Peddling Violent Jihad to Non-Arabic Speaking Muslims in the West

Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad English-Language Site, Owned by Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, Peddles Violent Jihad to Non-Arabic Speaking Muslims in the West By: D. Diamond & R. Green*

For almost a decade, Sheikh Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi's website, Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad ("The Pulpit of Monotheism and Jihad," henceforth MTJ) has been among the main online homes of the global Salafi-jihadi movement.[1] Al-Maqdisi has long been at the fore of the radical Salafi movement in Jordan, and is considered a religious authority and spiritual leader by many Salafi-jihadis worldwide. Through the years, his website has served as a primary means of disseminating Salafi-jihadi doctrine and texts, and jihad-related fatwas. In addition to Al-Maqdisi himself, the website is overseen by a shari'a committee of radical Salafi-jihadi clerics hailing from various Arab countries, some of them residing in the West.

Aside from its main Arabic-language website, MTJ offers an English website (accessible at www.tawhed.net, hosted in Malaysia) that serves as an online library of Salafi-jihadi material translated from Arabic, including sermons, articles, books, magazines, and interviews by such Islamist luminaries as Al-Maqdisi himself, Sayyed Qutb, and Al-Qaeda leaders past and present, including Osama bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, 'Abdallah 'Azzam, and others. Original English language material, much of it by late American-born cleric Anwar Al-'Awlaki, who is featured prominently on the site, is also offered, in the form of books, articles, audio recordings, and magazines such as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) English-language magazine Inspire.[2]

Ultimately, the site aims to bridge the gap between the Arabic-speaking circle of scholars associated with Al-Maqdisi and non-Arabic-speaking Muslims living in non-Arab countries, particularly in the West. MTJ offers this target audience ideological material and clerical guidance and encouragement, in an attempt to draw them into active Salafi-jihadi circles and urge them to wage violent jihad. This includes offering praise and support for specific jihadi groups, mainly Al-Qaeda and its affiliates.

Essentially, the raison d'etre of MTJ's English forum is twofold: to propagate jihad, and to serve as a virtual library offering diaspora Muslims distant from active jihad communities and lacking a solid education in Salafi-jihadi ideology various materials elucidating the rigid Salafi brand of Islamic faith and its utter rejection of Western democracy and culture. The latter aim entails preaching jihad as an individual duty incumbent upon all Muslims; currying support for Al-Qaeda and disseminating its leaders' messages through online publication; emphasizing grievances suffered by Muslims at the hands of Western powers and portraying these as part of a "crusade" the West is waging to destroy Islam and the Muslims; and indoctrinating users in the Salafi-jihadi creed of martyrdom by glorifying slain jihadis, publishing fatwas in support of suicide operations, and so on.

MTJ English Site Portrays West, U.S. as Enemies of Islam, Urging Muslims to Wage Violent Jihad against Them

MTJ's English site is dedicated to disseminating Salafi-jihadi ideology to non-Arabic speaking members through English-language translations and original English material by its clerics and jihadi commanders. Central themes in this material are the irreconcilability of Islam with Western values such as democracy and manmade law, and the notion of jihad as a personal obligation which all Muslims must support, whether financially or practically.

The site offers many books on these topics by Al-Maqdisi himself, translated from Arabic. The most important of these are his Salafi-jihadi manifesto Religion of Abraham (Millat Ibrahim in the Arabic), which emphasizes the exclusive virtues of Islam and the need to fight against the infidels threatening these virtues, and Democracy: A Religion, which argues similarly that "democracy is a religion," but "not Allah's religion," indeed, that it is "clear disbelief [kufr] that Allah has warned us against, in His book." Therefore, writes Al-Maqdisi, the Muslims must "destroy those who follow democracy, and we must take their followers as enemies—hate them and wage a great jihad against them." These ideological tracts are offered to Muslims living in the West with the aim of solidifying in them an uncompromising commitment to other Muslims and Islam, specifically strict Salafism, that will preclude any national or social loyalties. Thus, Western Muslims are called on to denounce and fight the political system that underlies the countries in which they live.

