Another excellent instalment from Pascal Bruckner in the Multiculturalism debate on signandsight.com (my initial post on the debate here):

[..]

At the heart of the issue is the fact that in certain countries Islam is becoming Europe\’s second religion. As such, its adherents are entitled to freedom of religion, to decent locations and to all of our respect. On the condition, that is, that they themselves respect the rules of our republican, secular culture, and that they do not demand a status of extraterritoriality that is denied other religions, or claim special rights and prerogatives such as unisex swimming pools and separate gym or other classes. A tense international context surrounds this problem. Today a fundamentalist wave is bearing down on Europe, seeking to re-Islamise the Muslim communities accused of tepidness, and ultimately to place our entire continent of infidels under the law of the Prophet. This proselytism is carried out by all kinds of revanchist groups, the Saudi Wahhabists, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists, all of whom rival each other in zeal. The birth of an enlightened European Islam takes on importance in this context, one which can serve as a model for Muslims all over the world.

I repeat: two directions lie open to us here. The first, inspired by the Anglo-Saxon tradition, stresses strict differences, basing itself on the respect for religious adherence. Here multicultural Canada is the key reference. The other, more French in inspiration, is based on an equally strict separation of church and state, and the subordination of beliefs to civil law. Even if both models are currently undergoing a crisis, as Timothy Garton Ash rightly notes, it seems to me that in all respects the principle of secularism remains the best compass.

Modern France was formed in the struggle against the Catholic Church, and remains extremely sensitive to religious fanaticism. And I maintain that Jacques Chirac, supported by the commission headed by Bernhard Stasi, was right to put a law to parliament on the banning of religious symbols in school and public administrations. This initiative passed easily, with few opposing voices. Supporters included a majority of French Muslim women keen to safeguard their emancipation, among them Fadela Amara (news story), founder with Mohammed Abdi of the association \”Ni putes, ni soumises\” in the suburbs (more here).

\”In conflicts between the weak and the strong, liberty helps suppress the weak, while the law protects them\” said Abbé Grégoire at the time of the revolution. It\’s so true that many English, Dutch and German politicians, shocked by the excesses that the wearing of the Islamic veil has given way to, now envisage similar legislation curbing religious symbols in public space. The separation of the spiritual and corporeal domains must be strictly maintained, and belief must confine itself to the private realm.

It\’s not enough to condemn terrorism. The religion that engenders it and on which it is based, right or wrong, must also be reformed. Can one understand the Inquisition, the witches burned at the stake, the Crusades and the condemnation of heretics without referring to the dogmas of Roman Catholicism? The time has come to do for Islam what was done for Christianity as of the 15th century: by bending it to modernity and adapting it to contemporary mentalities. It is too often forgotten that the fight against the Church in Europe was one of outrageous sectarianism, with unheard of violence on both sides. Cathedrals were burned; priests, bishops and nuns were hung or guillotined; the clergy\’s goods were confiscated. But in the end this fight liberated us from the tutelage of the cassock, radically limiting ambitions on the part of Rome and the various Protestantisms to direct the social order and govern not only people\’s consciences, but also their bodies. There is no reason why Islam, as soon as it enters the Occidental democratic sphere, should escape secularism and enjoy a favour that is denied to other confessions.

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Read the whole thing.

One of the most prominent Sunni nationalist groups in Iraq appears to have split in two, with at least one of these now engaged in an intensifying battle with the Al Qaeda-led Jihadists.

On March 9th a message from the 1920 Revolution Brigades was posted on a jihadi website declaring they were splitting into two separate corps – the al-Jihad al-Islami (Islamic Jihad) Corps and the al-Fatih al-Islami (Islamic Conquest) Corps. (via Jamestown Foundation)

The statement declared their designated areas of operation as:

al-Jihad al-Islami (Islamic Jihad) Corps: the northern sector, which includes Mosul, Kirkuk and Tikrit; sections of Baghdad; and Abu Ghraib.

al-Fatih al-Islami (Islamic Conquest) Corps: Diyala; sections of Baghdad; al-Fallujah; al-Ramadi; and the “western region.”

