Militant Islamism in the Balkans, Mother Teresa in Hell

Militant Islamism in the Balkans

Mother Teresa in Hell

A recent online music video featuring Macedonians praising Osama bin Laden has fuelled fears that South-eastern Europe could be emerging as the latest breeding ground for home-grown Islamist militants. James M. Dorsey reports

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Saudi Arabia's religious export hit: Many charities in the Balkans propagate Wahhabism, the kingdom's austere and puritan interpretation of Islam | The ominous music video propagating support for Osama bin Laden has focused attention on Muslim charities active in Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia, Albania, Macedonia and European Union member Bulgaria since the wars in former Yugoslavia in the mid-1990s. Many of those charities are funded by oil-rich Saudi Arabia and propagate Wahhabism – the kingdom's austere and puritan interpretation of Islam.

A majority of Wahhabis favour peaceful proselytizing of Islam while Saudi King Abdullah has been seeking to soften Wahhabi practices as part of his reforms in the kingdom. Militant groups such as Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, the Taliban and jihadists in Somalia have however embraced significant elements of Wahhabism as part of their ideology.

Songs calling for jihad

Jasmin Merdan, a young Bosnian who wrote a book after disassociating himself from Wahhabis groups in Bosnia, warned that "they express their convictions with violence, introduce anarchy in mosques and preach intolerance." Women in the Albanian city of Skadar have reportedly started covering their heads or wearing the niqab, a full body covering that hides everything but the eyes, in newly found religiosity.

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Europe's Islamic heritage: Most Bulgarian Muslims are descendants of ethnic Turks who arrived during five centuries of Ottoman rule. Pictured: Bulgarian Muslims during a wedding ceremony in the Rhodope Mountain village of Ribnovo | The video posted on YouTube is one of several produced by home-grown jihadists in the Balkans and circulating in the region. "Oh Osama, annihilate the American army. Oh Osama, raise the Muslims' honour," a group of Macedonian men chant in Albanian on the video. "In September 2001 you conquered a power. We all pray for you." Similar songs calling on South-eastern European Muslims to join the jihad have been produced in Bosnian.

Governments and security forces fear that that increased Wahhabi activity will produce committed jihadis that could destabilize already fragile nations in south-eastern Europe and, in the case of Bulgaria – where one sixth of the country's 7.6 million people is Muslim – produce a pool of jihadists whose EU passports would grant them easy access to Western Europe and allow them to blend into society.

Bulgaria seen as potential breeding ground

Bulgaria is the only EU member whose Muslim population are not recent immigrants. Most Bulgarian Muslims are descendants of ethnic Turks who arrived during five centuries of Ottoman rule.

Three ethnic Albanian brothers from Macedonia were convicted to life in prison in 2008 on charges of plotting to attack the US Army's Fort Dix military base in New Jersey. A fourth member of the group from Kosovo was sentenced to five years in jail.

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Islam came to Albania through the Ottoman rule in the 14th century. A recent Pew Research Center demographic study put the percentage of Muslims at 79.9%. Pictured: a mosque in the town of Berati | Across the Balkans, minority Wahhabi groups seek to convert mainstream Islam to their more militant interpretation through the operation of cultural centres, mosques, schools and at times by battling for control of majority Muslim organizations and community-owned property. However, the majority of the region's Muslims are secular and analysts caution against overstating the Wahhabi threat.

"It should not be ignored, but neither should it be exaggerated," said Hajrudin Somun a former Bosnian ambassador to Turkey and history professor at Sarajevo's Philip Noel-Baker International University.

The analyst says militant Islam is gaining ground on the fringe of a more general return of religion to the Balkans. Several thousand Orthodox Christian Bulgarians demonstrated in Sofia recently demanding that religious instruction be made compulsory in schools – a demand supported by mainstream Muslim organizations.

Muslim organizations are believed to have spent large amounts of money over the last decade to build some 150 new mosques and educational centres in predominantly Orthodox Bulgaria. A minority are believed to promote Wahhabism.

According to former Bulgarian chief mufti Nedim Gendzhev, militant Islamists in southern and north-eastern Bulgaria are seeking to create a "fundamentalist triangle" in areas of Bosnia, Macedonia and Bulgaria's Western Rhodope mountains.

Fears of increasing radicalism

Bulgarian authorities last year arrested a mayor and a village teacher in the south of the country on charges of preaching radical Islam. In 2003, authorities shut down several Islamic centres because they were financed by Saudi-funded Muslim groups believed to have links to militant Islamic organizations and "to prevent terrorists getting a foothold in Bulgaria".

