http://www.radicalmiddleway.co.uk/artic ... d=1&art=69
Yeah. Here is the song.
Im not a fan of pakistani music because well, it's like indian music but in Urdu.
But i can like this song.
Pakistani singers come together to condemn terrorism.
Moderator: Available
http://www.radicalmiddleway.co.uk/artic ... d=1&art=79
This surprised me, but i find it funny.
This surprised me, but i find it funny.
Al-Qaeda's violent methods and tactics have been coming under mounting criticism this year from Islamist scholars who once supported it.
One by one they have been coming out in public to denounce the organisation's actions as being counterproductive.
But at the same time, a leading British de-radicaliser says the number of young British Muslims attracted to violent extremism is growing - and, he claims, the UK government is partly to blame.
In the living room of his London home, the Libyan former jihadist Nu'man Bin Othman reads out part of the open letter he sent recently to al-Qaeda's no 2 and chief strategist, Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri.
He tells him that al-Qaeda's tactics have been a failure and - most damningly - its methods un-Islamic.
He even questions its very claim to speak for Muslims.
Free Happy Fun Time News Update!
Muslim children gassed in Ohio after "Obsession" distributed to community!
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/conten ... 7&cxcat=16
Dumbasses.
Muslim children gassed in Ohio after "Obsession" distributed to community!
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/conten ... 7&cxcat=16
Defending Amerecuh!Quote:
Chemical irritant empties Islamic Society of Greater Dayton's mosque
By Kyle Nagel
Staff Writer
Saturday, September 27, 2008
DAYTON — Baboucarr Njie was preparing for his prayer session Friday night, Sept. 26, when he heard children in the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton coughing. Soon, Njie himself was overcome with fits of coughing and, like the rest of those in the building, headed for the doors.
"I would stay outside for a minute, then go back in, there were a lot of kids," Njie said. "My throat is still itchy, I need to get some milk."
Njie was one of several affected when a suspected chemical irritant was sprayed into the mosque at 26 Josie St., bringing Dayton police, fire and hazardous material personnel to the building at 9:48 p.m.
Someone "sprayed an irritant into the mosque," Dayton fire District Chief Vince Wiley said, noting that fire investigators believe it was a hand-held spray can.
Dumbasses.
http://www.radicalmiddleway.co.uk/ar...hp?id=2&art=93
Not all jihadis are spiritually driven
Paedophilia and terrorism seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. We think of men who prey on children, and those who are a step away, collecting child pornography over the internet, as depraved isolated individuals wallowing in their own obsessions.
By contrast, despite the destruction of innocent lives that they crave, the popular view is that terrorists are driven by some external, if distorted, ideology that they at least see as a noble cause. The illegal child porn images found on the computers of a number of extremists give the lie to this simple division.
It is probably sensible for the police to take stock before assuming there is an inevitable link between terrorism, especially the jihadi variety, and child pornography. But it is possible that an extreme interpretation of Islam that regards male sexual urges as so uncontrollable that all women have to cover themselves from head to toe generates in some men a confusion about their sexuality and appropriate sexual partners. An interest in child pornography may be one consequence.
In 2005 anti-terror police were monitoring Abdul Khalisadar, a Muslim preacher. They were astonished to find that his DNA came up on the national database for an unsolved rape in Whitechapel. His computer contained enough extreme child pornography for him to be charged with possession of this illegal material, but he was never convicted of terror offences.
Another religiously observant youth who was caught up in British anti-terror surveillance in 2006 was also found to have serious child pornography on his computer.
In Spain Abdelkader Ayachine, a man in his forties who is thought to be a leader of a terrorist cell, is awaiting trial accused of having thousands of extreme child pornography images. These files were on the same computers as videos of Osama bin Laden and other Islamic fundamentalist ideologues extolling jihad.
Just as anti-terror police have found that their investigations have led them to collectors of child pornography, so also have child protection officers found that their investigations have led them to people preparing to carry out terrorist acts. This overlap is seen as of such significance that Scotland Yard has considered whether child protection officers should be alerted to the possibilities of terrorists being among their suspects.