The statement also said that:

each corps must refrain from attempting to influence the other and must allow the other to carry out any new operation in any sector.

and that

agreement was reached to overcome any discord.

Discord not overcome:

A military leader of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, a major Sunni Arab insurgent group, was killed Tuesday in an ambush west of Baghdad, the group said in an Internet statement.

Harith Dhaher al-Dhari died when gunmen fired rocket propelled grenades on his car in the Abu Ghraib district, according to a district official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals.

The official said a passenger traveling with al-Dhari also was killed as well as another associate in a second car traveling behind. He blamed Al Qaeda in Iraq for the attack, but did not say how he arrived at that conclusion.

(note: this is contrary to the U.S. military saying that suicide car bombers attacked his house).

If he was killed in his car in the Abu Ghraib he is likely to have been from the Islamic Jihad Corps.

To put this ’split’ into perspective, the 1920 Revolution Brigade has been in negotiation with the Iraqi government for about a year about laying down their arms and joining the political process. Recently there have also been reports that they have been fighting against Al-Qaeda and have succeeded in driving Al-Qaeda forces out of the area around Abu Ghraib. Thus it makes sense that the Islamic Jihad Corps is being targetted by Al-Qaeda. Diyala province, which is in the area designated to the other faction, Islamic Conquest, on the other hand is currently a major Al Qaeda stronghold and will soon be the location of a major offensive operation against Al Qaeda by Coalition troops, apparently even bigger than the offensive against Fallujah in 2004. The Sunni city of Baqouba, which is located in Diyala is rumoured to be where Al Qaeda want to set up the capital of their Islamic state.

If there was indeed a split, it appears that at least the Islamic Jihad corps are fighting against Al-Qaeda, as they are the ones active in Abu Ghraib.

Back on February 20th al-Hayat reported that “al-Qaeda has waged a war of liquidation with the primary targets being the leaders of the 1920 Revolution Brigades and the Islamic Army”, because they refused to join Al-Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq (ISI).

Al Qaeda seem to be stepping up this attack on this and other anti-Al-Qaeda Sunni factions – they have have also claimed responsibility for the suicide bomber attack on Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie last Friday. The attack wounded al-Zubaie, and killed 9 people. Coincidentally Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie and Harith Dhaher al-Dhari are both from the al-Zubaie tribe, but appear to belong to different factions. The Deputy Prime Minister is considered to be the “second-most-powerful Sunni official in the government, who hails from the Islamist-dominated Tawafoq Iraqi Front — the largest Sunni coalition, which controls 44 seats in parliament” (Stratfor), representing the mainstream Sunni community. Stratfor reports this is a sign that the mainstream Sunnis have turned against Al-Qaeda and their Islamic State in Iraq and Al-Qaeda is now trying to retaliate by assassinating leaders of moderate pro-government and nationalist Sunni factions that oppose them, which will only work to further turn the Sunni tide against Al Qaeda. Small but positives steps forward. Jules Crittenden reports on others.

NOTE: There seems to be some confusion as to which ‘Harith al-Dhari’ was killed in the above attack. One of the Harith Al-Dhari’s is Sheik Harith Sulayman al-Dhari, the head of the Association of Muslim Scholars, who actually supports Al-Qaeda. There is an arrest warrant out for him in Iraq and he is actually hiding out in Jordan. Following the attack mentioned above on the Deputy Prime Minister he issued a statement supporting the attack:

“It indicates a huge security failure and a success by the resistance,” al-Dhari told al-Jazeera television. “The bigger event here is that the resistance was able to deliver a message to all politicians telling them: ‘Don’t speak on our behalf.’”

However the Sheik Harith al-Dhari who is the head of the Association of Muslim Scholars and supports Al Qaeda is actually the cousin of the Sheik Harith Dhaher al-Dhari who was killed and who had recently joined the Anbar Salvation Council against Al-Qaeda in Iraq. (or uncle, according to this report). The pro-Al Qaeda Al-Dhari’s Association of Muslim Scholars actually issued a statement mourning the killing. Hmm. Not a “success by the resistance” then?