One large section on the site is titled "The Absent Obligation," a well-known term for jihad.[3] Clearly targeting Muslims living in the West, the section offers several items by Al-'Awlaki in their original English, including his article 44 Ways of Supporting Jihad[4] and Battle of the Hearts and Minds, a transcription of his sermon by the same name in which he blasts the notion of the "moderate" Muslim and any attempts to reconcile Islam with Western notions such as democracy and the repudiation of violent jihad.

A subcategory of the section, titled "The New Crusader War," contains material expounding on what MTJ sees as the crimes perpetrated against the Muslims by the West and the Arab regimes in its service, as well as their general corruption and sinfulness, by way of justifying jihad against them. Oft mentioned is the occupation of Islamic lands by Western forces and their purported campaign to wipe out Islam as justification for attacks against the West, and the U.S. in particular, both in Islamic lands and on Western soil.

"The New Crusader War" contains articles dedicated to specific jihad fronts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen, Palestine, and Pakistan. Specific governments and leaders are likewise vilified, including the U.S., U.K., Afghan, Iraqi, and Yemeni governments; former U.S. President George W. Bush; and current U.S. President Barack Obama. Many of the materials in this subcategory address Muslims living in the relevant countries, calling on them to join the mujahideen and wage jihad against their "oppressors." As noted, one of the site's goals is to garner support for Al-Qaeda and its leaders, such that this subcategory features items by bin Laden, Al-Zawahiri, Al-'Awlaki, late Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) commander Abu 'Omar Al-Baghdadi, "Blind Sheikh" 'Omar 'Abd Al-Rahman, who is currently serving a life sentence in the U.S. for involvement in terrorist activities including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Al-Qaeda ideologue and leader 'Attiyat Allah Al-Libi, and bin Laden's spiritual mentor, Sheikh 'Abdallah 'Azzam. Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawhiri is also well represented in an English translation of his series of audio messages titled Message of Hope and Glad Tidings to Our People in Egypt, in which he claims that the mujahideen and the Egyptian revolutionaries shared a common enemy in the U.S. and the West, and the corrupt Arab regimes they had installed over the Muslims, including that of Mubarak in Egypt. Also offered here is The Exposition regarding the Disbelief of the One Who Assists the Americans by Sheikh Nasir bin Hamad Al-Fahd, a prominent Saudi Salafi cleric who was arrested by the Saudi authorities in 1993 for his support of violent jihad against U.S. and Western troops following the invasion of Iraq, which included a fatwa sanctioning the use of WMDs by mujahideen. In the exposition, Al-Fahd decries any Muslim who aids U.S. forces in Afghanistan or Iraq an infidel.

"The Absent Obligation" section also contains the following subcategories: a section containing general motivational material, called "And Incite the Believers," (based on Koran 4:84), which includes Sheikh Osama bin Laden's Last Words; "Suspicious [sic] and Responses," which raises and refutes the potential criticisms of the opponents of Salafiyya-jihadiyya, such as a chapter from a book by "Blind Sheikh" 'Omar 'Abd Al-Rahman titled "The Present Rule[r]s and Islam - Are They Muslims or Not?"; and "Fiqh of Jihad," which offers books, articles, and fatwas on the jurisprudence of jihad, as their titles suggest: Guiding the Perplexed on the Permissibility of Killing the Prisoners, The Islamic Ruling on the Permissibility of Self-Sacrifacial [sic, i.e. martyrdom] Operations, The Ruling regarding Killing One Self [sic] to Protect Information, etc.

A final subcategory of "The Absent Obligation" section, called "Stars in the Sky of Jihad," offers the biographies of various jihadis, such as Al-'Awlaki; bin Laden; Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Omar; and Al-Qaeda's late Iraqi emir, Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi. It also has a subsection dedicated specifically to glorifying martyrs.