Anti-terror officers could also use child protection searches to enhance their ability to identify people planning attacks. Apparently, though, this plan has not been implemented.
The link between child porn and terrorism may be more prosaic than the police believe. The sheer scale of child pornography images on the web now beggars belief. It is growing exponentially by the month. Millions of images are now being passed around the world, drawn from thousands of websites. It has to be asked whether there is something special about aspiring terrorists that leads them into child porn, or vice versa.
In their search for explanations for the link, investigators have let their imaginations run riot. Perhaps the secret internet child porn networks are a good cover for clandestine communications between terrorists.
Another suggestion is that the grooming involved in child sexual abuse has parallels to the seduction of youngsters into radical Islam. But a recent report by the American Psychological Association has shown that the collection of child porn does not have very strong links to grooming and actual abuse of children directly by the collectors. Any sort of manipulation of youngsters from the Hitler Youth to the present day involves a form of grooming and there is no need to collect thousands of images to take advantage of vulnerable youngsters.
The problem is that much of our understanding of terrorism is derived from the official statements of the leaders who play up ideological and spiritual claims. It is rare for our ways of thinking about terrorists to be informed by direct contact with them, where we can see them for what they actually are. They are often people with a poor understanding of what they are trying to achieve or the real consequences of their actions.
In recent studies that I have been able to carry out, it has become clear that many jihadis come to acts of terror because of the social groups to which they belong, or even through criminal enterprises. Their ideological commitment is often much weaker than their loyalty to their associates and the group with which they identify.
It is therefore not surprising that some terrorists share predilections and obsessions with a frighteningly large proportion of the adult male population. Paradoxically it may therefore be more revealing about the nature of jihadi and other terrorists. It shows that terrorists are not all spiritually or ideologically focused men on a mission.
— David Canter is Professor of Psychology at the University of Liverpool. Printed first in The Times newspaper on 17 October 2008.
_____________________
Not all jihadis are spiritually driven
Paedophilia and terrorism seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. We think of men who prey on children, and those who are a step away, collecting child pornography over the internet, as depraved isolated individuals wallowing in their own obsessions.
By contrast, despite the destruction of innocent lives that they crave, the popular view is that terrorists are driven by some external, if distorted, ideology that they at least see as a noble cause. The illegal child porn images found on the computers of a number of extremists give the lie to this simple division.
It is probably sensible for the police to take stock before assuming there is an inevitable link between terrorism, especially the jihadi variety, and child pornography. But it is possible that an extreme interpretation of Islam that regards male sexual urges as so uncontrollable that all women have to cover themselves from head to toe generates in some men a confusion about their sexuality and appropriate sexual partners. An interest in child pornography may be one consequence.
In 2005 anti-terror police were monitoring Abdul Khalisadar, a Muslim preacher. They were astonished to find that his DNA came up on the national database for an unsolved rape in Whitechapel. His computer contained enough extreme child pornography for him to be charged with possession of this illegal material, but he was never convicted of terror offences.
Another religiously observant youth who was caught up in British anti-terror surveillance in 2006 was also found to have serious child pornography on his computer.
In Spain Abdelkader Ayachine, a man in his forties who is thought to be a leader of a terrorist cell, is awaiting trial accused of having thousands of extreme child pornography images. These files were on the same computers as videos of Osama bin Laden and other Islamic fundamentalist ideologues extolling jihad.
Just as anti-terror police have found that their investigations have led them to collectors of child pornography, so also have child protection officers found that their investigations have led them to people preparing to carry out terrorist acts. This overlap is seen as of such significance that Scotland Yard has considered whether child protection officers should be alerted to the possibilities of terrorists being among their suspects.
Anti-terror officers could also use child protection searches to enhance their ability to identify people planning attacks. Apparently, though, this plan has not been implemented.
The link between child porn and terrorism may be more prosaic than the police believe. The sheer scale of child pornography images on the web now beggars belief. It is growing exponentially by the month. Millions of images are now being passed around the world, drawn from thousands of websites. It has to be asked whether there is something special about aspiring terrorists that leads them into child porn, or vice versa.