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Banya Bashi mosque, built in 1576 by the Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, is the only functioning mosque that remains of 500 years of Ottoman domination in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria | The threat posed by the Wahhabis is a major bone of contention in tense relations between Muslims and Serbs in Bosnia, which so far has successfully neutralized Wahhabi influence by controlling the appointment of imams in mosques and teachers at Islamic educational institutions and employing law enforcement.

Some Bosnian Wahhabis, estimated to number 3,000, are former foreign fighters who married Bosnian women and stayed in the country after the Bosnian war that ended in 1995. Bosnia recently stepped up its fight against militancy and organized crime to meet an EU requirement for visa-free travel for Bosnians and closer ties with the bloc.

In early September, Bosnian police uncovered a cache of weapons and detained a third suspect as part of their inquiry into a June bomb attack that killed one policeman and injured six others. The attack on a police station in the town of Bugojno was one of the most serious security incidents in Bosnia. Police arrested the suspected mastermind and an aide shortly after the blast.

Bosnia tries to crackdown on militants

Boris Grubesic, a spokesman for the Bosnian prosecutor's office, told reporters in mid-September that prosecutors were investigating several people from Bugojno and Gornja Maoca on suspicion of Wahhabi ties, terrorism and human trafficking.

In February, Bosnian and EU police raided Gornja Maoca and arrested seven men described as Wahhabis because of their beards and shortened trousers. Police said they were detained for suspected illegal possession of arms and threatening the country's "territorial integrity, constitutional order and provoking inter-ethnic and religious hatred".

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National safety under threat: Bosnia so far has successfully neutralized Wahhabi influence by controlling the appointment of imams in mosques and teachers at Islamic educational institutions and employing law enforcement | Gornja Maoca was home to some 30 families who lived by strict Shariah laws, organized schooling in Arabic for their children outside the state system and opposed the primacy of Bosnia's mainstream Islamic Community. Nusret Imamovic, the town's self-proclaimed Wahhabi leader, endorsed suicide attacks on the group's Bosnian language website, saying they should be launched only in "exceptional circumstances". The site features statements by al-Qaeda and Islamic groups fighting in the Caucasus and celebrates suicide bombers as joyful Muslims.

Serbian officials say 12 alleged Wahhabis convicted last year to prison terms of up to 13 years for planning terrorist attacks, including on the US Embassy in Belgrade, had close ties to their brethren in Gornja Maoca. One of the convicted, Adnan Hot, said during the trial that Imamovic was one of only three Muslim leaders that he followed. Four other Wahhabis were sentenced in a separate case to jail terms of up to eight years on charges of planning to bomb a football stadium in the southern Serbian town of Novi Pazar.

A rift in Macedonia's Muslim community

In Macedonia, Suleyman Rexhepim Rexhepi, head of the official Islamic Religious Community (IVZ), recently called on the government and the international community to crack down on increasingly influential Wahabbi groups. Rexhepi is locked into a bitter battle with Ramadan Ramadani, the imam of the Isa Beg mosque in Skopje, that has caused a rift in the country's Muslim community.

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Clean slate? Imam Ramadan Ramadani, imam of the Isa Beg mosque in Skopje, denies that Wahhabis are active among Macedonian Muslims | Ramadani accuses Rexhep of financial mismanagement and is seeking his ouster. He organized a petition signed by thousands of his followers supporting his bid for leadership of the community after Rexhep banned him from organizing prayers. Ramadani denies that Wahhabis are active among Macedonian Muslims who account for roughly one quarter of the population as well as allegations that the pro-bin Laden music video was played in mosques he controls.

A Ramadani associate, radical Kosovo imam Sefket Krasnici, shocked Macedonians, when he recently denounced Mother Teresa, a native of Skopje whom many consider a saint, during a sermon in the Macedonian capital. "She belongs in the middle of Hell because she did not believe in Allah, the prophet and the Koran. Even if she believed in God, her belief was incomplete, with deficiencies. God does not accept such worship," Krasnici said.

James M. Dorsey

© Deutsche Welle 2010

Editors: Rob Mudge, Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

URL: http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=476&wc_id=1410

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Asadullah Syed

Revelations about the War in Iraq

Revelations about the War in Iraq

Bloody Wartime Brutality
The Internet platform Wikileaks has published close to 400,000 files documenting torture, abuse, and the arbitrary use of force during the war in Iraq. The leaks not only document misconduct by the US army, but also the murky intrigues of Shiite death squads and American security companies. Birgit Svensson reports from Baghdad

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Despite the improved security situation, bomb attacks in Iraq remain an everyday occurrence. The bloodiest years of terror were 2006 and 2007 | "Of course it is good that the documents were published. We have never before had such transparency in Iraq!" says Bashar Al-Mandalawy enthusiastically. Above all, he views the close to 400,000 files on Iraq published by the Internet platform Wikileaks as evidence of the credibility of journalists in the country.

