيحية. ورجال الدين الإسلامي ليسوا استثناء، فالقتل والدم تم باسم الله بواسطة كل الأديان. ثم أن الإمبرطوريات القديمة شرقية وغربية ارتكبت في توسعاتها الإستعمارية الجرائم البشعة. والإمبراطورية الإسلامية ليست استثناءً في ذلك. ولابد أن نتذكر أن الإستعمار الغربي للعالم في العصر الحديث كان مقروناً بالدماء، وكان في كثير من الأحيان يفعل ذلك تحت راية الصليب.

لكن هذه الأديان ومنها اليهودية والمسيحية تطورت لأسباب كثيرة وتنازلت عن الجانب الدموي فيها. وتصالحت مع العالم ومع الحياة. اظن أن هذا ما يحتاج اليه المسلمين. فللأسف هم يقدسون الجانب الدموي في ثقافتهم الدينية السائدة، وحان الوقت للتخلص نهائياً من النصوص الدموية. والتبرؤ من الجرائم الدموية في تاريخهم. فقد كان كل ذلك مرتبط بزمانه وظروفه و لسنا مضطرين للإقتداء به. اعتقد أننا نحتاج الى التخلي عن الإقتداء بالأداء السياسي للرسول محمد صلي الله عليه وسلم. فقد خاض معارك في زمانه كان مضطراً لها لحماية الدعوة الوليدة، واظن أننا لسنا مضطرين لذلك. لقد خاض مثلاً صراعاً دموياً مع بعض اليهود في زمنه ، فهذا لا يعني اننا في صراع مع اليهودية أو اليهود في كل زمان ومكان. نقتدي بأدء النبي العظيم كرسول للقيم الإنسانية العظيمة. كما نحتاج لأن نتخلى عن كل ما هو ضد الإنسانية في الفقه الإسلامي وفي التاريخ الإسلامي . نبقي على القيم العظيمة في هذا التاريخ، هذه القيم التي تحمي انسانيتنا ، ونتبرأ كما فعل غيرنا من الغزوات والعنف والدم. ننتقل من خانة العداء للإنسانية الى خانة أننا جزءً منها، جزء من تقدمها ، نحن بشر مثل الآخرين.

Why do Muslims “frankly” tell themselves that many of them are potential terrorists? 

Yes that question was absolutely correct. It’s painful for me as a religious Muslim, as I know that it is painful for a lot of other Muslims. But that’s the truth that we should face:

ISIS and Al-Qaeda and other extremist and terrorist organizations are legitimate sons, not illegitimate as many Muslims claim.

ISIS actions are based on verses from Holy Quran, Hadith (Sayings of Prophet Muhammad), Sirah (Biography of Prophet Muhammad) and Islamic history. They are not based on wrongful interpretations, but on direct and explicit texts, facts and events of Prophet Muhammad, Sahabah (prophet Muhammad companions) and Islamic history. It’s the traditional religious culture of Muslims – especially Sunni – that makes many of them potential terrorists, potential sons of ISIS. And if it doesn’t happen for a Muslim to turn to be an extremist r terrorist, that means that he chose to ignore this culture, or he settled on reconcile with himself as an” uncommitted Muslim”.

It’s not only the matter of Middle East region, although it’s the region where all these extreme and terroristic thoughts came to light and then exported to the rest of the world. But after the communication and internet revolution you can find that culture everywhere, east and west, in Canada, Germany, Australia, Nigeria, Philippines, etc.

I’ve even heard this culture’s manifestations in a mosque in Canada, as I heard it in mosques in Egypt, as you can hear it on Youtube by Sheikhs and Imams from all around the world. So it’s not weird for this culture to produce terrorists of different nationalities and from all over the world.

This traditional religious Sunni culture has the ability to transform the normal Muslim into a time bomb that may explode at any moment, anywhere, just if the circumstances and incubator environment allowed that, chances of that may increase or decrease depending on each country’s nature and circumstances, but it’s definitely exist. This is the solid base that produced an organization such as Muslim Brotherhood which in turn produced Al-Qaeda, Jehad, ISIS and others. The religious intellectual basis of all that organizations is the same; there are no differences in core, only in degree and class but not in kind and type. As while ISIS establishs the Caliphate State in a cruelly and bloody way, the Muslim Brotherhood want a religious dictatorship with a nice democratic appearance which would not be that much different than the Mullahs regime in Iran.