Offering an Online Salafi-Jihadi Community for Muslims Living in the West, Including Religious Guidance and Counsel

As part of its attempt to offer itself as a virtual Salafi-jihadi community for diaspora Muslims, beyond providing vast resources of ideological material, the MTJ English forum also offers religious guidance and counsel to Muslims living in the West and other non-Islamic environments. Though the site's main focus, as has been shown, is jihad, users are free to seek counsel in various religious matters through a "Contact Us" section.

Prior to Al-Maqdisi's arrest in September 2010 on charges of recruiting and preparing individuals for jihad in Afghanistan, the submitted queries were translated to Arabic and forwarded to him, and his responses translated back to English on the site. Since his arrest, however, such queries have been fielded by the site's shari'a council and administrators. The site also contains a "Q&A" section containing English translations of Arabic fatwas on various shari'a-related issues, which is divided into the following subcategories: "Fiqh [Islamic Jurisprudence] of Public Dealings," "Jihad Rulings," "Matters of Faith and Disbelief," and "Quran Questions."

"Jihad Rulings" contains fatwas by Al-Maqdisi and other Salafi-jihadi luminaries like prominent sheikhs Abu Mundhir Al-Shinqiti and Abu Humam Al-Athari, both members of MTJ's shari'a committee, issued in response to users' queries on various issues relating to jihad. For instance, a user identifying himself as "Abu Furqan" asks what Muslims are to do regarding the 2011 Shi'ite protest in Bahrain. Al-Athari responds that, since both sides of the conflict are sinners – the government due to its contravention of Islam through the implementation of manmade law, and the Shi'ites by virtue of their deviation from Islam – Sunnis are not to get involved so long as "the Rafidites [literally refusers, a Sunni derogatory term for Shi'ites] don't aim their arrows at the Sunni public." If they do, Al-Athari says, the Sunnis must fight them, but must "be ever so careful to act sincerely for Allah alone, and not for nationalism or idolatry."

A similar question was posed by a user using the name "Abu Hanifa," who asks whether it is permissible for Muslims to participate in riots in Europe, such as those that swept the U.K. in the summer of 2011, in order to undermine "the economies of the Crusader states that participate in occupying Islamic countries" and that have "plunder[ed] the riches of the Muslims from the time of [their] colonization." Abu Mundhir Al-Shinqiti replies by saying that "every Muslim should participate and contribute in sabotaging the economies of the Crusader states either by commercial boycott or [by] targeting their property with sabotage and burning." In another query, a user asks whether the jihad against the Algerian regime is legitimate, which Al-Maqdisi affirms, calling it "a great and virtuous endeavor."

Inquiries on MTJ's "Contact Us" section do not focus primarily on jihad, though there are some notable exceptions. For instance, an inquirer using the handle "Ourdialogue02" asks whether, considering that "jihad today is fardh ‘ayn, (an individual obligation)," one is permitted to leave for the jihad front without his parents' knowledge, in case they object to his intentions to wage jihad. The site's administrators respond by saying that they would forward the query to the MTJ committee, in light of Al-Maqdisi's imprisonment by the "Jordanian intelligence." Another user using the handle "Ikramah Ambeauxli" notes that his imam – the leader of prayers at his mosque - "wants no one speaking of jihad... nor will he speak of jihad on [MTJ] or in study circles." The user says he finds himself "hating the imam," to which the site administers reply: "...Try to find another masjid [mosque] with a better imam, and try to surround yourself with good brothers all the time."

Beyond serving as a forum for inquiries, the "Contact Us" section was also recently used as a bulletin board to post information on several weekly series of online lectures on Paltalk, a video chat service, including one on Al-Maqdisi's book This Is Our ‘Aqida [belief]. It should be noted that lecture broadcast times are listed in "U.K. time."

Though most inquirers posting on MTJ's "Contact Us" did not list a location, those who did provide one described themselves as living in a broad range of locales, suggesting a diverse demographic among the site's user community. They included nine residents of the U.K. (with four users specifying London), four users from the U.S., five from Denmark, four from Germany, three from Kashmir, two from the Maldives, two from Pakistan, and one from each of the following countries: Norway, Chile, Albania, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Morocco. Apart from English material, users asked for or offered translations into Norwegian, German, Portuguese, Indonesian, and Albanian.