In their search for explanations for the link, investigators have let their imaginations run riot. Perhaps the secret internet child porn networks are a good cover for clandestine communications between terrorists.
Another suggestion is that the grooming involved in child sexual abuse has parallels to the seduction of youngsters into radical Islam. But a recent report by the American Psychological Association has shown that the collection of child porn does not have very strong links to grooming and actual abuse of children directly by the collectors. Any sort of manipulation of youngsters from the Hitler Youth to the present day involves a form of grooming and there is no need to collect thousands of images to take advantage of vulnerable youngsters.
The problem is that much of our understanding of terrorism is derived from the official statements of the leaders who play up ideological and spiritual claims. It is rare for our ways of thinking about terrorists to be informed by direct contact with them, where we can see them for what they actually are. They are often people with a poor understanding of what they are trying to achieve or the real consequences of their actions.
In recent studies that I have been able to carry out, it has become clear that many jihadis come to acts of terror because of the social groups to which they belong, or even through criminal enterprises. Their ideological commitment is often much weaker than their loyalty to their associates and the group with which they identify.
It is therefore not surprising that some terrorists share predilections and obsessions with a frighteningly large proportion of the adult male population. Paradoxically it may therefore be more revealing about the nature of jihadi and other terrorists. It shows that terrorists are not all spiritually or ideologically focused men on a mission.
— David Canter is Professor of Psychology at the University of Liverpool. Printed first in The Times newspaper on 17 October 2008.
_____________________
The fight-back by moderate Muslims has begun
By Johann Hari
The Independent
16 February 2006
This is no Clash of Civilisations. It is a clash within Islam.
Seventeen years ago, the streets of Westminster and Bradford filled with smoke and shrieks as Muslim protestors threatened to “burn alive” a man who had dared to use his freedom of speech in a way they disliked. On the surface, it seems like little has changed since the Salman Rushdie affair, when a theocratic dictator demanded the slaughter of perhaps our greatest novelist and much of the democratic world equivocated. Once again, artists are driven into hiding in a liberal democracy for apparently insulting Islam. Once again, most of the democratic world resorts to a “yes… but…” non-defence of freedom. But this time there is a difference – an inspirational difference.
This time, moderate Muslims are fighting back. Slowly, steadily, a stream of heroic Muslims are standing up, loudly refusing to be defined by fanaticism and death-threats. In Jordan, the newspaper editor Jihad Momani has risked his life to publish the cartoons alongside an editorial demanding, “What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?”
And across Britain, Muslim women are refusing to bow to fundamentalists who believe beheading is a legitimate form of literary criticism.
While criticising the cartoons of Mohammed as “distasteful”, Fareena Alam, editor of the Q News, damned the protestors, demanding to know “what the parents of the child wearing the ‘I love Al-Quaeda’ cap would say had their son been on the number 30 bus that terrible day.”
At a massive conference of young Muslims organised by Fareena last week, one speaker said the way for Muslims to express their faith was “to mobilise to end the conflict in Congo, or to make generic Aids drugs available where they are not”, to roof-raising cheers.
Sairah Khan, the Muslim near-winner of the Apprentice, said the ‘Death to Freedom’ protestors were “far, far worse” than the cartoonists, adding “If you don’t like it here, go and live somewhere else.” The right are busy hyping this fight as a Clash of Civilisations between democracy and Islam – but that is a betrayal of democratic Muslims like Jihad and Fareena and Sairah.
This is a clash within Islam between democrats and totalitarians, and demonising all Muslims is a racist, foolish way to ensure the wrong side wins. Religions are not inert, homogenous blocks; they are elastic, and they stretch and shift shape over time.
The British Muslim community is genuinely divided, as a recent Populus opinion poll proved: some 12 percent of Muslims my age believe suicide-murder in this country can “sometimes” be justified and 34 percent believe British Jews are “a legitimate target”, although at the other end of the spectrum more than half of British Muslims believe Israel has a right to exist. These are much better than the figures at the time of the Rushdie affair, showing that Muslim opinion is in flux – and can be swayed by persuasive argument.