It’s true that there are tolerant Islamic views, and it’s true that there are great efforts to achieve reconciliation between Muslims and world, but the other fact that we “as Muslims” have to admit: is that this tolerant culture isn’t prevalent between Sunni Muslims in general.

We also have to admit that the most prevailing religious discourse between Sunni Muslims all around the world is mostly hostile, racist and bloody; can explode when the opportunity arises. So terrorists now aren’t only coming from the Middle East, but coming from everywhere in the world, because of the spread of communications revolution that facilitated dealing with this terroristic religious discourse.

From where does this terroristic religious culture come?

It came from the Quran itself. The truth is that the Holy Quran is full of lots and lots of tolerance, freedom of faith, respect of difference and many other great humanitarian values. But it’s also full of verses that incite for killing and hatred. So it’s normal to find many Muslims and lots and lots of Imams and sheikhs telling you that ISIS actions don’t represent the real Islam. The reason is that they are relying on verses that call for tolerance, peace, love and many other great humanitarian values, while they don’t deny that there’re contrary verses, which call for hatred and killing, those verses that have been taken by ISIS as main reference.

The same thing in Hadith and Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) Sirah. As there are very humanitarian Hadith, there are many others that incite for killing and abusing antagonists like infidels, Jews, Christians and others. Prophet Muhammad was not only God’s messenger, but also – For reasons related to the nature of the Bedouin community in which the message of Islam arose – he had to fight all forms of armed battles against antagonists. So which one we should take from, the messenger of peace or the fighter and warrior?

The biographies of Sahaba and Caliphs tell us about a lot of tolerance, and also about a lot of bloodshed, spreading Islam by force and occupation of other countries, and the subsequent war crimes and crimes against humanity. They even fought themselves in “the struggle for the throne” bloody wars, and three of them were murdered (Omar bin al-Khattab – Othman bin Affan – Ali bin Abi Talib).

There is a bloody side in the Islamic history, as there’re many great values and great civilization that contributed to humanity progress.

Let me tell you that Islam isn’t an exception in this bloody history; it includes all religions, including Christianity. Also Islam clerics aren’t exception, killing and bloodshed in the name of God occurred by all religions. Also eastern and western ancient empires committed a lot of heinous crimes during their colonial expansions, and Islamic empire isn’t an exception. We also must remember that the western colonization in modern era was coupled with blood, and that happened in many events under the cross flag.

But all those religions including Judaism and Christianity have been developed for many reasons and waived their bloody side, reconciled with world and life. And I think that this is exactly what Muslims need. Unfortunately they revere the bloody side of their prevailing religious culture, but that’s the time to get rid of all of those bloody texts, and to disown all those bloody crimes in their history. All of that was related to its time and circumstances and we don’t have to follow it. We need to stop following the political performance of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). He had to fight these battles in his time to protect the new message of Islam, and I think that we don’t have to do the same. As an example: he fought a bloody conflict with some of the Jews in his time, this does not mean that we are in conflict with Judaism or Jews in every time and place. We have to follow Prophet Muhammad as a messenger of great humanitarian values, while we have to waive everything else against humanity in Islamic jurisprudence “Fiqh” and Islamic history. Keeping the great values in this history, that values that protect our humanity, and disown – like others – the invasions, violence and blood. Move from being enemies of humanity to become part of it, effective part of its progress, we are humans just like others.