Some non-Muslims have also used the site to ask questions about Islam and jihad, with a few critical comments. For instance, a user by the name "Jeff," who identifies himself as Christian, asked: "What makes you think that 9/11 was justified? Does the Koran not say to be peaceful and love other men? Where is the line between interpreting the Koran truthfully and extolling it extremely[?] Where do you cross the line between theology and ideology[?]... I do not understand how one religion can have so much hate. I cannot imagine that any religious prophet in any religion would encourage the death of anyone regardless of race, religion or creed.... Please explain to me your reasoning, because whenever I talk to Muslims about extremists they make it a point not to associate with you. I would like to try to comprehend the hatred."

The question was referred to Al-Maqdisi, who replied to the user with an article titled "Why Do We Hate Them?!!" translated from Arabic and published on June 12, 2010. It is a lengthy polemical response, notwithstanding the fact that he prefaces it by saying that "it is not of wisdom to respond in details to that mentality of people [i.e., people like Jeff, presumably Christians]." Al-Maqdisi goes on to cite numerous Scriptural passages containing edicts to enact violence, wage war, and plunder, particularly from the Book of Joshua, as proof of "the hatred and malice in the most sacred of your [the Christian inquirer's] books." His point is to show the writer that his condemnation of the jihadis as hateful and violent is hypocritical, considering the tenets of his own religion. On this note, he refers the inquirer to a book translated as "Whose Door Is of Glass Shall Not Throw People with Stones [sic]."[5]

Regarding whether the Koran teaches peace, Al-Maqdisi affirms that it calls for peace, but only under specific conditions: "...It is true that [the] Quran bids us to look after peace; however, it [refers to] peace that fosters the rights of [those] deemed weak; peace that guarantees protecting the heart of religion; peace where there is no humiliation or occupation of the lands of Muslims...; peace that respects our religion, our shari'a and our Prophet...; peace where there is no [subjection of Muslims to] lowliness, ignobleness, and bending down before the desires and wishes of the enemies."

Al-Maqdisi claims that the West has brought jihad upon itself due to its wars in Islamic lands, its prohibitions against Muslims living in its midst (such as niqab and hijab bans), and "the fierce attack which the malicious in your countries are launching against our great Quran, [against] our manifest religious set of orders, [and] against our noble Prophet."

Not surprisingly, the "Contact Us" section receives numerous religious questions having to do with Islamic life in non-Muslim environments. Inquirers are preoccupied less with questions of jihad than with matters of practical jurisprudence relevant to their lives as Muslims in non-Islamic countries. Thus, topics such as women's issues and Islamic dietary laws appear regularly. For instance, several users asked whether women were required to wear the niqab and hijab in non-Islamic infidel ("kuffar") countries. One user asked whether it were permissible for women living in the West to learn "to read and [write, to study for a] higher degree like MSc and M.Phil and Phd," or to work. Another woman, living in a Western country, asked whether it were permissible for women to immigrate to an Islamic country on their own in defiance of their parents.

Users also submitted queries of a broader theological and ideological nature, inquiring about the general Salafi-jihadi creed or asking for Al-Maqdisi's opinion on other scholars and clerics. Particularly prevalent were requests for religious rulings on how Muslims in the West should behave vis-à-vis non-Muslims. Several users asked whether forced conversion were permissible or desirable, while a number of queries addressed how Muslims should regard democracy.

A user going by the handle "Abu Hudhaifah," who identifies himself as living in Denmark, asked Al-Maqdisi to clarify his views on the aggressive, provocative form of da'wa employed by Salafi groups like the U.K.-based Al-Muhajiroun and its offshoots, including the implementation of so-called "shari'a zones." He writes that he and the other "brothers here [in Denmark] have made a shari'a zone, or you can call it [a] tawhid zone if you like," to enforce Islamic law, claiming that its enforcers also help the "citizen[s] of the town," presumably non-Muslims, to fight crime in the streets. The user asks Al-Maqdisi to clarify his ruling on confrontational da'wa, including calling for shari'a law in a non-Islamic country.