Only a fierce, fighting moderate Islam can win this struggle. In France’s Muslim ghettoes, an amazing movement of Muslim women called "Ni putes ni soumises" (neither whores nor doormats) has risen up, initially to fight against the epidemic of domestic violence in their communities but increasingly to craft a liberal – even feminist – brand of Islam. In the past fortnight, we have seen the first stirrings from their British sisters.
I live round the corner from the East London mosque, and most weekends there are stalls of jihadists perched outside, preaching sharia law and suicide-slaughter. However tempting it might seem, I don’t want to see these young men driven underground (or Underground) through censorship and the introduction of thought-crimes like the government’s mooted ban on “glorifying terrorism”. I want to see every one of their stalls matched by a stall of feisty Muslim women like Sairah and Fareena, ridiculing their bizarre beliefs and manifest sexual inadequacy, and offering young Muslims a different and better brand of Islam. Don’t suppress the battle within Islam – let’s have it out on the open and on the streets, led by amazing Muslim women like Fareena and Sairah.
By Johann Hari
The Independent
16 February 2006
This is no Clash of Civilisations. It is a clash within Islam.
Seventeen years ago, the streets of Westminster and Bradford filled with smoke and shrieks as Muslim protestors threatened to “burn alive” a man who had dared to use his freedom of speech in a way they disliked. On the surface, it seems like little has changed since the Salman Rushdie affair, when a theocratic dictator demanded the slaughter of perhaps our greatest novelist and much of the democratic world equivocated. Once again, artists are driven into hiding in a liberal democracy for apparently insulting Islam. Once again, most of the democratic world resorts to a “yes… but…” non-defence of freedom. But this time there is a difference – an inspirational difference.
This time, moderate Muslims are fighting back. Slowly, steadily, a stream of heroic Muslims are standing up, loudly refusing to be defined by fanaticism and death-threats. In Jordan, the newspaper editor Jihad Momani has risked his life to publish the cartoons alongside an editorial demanding, “What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?”
And across Britain, Muslim women are refusing to bow to fundamentalists who believe beheading is a legitimate form of literary criticism.
While criticising the cartoons of Mohammed as “distasteful”, Fareena Alam, editor of the Q News, damned the protestors, demanding to know “what the parents of the child wearing the ‘I love Al-Quaeda’ cap would say had their son been on the number 30 bus that terrible day.”
At a massive conference of young Muslims organised by Fareena last week, one speaker said the way for Muslims to express their faith was “to mobilise to end the conflict in Congo, or to make generic Aids drugs available where they are not”, to roof-raising cheers.
Sairah Khan, the Muslim near-winner of the Apprentice, said the ‘Death to Freedom’ protestors were “far, far worse” than the cartoonists, adding “If you don’t like it here, go and live somewhere else.” The right are busy hyping this fight as a Clash of Civilisations between democracy and Islam – but that is a betrayal of democratic Muslims like Jihad and Fareena and Sairah.
This is a clash within Islam between democrats and totalitarians, and demonising all Muslims is a racist, foolish way to ensure the wrong side wins. Religions are not inert, homogenous blocks; they are elastic, and they stretch and shift shape over time.
The British Muslim community is genuinely divided, as a recent Populus opinion poll proved: some 12 percent of Muslims my age believe suicide-murder in this country can “sometimes” be justified and 34 percent believe British Jews are “a legitimate target”, although at the other end of the spectrum more than half of British Muslims believe Israel has a right to exist. These are much better than the figures at the time of the Rushdie affair, showing that Muslim opinion is in flux – and can be swayed by persuasive argument.
Only a fierce, fighting moderate Islam can win this struggle. In France’s Muslim ghettoes, an amazing movement of Muslim women called "Ni putes ni soumises" (neither whores nor doormats) has risen up, initially to fight against the epidemic of domestic violence in their communities but increasingly to craft a liberal – even feminist – brand of Islam. In the past fortnight, we have seen the first stirrings from their British sisters.