Jamestown Foundation relays this message on the British Tajdeed Forum from a distressed Jihadist, to Sheikh Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq (an organisation synonimous with Al-Qaeda in Iraq):

“we were distressed by the tyrant of Syria, Bashar al-Assad and his gang, who have arrested many of us…on the borders that separate us from you. We cannot find a way to reach you. Many of the journeys to you have been hindered, and many of the young men who were on their way to you have been taken prisoners.”

The distressed fella conveniently left his email address, for anyone keen to help. The address is badee3ozzaman@yahoo.com

Do send this Brother your support and advice!

Sincere thanks to Velvet Hammer for listing Tao of Defiance as one of the 5 nominations for her contributing node to the “Thinking Blogger Award” meme (well, beme, actually).

Here are the rules for those who want to come join the party:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,

2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,

3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote. (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn’t fit your blog).

I am going to make an all Aussie list. Here are 5 Blogs That Make Me Think:

1. Saint’s Dogfight in Bankstown. Possibly the most under-rated blog in Australia.
2. Sheik Yer’mami’s Winds of Jihad. Single-handedly holding the fort in Cairns, the Sheik is renowned for thought-provoking hits such as “Harry the Taliban” and “Muslim Woman”. The Sheik makes me think particularly hard about protecting my online anonimity.
3. Pommygranate. Because he is so well integrated.
4. A Western Heart makes me think terribly un-PC things. John Ray also makes me think that too many blogs is never enough -an even dozen and counting! How does he do it?!
5. My last nominee has already gained global infamy as the premier exponent of the Evil Minimalist (Min-evilist) school of blogging. Title, quote, linepunch! Like a hammer hits a cantaloupe. Repeat until the demons of stupid are out. Lefthandalist suckers beware, its the “Evil” Tim Blair!

Don’t forget to check out Velvet Hammer’s great blog, Ironic Surrealism, too.

I mentioned Bernard Lewis’ (“the most influential postwar historian of Islam and the Middle East.”) speech at the AIE dinner recently, you can read the full text here.

Here are some editted extracts the AIE also posted for those lacking the patience to read the whole thing, “Islam and Europe”:

The Muslim attack on Christendom . . . has gone through three phases. The first is from the very beginning of Islam, when the new faith spilled out of the Arabian Peninsula, where it was born, into the Middle East and beyond. It was then that the Muslims conquered Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa–all at that time part of the Christian world–and went beyond into Europe, conquering a sizable part of southwestern Europe and occupying for a while parts of France.

After a long and bitter struggle, the Christians managed to retake part, but not all, of the territory they had lost. They succeeded in Europe, and in a sense Europe was defined by the limits of that success. They failed to retake North Africa or the Middle East, which were lost to Christendom. Notably, they failed to recapture the Holy Land. . . .

That was not the end of the matter. The Islamic world, having failed the first time, was bracing for the second attack, this time conducted not by Arabs and Moors, but by Turks and Tatars. They conquered Anatolia and Russia and captured the ancient Christian citadel of Constantinople. They conquered a large part of the Balkans. Twice they conquered half of Hungary. Twice they reached as far as Vienna. Barbary corsairs from North Africa–well known to historians of the United States–were raiding Western Europe. They went to Iceland–the uttermost limit.

Again, Europe counterattacked, this time more successfully and more rapidly. They succeeded in recovering Russia and the Balkan Peninsula, and in advancing farther into the Islamic lands, chasing their former rulers from whence they had come. For this phase of European counterattack, a new term was invented: imperialism. When the peoples of Asia and Africa invaded Europe, this was not imperialism. When Europe attacked Asia and Africa, it was.
This European counterattack began a new phase which brought the European attack into the very heart of the Middle East. In our own time, we have seen the end of that domination.

***

Osama bin Laden had this to say about the war in Afghanistan, the war which led to the defeat and retreat of the Red Army and the collapse of the Soviet Union. We tend to see that as a Western victory–more specifically an American victory–in the Cold War against the Soviets. For Osama bin Laden, it was nothing of the kind. It was a Muslim victory in a jihad. . . . As bin Laden put it, “We have met, defeated, and destroyed the more dangerous and the more deadly of the two infidel superpowers. Dealing with the soft, pampered and effeminate Americans will be an easy matter.”