The inquirer is referred by the site's administrators to an earlier response by Al-Maqdisi to a similar query, titled "Muslims in Britain." In it, Al-Maqdisi rules that one's manner of da'wa must be to the benefit of the Muslims and not repel non-Muslims from Islam: "It is not from the guidance of our Prophet to curse and swear. That won't cause any benefit or gain for the da'wa to tawhid [monotheism, i.e. Islam], and it is the duty on the one who wants to follow the path of the da'wa of the prophets and messengers to adopt their manners and to adhere to their seerah [deeds], as in that they will find success in both worlds. And he shouldn't be a curser or vulgar and indecent, and repel people from the path of Allah with his bad manners...

"Looking into the prophetic policy and what [Muhammad] took into consideration in his and his companion's time of weakness, and his choices in all the different stages of his da'wa, and giving preponderance to the Islamic benefits and... what [da'wa] could lead to and its consequences – all of that aids the one giving da'wa and gives him success in his choices and his method."

Another common topic was inter-Muslim relations, such as issues of takfir, or accusing other Muslims of heresy. For instance, a user identifying himself as "Abu Salam" and as living in the Maldives asked whether it were permissible "to declare the President individually as a kafir [infidel]." MTJ's administrators responded that numerous fatwas on this issue were available on the site, referring the inquirer to an article by Abu 'Abdallah Al-Tunsi that justifies declaring Muslim rulers infidels for failing to implement the shari'a.

Another user asks whether it is permissible to join the police force, presumably in a Western country, and if so, "what's the ruling on a Muslim calling the police on another Muslim for 'terrorist' activities."

"Contact Us" users also asked how they should regard other Islamist groups. "Sister F," for instance, asked how to view the group Hizb Ut-Tahrir, an international movement of Islamists who seek to establish an Islamic caliphate worldwide. Another user, from Germany, asked the sheikh his views on non-militant Islamist groups "claiming to follow the Salaf, but what we see from them is far from that." He described these as the groups "crawling in front of the kuffar [infidels], organizing Street-Festivals for dialogue (with ikhtilat [mixture of men and women]), [who] are calling to a peaceful cooperation with the kuffar and offend[ing] the mujahideen by calling them terrorists." Al-Maqdisi answered the query in length, essentially describing these groups as false Salafis whose deeds would be rejected by Allah. As for the true believers, Al-Maqdisi said their "duty is to disavow them and to show the corruption of their manhaj [creed] with clear proof, and to side with the people of tawhid [monotheism] and truth."

Muslims in the U.S. Urged Avoid Jihad If It Will Lead to Reprisals against Them, Focus on Preaching Islam

An unidentified user wrote asking Al-Maqdisi for general advice to Muslims living in the U.S., including questions regarding migrating to jihad fronts and relations with non-Muslim Americans and Muslim Americans not in line with Salafi-jihadi ideology, including CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations). The user also asked for Al-Maqdisi's view regarding "operations like the Manhattan Raid (9/11) and the Christmas Day Bombing."

The response, which seems to have come from the MTJ's administrators, urges Muslims in the West not to confront the infidels directly if this will bring about reprisals against the Muslims. It stresses that "the duty of jihad is bound to capabilities and facilities," and advises Muslims in the West to focus on teaching the tenets of Islam and to be wary of the pitfalls of "deviated beliefs and aberrant thoughts." They are counseled to deal with those surrounding them "in a way that would make them interested in religion and invite them to Islam; and those who try to defame religion and make fun of its set of regulations of shari'a [should] be ignored." Thus, notwithstanding Al-Maqdisi's open support for jihad against the West, the response would seem to espouse the Islamic principle that jihad must not incur greater damages than gains for the greater community of Muslims.

[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 3960, "Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad – Major Jihadi Website Inciting Attacks on the U.S. – Hosted in NJ," July 1, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/810/5423.htm.