I live round the corner from the East London mosque, and most weekends there are stalls of jihadists perched outside, preaching sharia law and suicide-slaughter. However tempting it might seem, I don’t want to see these young men driven underground (or Underground) through censorship and the introduction of thought-crimes like the government’s mooted ban on “glorifying terrorism”. I want to see every one of their stalls matched by a stall of feisty Muslim women like Sairah and Fareena, ridiculing their bizarre beliefs and manifest sexual inadequacy, and offering young Muslims a different and better brand of Islam. Don’t suppress the battle within Islam – let’s have it out on the open and on the streets, led by amazing Muslim women like Fareena and Sairah.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... g-boy.html
member of a minority Kurdish religious group called Yezidi,
the desert seems to make people nuts.
Honestly, what is it in the desert that makes people so damn angry and full of useless pride?
member of a minority Kurdish religious group called Yezidi,
the desert seems to make people nuts.
Honestly, what is it in the desert that makes people so damn angry and full of useless pride?
-
Crystal.Sands.McKinney/Be
- Posts: 103
- Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:02 pm
- Location: None of your business
Re: Pakistani singers come together to condemn terrorism.
A lot of us Americans take for granted what really goes on in the Land of Pakistan and the surrounding areas. They truly have it rough over there. We, as Americans, should appreciate what we do have and figure positive ways to help our other countries. The reality is we all live in the same world and we are no different from any other. Yet there are pie holes in the world that are leaders to these countries and unless you make deals with the devil, you get screwed and stomped all over on for trying to live a human life. Our government I am sure has a good indication of where to find these pie holes...I do not trust them at all. I trust no government in any country. There is always red tape involved in any situation with them...don't get me started. We all are slaves to some degree in any country, though the USA has the "most freedom", there is always a price to pay along with it somehow. The other reality is the world may never change, someone will always find a reason to have drama going on for the sake of the media and for the satisfaction of any pie hole leader.AAAhmed46 wrote:http://www.radicalmiddleway.co.uk/artic ... d=1&art=69
Yeah. Here is the song.
Im not a fan of pakistani music because well, it's like indian music but in Urdu.
But i can like this song.
Life is a series of quests - become your own hero.
Books, even bias books are always better then media reporting and the Rhetoric involved.
These books here are NOT bias, written from conservatives who present a different and accurate look at how the middle east really is.
http://www.amazon.com/American-Raj-Libe ... 572&sr=8-1
Eric Margolis is a conservative, this book is a very good book on the dynamics of the middle east and the muslim world. He's pretty much right wing on many issues, but his views on the middle east are very complex, and he basically does push the fact that the muslim world is a dynamic one. Talks about the movtives behind it, and how the american media stokest he flames of conflict.
"Isreali;s repression of the Palestinian "intifada" is being telecast around the glove, producing rage against Israel and it's patron, the United States, and a worldwide surge of anti-Semitism. America's strategic and economic interests in the mideast and Muslim world are being threatened by the agony in Palestine, which inevitably invites terrorist attacks against US citizens an Property.
-Eric Margolis, Sun Media, September 2 2001,(nine days before the september 11 attacks)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159240 ... d_i=507846
Jared Cohen is unapologitically pro-isreal, Pro-bush, and a practicing jew, but his book paints a very good pictures of the region, and he is harshly critical of the media and it's obvious slant of the middle east and Muslims.
Jared Cohen is an author and policymaker. In September 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brought Jared on board as a member of her Policy Planning Staff.
Both these men are conservatives, yet they paint a far more balanced picture then any media outlet, conservative or otherwise.
These books here are NOT bias, written from conservatives who present a different and accurate look at how the middle east really is.
http://www.amazon.com/American-Raj-Libe ... 572&sr=8-1
Eric Margolis is a conservative, this book is a very good book on the dynamics of the middle east and the muslim world. He's pretty much right wing on many issues, but his views on the middle east are very complex, and he basically does push the fact that the muslim world is a dynamic one. Talks about the movtives behind it, and how the american media stokest he flames of conflict.