This belief was confirmed in the 1990s when we saw attacks on American bases and installations with virtually no effective response of any kind–only angry words and expensive missiles dispatched to remote and uninhabited places. This was a sequence leading up to 9/11. It was clearly intended to be the completion of the first sequence and the beginning of the new one, taking the war into the heart of the enemy camp.

The third phase has clearly begun. We should not delude ourselves as to what it is and what it means. This time it is taking different forms–two in particular–terror and migration.

***

Where do we stand now? The Muslims have certain advantages. They have fervor and conviction, which in most Western countries are either weak or lacking. They are self-assured of the rightness of their cause, whereas we spend most of our time in self-denigration and self-abasement. They have loyalty and discipline, and perhaps most important, they have demography, the combination of natural increase and migration leading to major population changes which could lead within the foreseeable future to significant majorities in some European countries.

But we also have some advantages, the most important of which are knowledge and freedom. The appeal of genuine modern knowledge to a society which, in the more distant past, had a long record of scientific and scholarly achievement, is obvious. They are keenly and painfully aware of their relative backwardness and welcome the opportunity to rectify it.

Less obvious but also powerful is the appeal of freedom. In the past, in the Islamic world the word “freedom” was not used in a political sense. Freedom was a legal concept, not a political concept as in the West. But the idea of freedom in its Western interpretation is making headway. It is becoming more and more understood, more and more appreciated, and more and more desired. It is perhaps in the long run our best hope–perhaps even our only hope–of surviving this developing struggle.

Further to this post a couple of days ago, here’s a must read article on the spread of the now-inextractable Wahhabi cancer in Bosnia.

Extract from “Emissaries of Militant Islam Make Headway in Bosnia”:

[Ex-Wahhabi] Nermina said the Wahhabi sect had infiltrated schools, universities and the media. They know most of the population dislikes them and have therefore adapted their outward appearance in order to enter public institutions, she claimed.

Nermina also told Balkan Insight she had been trapped in her house for almost three of the five years she wore a hijab. The men and women in the house were separated and all visitors had to comply with the rules.

“I believed that men were preordained to run public life while it was our duty to stay in the house,” she said. “Rare gatherings were our only contact with the outside world. Over the summer, we took trips to special camps near Lake Jablanica where women were also separated from men.

“We had a parallel world that others may not have noticed. We had our own public transport and grocery stores. We migrated inwards into our own closed sphere.”

Polygamy, which is illegal in Bosnia, was encouraged, she went on. “I know women whose husbands have several other wives,” she said. “They told us we would be rewarded in the next world if we put up with this hardship and refrained from being jealous. They keep talking about the next world to scare you, and promise you’ll go to heaven if you obey.”

At the same time, Nermina realised she increasingly disliked Wahhabism. She started getting out of the house and communicating with people. But when wearing the hijab, it was difficult to reach out. “People in Sarajevo are hostile towards Wahhabis and veiled women. It is impossible to get a job or even talk to anybody,” she said.

Eventually, her plight forced her to reconsider her beliefs and whole way of life. “I met a fellow Muslim woman who studied Islamic sciences,” she recalled.

“At first I treated her as an infidel, as she veiled only her hair while leaving her neck and ears exposed, which Wahhabism regards as a deadly sin,” she went on.

“But watching her and learning what a beautiful religion Islam is, I realised that everything I had learnt from the Wahhabi was wrong. My conversations with this woman brought up many crucial questions in my head. One of them was about polygamy, which I believed in wholeheartedly.

“She asked me why men shouldn’t put up with being cheated on to get their reward in the other world if women were being asked to do the same. It was a logical question but one I had never heard before.”

Professor Hafizovic believes the authorities ought to take immediate action. “I keep getting calls from parents whose children have been taken away by the Wahhabi; they are begging me to help them,” he said.

“The Wahhabi train these young people to break their own families into pieces and introduce their propaganda through literature and camps. There is nothing I can do to stop it but I hereby appeal to the authorities in this country to speak out,” Hafizovic told Balkan Insight.