[2] For more on Inspire, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No.3075, "Release of Al-Qaeda's New English-Language Magazine Ends in Jihadi Web Disaster," July 1, 2010, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4423.htm; Special Dispatch No.3089, "Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Re-Releases Inspire Magazine – Al-Awlaki Calls for Bombings and Assassinations in U.S.," July 11, 2010, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4440.htm; Special Dispatch No.3287, "AQAP Releases Second Issue of 'Inspire' Magazine," October 11, 2010, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4663.htm; Special Dispatch No.3290, "In Second Issue of Jihadi 'Inspire' Magazine, American Muslim Sheikh Anwar Al-Awlaki Publishes Response to 'New Mardin Declaration,' In Which He Rejects Muslim Call for Moderateness and Coexistence, and Supports Jihad and Takfir," October 12, 2010, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4666.htm; Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.638, "Second Issue of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) 'Inspire' Magazine: A General Review," October 13, 2010, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4670.htm; Special Dispatch No.3391, "AQAP Releases Special Issue of 'Inspire' Magazine 'Operation Hemorrhage' - Dedicated Entirely To Explosive Parcels Plot," November 20, 2010, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4780.htm; Special Dispatch No.3293, "AQAP Commander Uthman Al-Ghamidi On His Life as Jihad Fighter, Guantanamo Prisoner: The Mujahedeen Sacrifices Played a Role in Our Release from Guantanamo," October 12, 2010, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4669.htm; Special Dispatch No.3292, "AQAP Deputy Commander Calls on Muslims in West to Emulate Fort Hood Shooter, Airplane Bomber," October 12, 2010, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4668.htm; Special Dispatch No.3291, "AQAP 'Inspire' Magazine's 'Open Source Jihad' Section: 'Use a Pickup Truck... [to] Mow Down the Enemies of Allah'; 'A Random [Lunch Hour Shooting] at a Crowded [Washington DC] Restaurant... Might End Up Knocking Out a Few Government Employees... Targeting Such Employees Is Paramount,'" October 12, 2010, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4667.htm; Special Dispatch No.3516, "Jihadi Cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki to Jihadists Living in the West: Obtain Money By Any Means Possible, Especially from the U.S. Government and its Citizens," January 16, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4921.htm; Special Dispatch No.3514, "In New Issue of Inspire, AQAP Encourages Muslims in the West to Attack Western Civilians," January 16, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4919.htm; Special Dispatch No.3518, "AQAP's English-Language Inspire Magazine Hails Swedish Bomber Taimour Al-Abdaly and British Attacker Roshonara Choudhry, Calls Their Actions Examples of 'Borderless Loyalty' To Islam," January 17, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4923.htm; Special Dispatch No.3517, "U.S. Jihadist Samir Khan: Muslims Join Jihad Not in Response to Actions by Israel and the U.S., But Because Jihad Is an Individual Duty," January 17, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4922.htm; Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.655, "Fourth Issue of the English-Language AQAP Magazine 'Inspire' – A General Review," January 19, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4927.htm; Special Dispatch No.3716, "Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Publishes Fifth Issue of Its English-Language Magazine 'Inspire,'" March 30, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/50/5149.htm; Special Dispatch No.3717, "Inspire V, Part I: Anwar Al-Awlaki: Unrest in the Arab World Opens 'Great Doors of Opportunity for the Mujahideen,'" March 30, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/50/5150.htm; Special Dispatch No.3718, "Inspire V, Part II: American Jihadist Samir Khan Calls for an Islamic State in Egypt," March 30, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/50/5151.htm; Special Dispatch No.3719, "Inspire V, Part III: AQAP Encourages Western Jihadists to Attack Nightclubs and Shopping Malls," March 30, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/50/5152.htm; Special Dispatch No.3720, "Inspire V, Part V: Editor Yahya Ibrahim Says that the Middle East Protests Help Al-Qaeda," March 30, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/50/5153.htm; Special Dispatch No.3721, "Inspire V, Part VI: Interview with AQAP Military Commander Qasem Al-Raymi," March 30, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/50/5154.htm; Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.680, "Issue V of 'Inspire,' the English-Language Magazine of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – A General Review," March 30, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5155.htm; Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.698, "Al-Qaeda Military Strategist Abu Mus'ab Al-Suri's Teachings on Fourth-Generation Warfare (4GW), Individual Jihad and the Future of Al-Qaeda," June 22, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5395.htm; Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.704, "Al-Qaeda's Embrace of Encryption Technology: 2007-2011," July 12, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5457.htm; Special Dispatch No.4011, "Inspire 6 - The Uprisings in the Arab World," July 19, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5482.htm; Special Dispatch No.4010, "Inspire 6 Features Guides for Weapons Training and Explosives Manufacturing," July 19, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5481.htm; Special Dispatch No.4009, "AQAP Eulogy of Osama Bin Laden in Inspire Magazine: 'He Stood and Confronted Them Face to Face, Like a Firm Mountain,'" July 19, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5480.htm; Special Dispatch No.4008, "American Jihadi Samir Khan on Osama Bin Laden's Death: He Did Not Die in His Bed," July 19, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5479.htm; Special Dispatch No.4007, "Inspire 6 – Uninspiring: Latest Issue of English-Language AQAP Magazine Reflects Al-Qaeda's Setback following Bin Laden Killing, Arab Uprisings," July 19, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5478.htm; Special Dispatch No.4169, "Inspire 7 – American Jihadi Samir Khan: 'A Powerful Media Production is as Hard-Hitting as an Operation in America,'" September 27, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5680.htm; Special Dispatch No.4168, "Inspire Editor Yahya Ibrahim On 9/11: "The Greatest Special Operation Of All Time,"" September 27, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5681.htm; Special Dispatch No.4167, "AQAP Releases Seventh Issue Of 'Inspire' Magazine, Commemorating 9/11," September 27, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5679.htm; Special Dispatch No.4166, "UPDATE: Uncertainty on a First-Tier Al-Qaeda Forum After Apparent Cyber-Attack – Followed By Release of Issue 7 Of AQAP's 'Inspire' Magazine," September 27, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5678.htm; Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.743, "Issue VII of 'Inspire,' the English-Language Magazine of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – A General Review," September 28, 2011, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5686.htm.