"Isreali;s repression of the Palestinian "intifada" is being telecast around the glove, producing rage against Israel and it's patron, the United States, and a worldwide surge of anti-Semitism. America's strategic and economic interests in the mideast and Muslim world are being threatened by the agony in Palestine, which inevitably invites terrorist attacks against US citizens an Property.
-Eric Margolis, Sun Media, September 2 2001,(nine days before the september 11 attacks)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159240 ... d_i=507846
Jared Cohen is unapologitically pro-isreal, Pro-bush, and a practicing jew, but his book paints a very good pictures of the region, and he is harshly critical of the media and it's obvious slant of the middle east and Muslims.
Jared Cohen is an author and policymaker. In September 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brought Jared on board as a member of her Policy Planning Staff.
Both these men are conservatives, yet they paint a far more balanced picture then any media outlet, conservative or otherwise.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1275285
Toronto mosque offers 'detox' for extremists
12-step program targets al-Qaeda sympathizers
Stewart Bell, National Post Published: Wednesday, February 11, 2009
More On This Story
Mohammed Shaikh is a mediator, former police chaplain and community activist who has worked on youth crime prevention and conflict resolution.Peter J. Thompson, National PostMohammed Shaikh is a mediator, former police chaplain and community activist who has worked on youth crime prevention and conflict resolution.
A Toronto mosque is offering a "12-step extremist detox program" for radical Muslims that its director says is the first of its kind in Canada.
The Specialized De-radicalization Intervention program is intended to provide "treatment and counselling" to young Muslims sympathetic to the al-Qaeda ideology.
The Muslim leaders behind the program say they want to help parents concerned about the radicalization of their children and also assist courts dealing with terrorism-related cases.
"As Canadians of Muslim faith, it is our ardent desire to become leaders in the championing of anti-terror values," said a document outlining the program, which is based on the idea that extremism can be fought theologically, by challenging the dark extremist vision with an alternative interpretation of Islam.
Among those the mosque is hoping to counsel are one of the Toronto 18 and Omar Khadr, the 22-year-old Canadian accused of killing a U. S. soldier in Afghanistan.
The lawyers representing Mr. Khadr were to announce this morning a proposal to ensure he is "rehabilitated and reintegrated into Canadian life" if he is repatriated to Canada from Guantanamo Bay.
The cases of the Toronto 18 group, which allegedly plotted attacks in Ontario, and Ottawaborn Momin Khawaja, convicted for his role in a British terror group, have raised concerns in Canada about homegrown terrorism.
Although only a small minority of Canadian Muslims is attracted to violent extremism, the government calls it a "serious problem" and a "direct and immediate threat to Canada." Canadian security agencies have been conducting "interventions" on a case-by-case basis, working with imams to help steer youths away from extremism.
But some parents don't want to involve the police and prefer to deal with the matter unofficially through the mosque, said Mohammed Shaikh, director of the Masjid el Noor mosque in Toronto, which devised the new program.
He said he is already working with youths, including a 12-year-old whose parents were concerned because he "speaks very negatively" about a particular group of people. Mr. Shaikh did not say which group.
"Our mosque is the only one that is working on these kind of programs," Mr. Shaikh said.
"We are the only ones who are professional mediators ... so it is good that we are in there and the youth seems to understand us."
Mr. Shaikh, a 56-year-old Indian-born Muslim, is a mediator, former police chaplain and community activist who has worked on youth crime prevention and conflict resolution.
He is also the father of Mubin Shaikh, who worked as an undercover agent for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and RCMP during the 2005-2006 investigation of the Toronto 18 group.
But he said his son was not part of this de-radicalization program. The team consists of Mohammed Shaikh, Imam Ayub Mamoon, teacher and youth worker Gary Simpson, Ahmed Amiruddin of the Ahlus Sunnah Foundation of Canada and Mohammad Robert Heft of Paradise Forever, a support group for converts.
The program has 12 steps, including: Allah, the Koran and Mohammad; the connections between Islam, Christianity and Judaism; other faiths; Canadian society; and countering extremism through education, public speaking and writing.