Jasmin Merdan also said immediate steps were needed. “Decisive action needs to be taken, primarily by the Islamic Community and the authorities through cooperation with international institutions,” he said. “But it should rest on the Islamic Community first and foremost because destroying traditional Islam in Bosnia is the basic Wahhabi objective, just as it would be in any other country,” he added.

Read the whole thing.

While I’m at it, some articles on the developing Kosovo situation too:

“Creating a state of denial”

“Europe’s approaching train wreck”

“Report damns West’s revival of Kosovo”

But here’s Bolivian President Evo Morales with a pancake on his head:

Thats Evo “Bunny” Morales from now on. The resemblance is truely striking.

Meanwhile some of Evo’s countrymen are trying to take the ‘coca’ out of Cola-Cola, claiming the “sacred plant is part of Bolivia’s cultural heritage”, according to FP Passport. I think Coca-Cola should counter-attack and demand a reclaimation of their other brandname currently tarnished by the South Americans – Coke.

Wise words from Dennis Prager in this piece that begins:

This past weekend, a friend of mine attended his 13-year-old son’s baseball game. What he saw encapsulates a major reason many of us fear for the future of America and the West.

Be sure to find out why.

A great Churchill quote, from this editorial by Michael Barone:

“Law, language, literature — these are considerable factors. Common conceptions of what is right and decent, a marked regard for fair play, especially to the weak and poor, a stern sentiment of impartial justice and above all a love of personal freedom … these are the common conceptions on both sides of the ocean among the English-speaking peoples.”

A couple of stories from The Australian:

“Extremist students take over Newcastle mosque”:

Up to 150 university students from Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Egypt who follow the fundamentalist Wahabbism ideology were central to the overthrow at the weekend of the executive board of the Newcastle Muslim Association.

Deposed association president Yunus Kara yesterday accused the students of pushing for new leadership of the port city’s mosque in order to advance their own extremist agenda and continue “brainwashing” local Muslims.

“The international students have used their puppets to come forward and dictate,” Mr Kara told The Australian.

“They’re driving them to whatever ideology that (suits them). Their ideology is extremism … but they teach under the banner of Islam.”

“Taxation office to probe Muslim cleric on Saudi cash”:

An ACT Islamic organisation has also accused the Palestinian-born imam Mohammad Swaiti of being “radical”, anti-Western in his religious teachings, and failing to declare payments he received from officiating at wedding ceremonies.

Documents obtained by The Australian reveal an Australian Tax Office investigation into Sheik Swaiti over allegations by senior Muslim community leaders that he failed to declare his clerical allowances of up to $US30,000 ($37,700) a year, which were paid to him by the Saudi Government.

The tax office sent Islamic Society of ACT president Sabrija Poskovic a letter in reply to written allegations made by him and his community regarding Sheik Swaiti.

“I refer to your letter relating to the imam of your mosque, Mohammad Swaiti, who also happens to be a tax office employee,” the ATO’s letter to Mr Poskovic says.

[..]

Mr Poskovic accused the Saudi Embassy of bankrolling the annual salaries of up to 20 imams around Australia, including Sheik Swaiti, through its Islamic donations (Daawa) office.

A letter understood to be sent on behalf of Mr Poskovic claims the Saudis pay the imams “mukafa”, which is regarded a “reward compensation payment”. It also alleges that Sheik Swaiti had been on the Saudi payroll for 12 years.

Are parts of Australia heading the way of some cities in Europe, like Antwerp, where the Saudi-sponsored radical Salafists/Wahhabists have taken over all 25 mosques? On a bigger scale, just watch what is happening in Kosovo, where the Wahhabis have sponsored about 200 mosques and religious schools since 1999:

Wahhabis open internet cafes associated with their mosques, “in a bid to attract children to listen to ‘naslihates’ against Skenderbeg and the Albanian national renewal movement, the Western civilization and even Kosovo’s traditional brand of Islam,” the media report.

The newspapers in Priština also say that “Kosovo and international mujahedins may be preparing for a rebellion on the brink of the status solution,”

Or look at the growing influence of the Wahhabis in Bosnia, . Rather predictably, in both places a growing section of the Muslim population is growing increasingly radicalised. Lets not be going in that direction.