Saied Shoaaib

Egyptian Writer

saiedshoaaib@gmail.com

http://tsecnetwork.ca/2015/09/28/isis-is-the-legitimate-son-of-islam/

What is a Killer Imam Doing in Public Libraries in Canada?

by Saied Shoaaib
February 21, 2017 at 4:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9974/ottawa-public-library-islam

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• How is it possible that books that advocate violence and extremism meet the "selection criteria" of the Ottawa Public Library, but those that speak out against violence and extremism do not?
• The presence of these Islamic books, and these books alone, in Canada's public libraries, without any others to contradict them, gives them legitimacy. They are seen to represent a certain form of Islam that the government of Canada and the City of Ottawa recognize.
• This indicates that there is official support for the extremist and terrorist version of Islam, and at the same time no support for a humanist interpretation of Islam.
• This surah [4:74] also indicates that if you are a Muslim living in a non-Muslim country, then you are in a state of war against your host country. If you are a Muslim living in a non-Muslim country, then you are living with the enemy.
• If we are to reject this danger, it is important that libraries and other institutions have books that reject these Islamist views and confront their hatred, extremism and violence.

The Muslim Brotherhood classifies as one of their great intellectual leaders Imam Mohammed al-Ghazali (1917-1996). He famously decreed that the assassination of the Egyptian Muslim thinker, Farag Foda, was acceptable. In the views of al-Ghazali, Farag Foda was an apostate for defending secular values and human rights. Moreover, al-Ghazali went into an Egyptian court and defended the assassins: "Anyone who openly resisted the full imposition of Islamic law," he said, "was an apostate who should be killed either by the government or by devout individuals." He added: "There is no penalty in Islam to kill the apostate by yourself when the government fails to do so."
In public libraries across Canada (and elsewhere), the books of Imam al-Ghazali are available, along with others that incite hatred, violence and terror, by authors such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Imam Nawawi. There is not a single Arabic language book in a library that I have visited in Ottawa that attacks or criticizes terrorism and violence and hatred.

A copy of One Hundred Questions in Islam by Dr. Muhammad al-Ghazali, found in the Ottawa Public Library. The image at right shows the inside cover of the book, with the Ottawa Public Library Stamp.

The Significance

The Ottawa Public Library apparently prefers Arabic-language books of this extremist nature and rejects those that advocate resistance to extremism or advocates in favour of a modernist Islam.
As an experiment, I donated two books to the Ottawa Public Library. One book was titled The Demise of the State of Brotherhood, released in Egypt in January 2013. At that time, the Muslim Brotherhood was the ruling party (FJP) in Egypt. This book addresses the seriousness of the political and religious project of the Muslim Brotherhood and how it worked to establish a religious and theocratic authoritarian state. This government in Egypt was, for the Muslim Brotherhood, a part of the larger effort to restore the Islamic caliphate project around the world.
The second book was entitled, The Sins of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. It was released in 2010 and documented a dialogue conducted by the author with the former Muslim Brotherhood General Guide Mohammed Mahdi Akef (2006). It was in this dialogue that General Guide Akef made his famous statement "I don't give a damn about Egypt and these people in Egypt." Akef made it clear that his views on the Muslim Brotherhood and its project of recreating a caliphate took precedence over the needs and views of the people of Egypt. The book was threatened with legal action.
Several months after donating the two books to the Ottawa Public Library, there was no response. After inquiring further, they then told me that the books were not acceptable as they did not meet their "selection criteria." The exact statement from library employee was:

"I have contacted my colleagues at the acquisitions department about the books you donated to the library in the past. They no longer have them, which means that when they received them they didn't pass our selection criteria."

How is it possible that books that advocate violence and extremism meet the selection criteria of the Ottawa Public Library, but those that speak out against violence and extremism do not? Those who donated the other books appear to have been Islamists: they donated books that advocate the terrorist discourse. Yet the library selection committee approves of them.

Can Such Books Create Extremism and Terrorism?