An important part of the program involves listening to the youths and talking about the damage caused by Islamist terrorist attacks such as the recent Mumbai massacre and the London bombings, Mr. Shaikh said.
"And we just want to encourage them to be faithful and do not take the law into your own hand, always try to build something rather than destroy something," he said.
After British Muslims bombed the London transit system in 2005, the U. K. introduced a program to fight radicalization; several other Western countries have done the same.
The radicalization of Muslims is a "priority issue" for Canada, according to a "secret" 2008 CSIS report recently released under the Access to Information Act.
It says radicalization is a result of such factors as parental influence, the efforts of charismatic spiritual leaders and anger over the perceived oppression of Muslims.
"Within the Islamist extremist community radicalized individuals are driven by the perception that Islam is under attack by the West and that they have a moral and religious obligation to defend their faith," the report says.
Mr. Shaikh agreed that some Islamic scholars are part of the problem. He said he had already met with some of them to talk about the damage they are causing and encourage them to tone down.
Faisal Mirza, a lawyer who represents a youth convicted for his role in the Toronto 18, said he could not comment on his client. But he said the program seemed consistent with the Canadian government's counter-radicalization objectives.
"Without commenting specifically on the case before the court, in my view, nuanced intervention programs designed to prevent any youth crime are a move in the right direction since they are consistent with the spirit and principles of youth criminal justice," he said.
"They certainly would better serve the public as compared to police investigations that may be perceived by members of the Muslim community to be complicit with the recruitment and indoctrination of the innocent," Mr. Mirza said.
---------
Masjid el Noor's 12-Step Extremist Detox Program:
1 Who is Allah: His Mercy to all.
2 Using verses from the Holy Koran that speak of peace and good conduct.
3 Who is Muhammad: His mercy, kind manner, humble attitude, wisdom, patience.
4 Using hadith: Commentaries that provide ethics and other moral training.
5 Using stories of Companions: A knowledge-based life of academic pursuit.
6 Stories from history: Contexts and underlying factors, not always glory of God.
7 Islamic scholarship: What it seeks for the individual to know, and how.
8 Abrahamic Faith: The interconnectedness of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
9 Other faiths: Common ground, not fighting ground.
10 Open society of Canada: What it means for the majority (how to reconcile dogmatic idealism with pragmatic realism).
11 Seeing the whole as one: Global challenges affecting us all.
12 Advocacy: Actively countering extremist ideology through education, public speaking and writing.
Toronto mosque offers 'detox' for extremists
12-step program targets al-Qaeda sympathizers
Stewart Bell, National Post Published: Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Mohammed Shaikh is a mediator, former police chaplain and community activist who has worked on youth crime prevention and conflict resolution.Peter J. Thompson, National PostMohammed Shaikh is a mediator, former police chaplain and community activist who has worked on youth crime prevention and conflict resolution.
A Toronto mosque is offering a "12-step extremist detox program" for radical Muslims that its director says is the first of its kind in Canada.
The Specialized De-radicalization Intervention program is intended to provide "treatment and counselling" to young Muslims sympathetic to the al-Qaeda ideology.
The Muslim leaders behind the program say they want to help parents concerned about the radicalization of their children and also assist courts dealing with terrorism-related cases.
"As Canadians of Muslim faith, it is our ardent desire to become leaders in the championing of anti-terror values," said a document outlining the program, which is based on the idea that extremism can be fought theologically, by challenging the dark extremist vision with an alternative interpretation of Islam.
Among those the mosque is hoping to counsel are one of the Toronto 18 and Omar Khadr, the 22-year-old Canadian accused of killing a U. S. soldier in Afghanistan.
The lawyers representing Mr. Khadr were to announce this morning a proposal to ensure he is "rehabilitated and reintegrated into Canadian life" if he is repatriated to Canada from Guantanamo Bay.
The cases of the Toronto 18 group, which allegedly plotted attacks in Ontario, and Ottawaborn Momin Khawaja, convicted for his role in a British terror group, have raised concerns in Canada about homegrown terrorism.
