Times Square: It’s jihad again
Whenever
Jihadis strike, particularly if they do so on Western soil, Islam’s commitment
to peace is questioned. It is important for us to know exactly what in Islam or
the Holy Quran is being misrepresented so that we can reflect on what, if
anything, we mainstream Muslims can do about it. – Editor
Somehow
Muslims like those two — and there are untold numbers of others like them around
the globe — seem to have missed the memo about Islam’s vaunted respect and
tolerance for non-Muslims. And Mr Younus Abdullah Muhammad and other Muslims
like him can and do point to Quranic verses enjoining violence against
unbelievers in order to justify bombings and all manner of murder and mayhem —
for Muslims are to “fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let
them find harshness in you” (Quran 9:123).
Until
the way in which jihad violence and supremacism are rooted in Islamic texts and
teachings is studied openly by law enforcement and intelligence officials, we
will see many more jihad attacks in the US — and some will be successful. For
the belief system that motivates them is being neither challenged nor even
examined. While officials in this case had to revise their initial dismissal of
terrorism as a factor, they have never re-examined or re-evaluated their
dismissal of any need to understand Islam in order to understand jihadis and how
they can be stopped. --
Robert Spencer
By Robert Spencer
Until jihadi violence and Islamist supremacism are studied openly, we
will see many more terror attacks and some will be
successful
Like the Fort Hood jihad massacre and virtually all such attacks and
attempted attacks these days, the car bomb discovered in Times Square on
Saturday was initially dismissed as having nothing to do with terrorism. The New
York Times reported: “A federal official said it was not considered a terrorist
threat and that the New York Police Department had told the Department of
Homeland Security to stand down.”
Soon, however, the weight of evidence became too great for officials
to sustain this wishful thinking. New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly
said: “I think the intent was to cause a significant ball of fire.”’ New York
Governor David Paterson declared the incident an “act of terrorism.” Homeland
Security Secretary Janet Napolitano revealed on Meet the Press that the car bomb
was being treated as a “potential terrorist attack.”
Napolitano offered no hint as to which terrorists might have done it:
“It’s too soon to tell who was responsible.” New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg was just as puzzled: “We have no idea who did this or
why.”
Yet for all this official agnosticism, there were a number of clues —
and even a group claiming credit. The explosives-laden car was found on 45th
Street between 7th and 8th — not far from the offices of Viacom, which owns
Comedy Central. Comedy Central, of course, presents South Park, the irreverent
cartoon series that recently lampooned Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. After the show
aired, the jihadi website RevolutionMuslim.com posted this threat against the
creators of South Park, Mr Matt Stone and Mr Trey Parker: “We have to warn Matt
and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like
Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the
reality of what will likely happen to them.”
Theo Van Gogh was brutally murdered by a Muslim on an Amsterdam
street in the middle of the day in November 2004 after he made a film,
Submission, about the oppression of Muslim women. Mr Younus Abullah Muhammad of
RevolutionMuslim.com told journalist Aaron Klein on Sunday that the car bomb was
“a retaliation for what your Government is doing overseas. If you want to
continue killing civilians, then you’re going to get many incidents that
resemble what happened yesterday.” Not that RevolutionMuslim.com was claiming
responsibility: “We do not condone nor condemn terrorism. There is no relation
between our organisation and these attacks.” However, “there will be a lot more
terror attacks in the United States.”
Younus Abullah Muhammad’s denial of responsibility notwithstanding,
have authorities questioned the owners of RevolutionMuslim.com about this
attempt to explode a car bomb outside Viacom’s offices?
Meanwhile, the Pakistani Taliban rushed to claim responsibility,
releasing a video calling the botched attack a “jaw-breaking blow to Satan’s
USA.” Sounding much like Mr Younus Abdullah Muhammad, a Taliban spokesman said
that the attempted car bomb was revenge for American “interference and terrorism
in Muslim countries, especially in Pakistan.” American officials, however, said
there was no evidence to back up this claim, and Mr Bloomberg added: “So far,
there is no evidence that any of this has anything to do with one of the
recognised terrorist organisations.”
Still, even if no Muslim group had anything to do with the car bomb,
it was noteworthy that only Muslim groups went on record praising it as a good
thing. Recently I have received an increased number of e-mails and Facebook
messages from Muslims telling me that I have completely misunderstood Islam and
jihad, and that Islam is in fact the Religion of Peace of fable and fantasy. The
only problem with all such messages, and with various windy pseudo-academic
“refutations” of explanations by me and others of Islam’s doctrines of warfare
against unbelievers and their subjugation under Sharia’h, is that however good
they sound on paper, somehow the last people to be convinced seem to be Muslims
themselves — Muslims like Mr Younus Abdullah Muhammad and the Pakistani Taliban
spokesman who claimed responsibility for the car bomb.
Somehow Muslims like those two — and there are untold numbers of
others like them around the globe — seem to have missed the memo about Islam’s
vaunted respect and tolerance for non-Muslims. And Mr Younus Abdullah Muhammad
and other Muslims like him can and do point to Quranic verses enjoining violence
against unbelievers in order to justify bombings and all manner of murder and
mayhem — for Muslims are to “fight those of the disbelievers who are near to
you, and let them find harshness in you” (Quran 9:123).
Until the ways in which jihad violence and supremacism is rooted in
Islamic texts and teachings is studied openly by law enforcement and
intelligence officials, we will see many more jihad attacks in the US — and some
will be successful. For the belief system that motivates them is being neither
challenged nor even examined. While officials in this case had to revise their
initial dismissal of terrorism as a factor, they have never re-examined or
re-evaluated their dismissal of any need to understand Islam in order to
understand jihadis and how they can be stopped.
And so they are not being stopped, except when we get lucky, as we
did on Saturday night in Times Square. But our luck is unlikely to hold
forever.
-- The writer is a scholar of Islamic history, theology, and law and
the director of Jihad Watch.
Source: Daily Pioneer, New Delhi
10:09 PM
Sultan Shahin
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