The answer in the Islamist case is: Yes. Many books are available in bookstores and libraries which incite violence, such as Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, or books that promote the colonial period of the West. There are also non-Islamic religious books that incite hatred, but these no longer seem to lead others to kill.
Many governments and individuals have apologized for these past crimes. Germany, for example has apologized for the crimes of the Holocaust against the Jews (but not Austria, Hitler's birthplace); the Spanish government has apologized for the expulsion of Muslims from Andalusia, even though they are the descendants of the invading Arabs. (N.B. The Ottawa Public Library does have copies of Mein Kampf available, but it also has books on the Holocaust and a variety of history books on Word War Two.)
With modern extremist Islam, the situation is different. Its past, along with its ideas and bloody history, remain active today and act as an engine to drive reality. The prevailing Islamist culture has not gotten beyond its past: it does not spread a humanist interpretation of Islam or of the texts that are often used to spread hatred, extremism and terrorism. Today's Islamist Muslims have not apologized for the crimes their ancestors, committed when they invaded much of the rest of the world and formed colonial empires. The opposite is true: they seem very proud of this colonial era and frequently refer to the high-water marks of the empires as the "Golden Age of Islam."
ISIS, for example, wants directly to apply what is in the ancient texts and religious history: to restore the face of Islamist colonial empire. They literally apply the texts that incite violence, directly, without any modern re-interpretation. ISIS is the daughter of the traditional Islamic culture that is now found across the Sunni world.
The presence of these Islamic books, and these books alone, in Canada's public libraries, without any others to contradict them, gives them legitimacy. They are seen to represent a certain form of Islam that the government of Canada and the City of Ottawa recognize.
This indicates that there is official support for the extremist and terrorist version of Islam, and at the same time no support for a humanist interpretation of Islam.
Unfortunately, it seems that Canada and the West fight "terrorism" everywhere, but they do not close the factories of extremism and terrorism in their own countries. This view seems to exist not only in public libraries but also in the libraries of many of the mosques, the speeches of many imams, many Islamic schools and in other institutions controlled by the Islamists.[1]

Do the Ghazali Books Support Terrorism?

The Ottawa Public Library has, as noted above, many books by Muhammad al-Ghazali. His ideas are close to those of the Muslim Brotherhood and a lesson in how Muslim extremist and terrorist beliefs are created. Ghazaii, for instance, argues that a place can be considered a "home of peace" [Dar al Islam] when it is ruled by Muslims and the law of Allah and his messenger are applied to all. A place can be considered a "home of war" [Dar al Harb] if the place is inhabited by unbelievers of Islam or those who object to it.[2]
Ghazali also cites the Qur'an specifically saying:

"Let those fight in the cause of God who sell the life of this world for the hereafter. To him who fights in the cause of God, whether he is slain or victorious, soon we shall give him a great reward." -- Surah 4:74

This surah means that those who kill infidels, whether victorious or not, will get a great reward in Jana (paradise). This surah also indicates that if you are a Muslim living in a non-Muslim country, then you are in a state of war against your host country. If you are a Muslim living in a non-Muslim country, then you are living with the enemy.

Hatred of Canada and the West

Ghazali -- apparently forgetting that the Muslims invaded Persia, the Christian Byzantine Empire in Turkey, all of North Africa and the Middle East, Greece, Spain and most of eastern Europe -- claims that global colonization (by the West) is rooted on an ongoing deep hatred of Islam, and an enormous desire to destroy it. After weakening the Ottoman Turkish caliphate and having carved up its territory, the West gave it a fatal blow in the wake of the First World War, and wiped out the official presence of Islam in the international field. Ghazali writes on page 221 of One Hundred Questions About Islam that the laws that came out of Western colonialism were created to dominate the Islamic nation militarily and defeat it politically. He characterizes these laws as distorting the face of Islam, and having the goal of destroying the foundations of Islam.
So, a Muslim living in Canada who is exposed to these teachings is led to believe that he or she should hate their new home country. They are led to believe that they belong to another entity (an Islamist caliphate) and that it is their duty to build this caliphate on the ruins of Western civilization.
Most of the Arabic-language books on Islam in the West incite extremism and terrorism. If we are to reject this danger, it is important that libraries and other institutions have books that reject these Islamist views and confront their hatred, extremism and violence.

Saied Shoaaib is a Muslim scholar based in Canada. He can be reached at: saiedshoaaib@gmail.com

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[1] Lovers of Death, Islamist Extremism is our Mosques, Schools and Libraries.
[2] One Hundred question in Islam, Dr. Muhammad al-Ghazali, Page 349.

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