Although only a small minority of Canadian Muslims is attracted to violent extremism, the government calls it a "serious problem" and a "direct and immediate threat to Canada." Canadian security agencies have been conducting "interventions" on a case-by-case basis, working with imams to help steer youths away from extremism.
But some parents don't want to involve the police and prefer to deal with the matter unofficially through the mosque, said Mohammed Shaikh, director of the Masjid el Noor mosque in Toronto, which devised the new program.
He said he is already working with youths, including a 12-year-old whose parents were concerned because he "speaks very negatively" about a particular group of people. Mr. Shaikh did not say which group.
"Our mosque is the only one that is working on these kind of programs," Mr. Shaikh said.
"We are the only ones who are professional mediators ... so it is good that we are in there and the youth seems to understand us."
Mr. Shaikh, a 56-year-old Indian-born Muslim, is a mediator, former police chaplain and community activist who has worked on youth crime prevention and conflict resolution.
He is also the father of Mubin Shaikh, who worked as an undercover agent for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and RCMP during the 2005-2006 investigation of the Toronto 18 group.
But he said his son was not part of this de-radicalization program. The team consists of Mohammed Shaikh, Imam Ayub Mamoon, teacher and youth worker Gary Simpson, Ahmed Amiruddin of the Ahlus Sunnah Foundation of Canada and Mohammad Robert Heft of Paradise Forever, a support group for converts.
The program has 12 steps, including: Allah, the Koran and Mohammad; the connections between Islam, Christianity and Judaism; other faiths; Canadian society; and countering extremism through education, public speaking and writing.
An important part of the program involves listening to the youths and talking about the damage caused by Islamist terrorist attacks such as the recent Mumbai massacre and the London bombings, Mr. Shaikh said.
"And we just want to encourage them to be faithful and do not take the law into your own hand, always try to build something rather than destroy something," he said.
After British Muslims bombed the London transit system in 2005, the U. K. introduced a program to fight radicalization; several other Western countries have done the same.
The radicalization of Muslims is a "priority issue" for Canada, according to a "secret" 2008 CSIS report recently released under the Access to Information Act.
It says radicalization is a result of such factors as parental influence, the efforts of charismatic spiritual leaders and anger over the perceived oppression of Muslims.
"Within the Islamist extremist community radicalized individuals are driven by the perception that Islam is under attack by the West and that they have a moral and religious obligation to defend their faith," the report says.
Mr. Shaikh agreed that some Islamic scholars are part of the problem. He said he had already met with some of them to talk about the damage they are causing and encourage them to tone down.
Faisal Mirza, a lawyer who represents a youth convicted for his role in the Toronto 18, said he could not comment on his client. But he said the program seemed consistent with the Canadian government's counter-radicalization objectives.
"Without commenting specifically on the case before the court, in my view, nuanced intervention programs designed to prevent any youth crime are a move in the right direction since they are consistent with the spirit and principles of youth criminal justice," he said.
"They certainly would better serve the public as compared to police investigations that may be perceived by members of the Muslim community to be complicit with the recruitment and indoctrination of the innocent," Mr. Mirza said.
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Masjid el Noor's 12-Step Extremist Detox Program:
1 Who is Allah: His Mercy to all.
2 Using verses from the Holy Koran that speak of peace and good conduct.
3 Who is Muhammad: His mercy, kind manner, humble attitude, wisdom, patience.
4 Using hadith: Commentaries that provide ethics and other moral training.
5 Using stories of Companions: A knowledge-based life of academic pursuit.
6 Stories from history: Contexts and underlying factors, not always glory of God.
7 Islamic scholarship: What it seeks for the individual to know, and how.
8 Abrahamic Faith: The interconnectedness of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
9 Other faiths: Common ground, not fighting ground.
10 Open society of Canada: What it means for the majority (how to reconcile dogmatic idealism with pragmatic realism).
11 Seeing the whole as one: Global challenges affecting us all.
12 Advocacy: Actively countering extremist ideology through education, public speaking and writing.