[3] The phrase originates in the title of a well-known tractate on jihad, written in 1979 by Egyptian Islamic Jihad co-founder Muhammad 'Abd Al-Salam Farag. The work elucidates and lauds the concept of jihad, calling any Muslim rulers who rule by non-Islamic law apostates, such that jihad against them is obligatory.

[4] For more on this article, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 2609, "U.S.-Born Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki: 44 Ways of Supporting Jihad", October 29, 2009, http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=3683.

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OK. I haven’t read the whole thing yet.

I do want to say that many English translations of the Koran are highly modified, shall we say.

Since the work of Samuel Huntington, “Clash of Civilizations,” the study of Islam is no longer done from a Western perspective. The control of how Islam is studied in the West rests in the hands of apologists, with very few exceptions.

We do not hear the stories or see the ‘other’ in comparison to our ideology. In capturing the message, the hegemony of the pillars of Western civilization are being upended to only the five pillars of Islam. It is anathema to an Orientalist, or, to an Occidentalist, for the veil of the Orient in the study of Islam is not a Western concept. At all.

But maybe this is why the emotionalism practices of Democrats is so irrationally accepted as blind truth. The salafist fanaticism fits the mold almost perfectly.

From the malay-hosted jihad site: Book Reviews from Behind Bars - In the Shades of the Quran By Anwar Al-Awlaki I would be so immersed with the author I would feel that Sayyid was with me in my cell speaking to me directly. There was something about my reading in prison: I could feel the personality of the author through his words. So even though I was in solitary confinement I was never alone.." That's one hellova review! Glad to know the filthy koranimal never felt alone in its' prison cell. Whew! I almost lost sleep worrying about the filthy bastard of the koran.

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