"We have already researched and reported everything that is now on the table. We didn't pull any punches and made enemies in the process – some of us were even killed." The spokesman of the Iraqi NGO on the "supervision of press freedom" knows of many cases in which colleagues who uncovered inconvenient truths had been threatened, subjected to pressure, driven out of the country, or simply shot to death.

Some 300 journalists have lost their lives over the past seven years since the invasion by British and American forces. Bashar estimates that only half of these were the victims of bomb attacks. The rest were murdered, because "someone didn't like what the journalist wrote."

Torture, abuse, and the arbitrary use of force

Now, the truth concerning torture, abuse, and the arbitrary use of force by American troops and Iraqi security forces is out in the open for everyone to see.

The documents consist of army records, videos, and handwritten reports by American military personnel. The explosiveness of this issue has thereby taken on a totally different quality.

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In September 2007, Blackwater employees in western Baghdad shot into a crowd killing 17 civilians | In addition to misconduct by Iraqi police and the American army, the documents also shed light on the murky intrigues of Shiite death squads and American security companies, which were allowed to operate unhindered. The so-called "contractors," which were hired by the Pentagon and the State Department in Washington to assist in conducting the war for the Americans, are, in fact, mercenaries with a licence to kill.

Appropriately enough, news has come that the last court case against employees of the notorious Blackwater security company, which now goes by the name of Xe Service, has been dropped. The company has been in the headlines since an incident that took place in September 2007. At the time, Blackwater employees in western Baghdad shot into a crowd with practically no provocation while a convoy with US diplomats drove by. This resulted in the deaths of 17 civilians. This case, as well as many others, is documented in the leaks.

Shiite death squads

For most Iraqis, the publication of the Wikileaks documents has not unearthed anything new. The contents of the leaks provide a reflection their everyday experiences, in particular, the worst years of terror from 2006 to 2007, the period in which most of the documents originate. Yet, for the first time, they can say, "See, that is how it was."

Abdelqadr has already downloaded several pages relating to the situation at checkpoints. He hopes to discover who it was that detained him at the time, threatened him with a knife, and robbed him, finally releasing him without any money, his mobile phone, or his winter jacket.

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For a long time, Shiite militia were free to carry out attacks. "They did the dirty work, while the head of government cemented Shiite political power," writes Birgit Svensson | At the time of the bloody conflict between Shiites and Sunnis in Baghdad, the death squads were free to conduct hostilities everywhere in the city. Illegal checkpoints controlled the identity papers of those on the road. Anyone with the "wrong" name risked being shot on the spot.

Many Baghdad residents therefore carried around two different sets of identity papers, one with a Shiite and the other with a Sunni name. Abdelqadr didn't have enough money to purchase a second set of papers. The fear of finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time is deeply entrenched, despite the improved security situation today. The 48-year-old Sunni still avoids Shiite areas of the city.

Nuri al-Maliki's responsibility

The issue of the death squads is currently being discussed by the Iraqi government. The still-serving Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki faces accusations that he holds some responsibility for the bloodbath between Shiites and Sunnis. Even though the confict, which some refer to as a civil war, broke out during the term of office of his predecessor Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the bloodiest period took place during Maliki's rule.

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Nuri al-Maliki faces criticism for allowing Shiite death squads to operate freely | The impression of many in Baghdad is that Maliki did not play an active role in the conflict, but did not act to halt the Shiite death squads. This has only been reinforced by the Wikileaks revelations. After all, through their brutal actions, the death squads enabled a regime change benefiting the Shiites. They did the dirty work, while the head of government cemented Shiite political power.

As a result, Shiites now control almost all of the leading positions in the country. Posts are often assigned on the basis of religious conviction rather than on an applicant's qualifications. Former followers of Saddam have been hounded out of their offices. This process is still continuing, even when far less blood is being shed than three years ago.

Difficulties in forming a new government

The office of the Iraqi Prime Minister has issued harsh criticism of the leaks' publication. Maliki's spokesman has accused Wikileaks founder Julian Assange of attempting to influence the formation of the new government. It has been more than seven months since parliamentary elections on 7 March and there has been no success in forming a coalition capable of governing the country. Maliki claims that he was close to finding a solution that would have kept him in office.

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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange previously published some 76,000 secret documents from the US army and marines on the war in Afghanistan | Now, his rival Iyad Allawi, who won the election with a mere lead of just two seats and has yet been unable to find sufficient coalition partners, has obtained a court order to investigate Maliki's involvement with the death squads.

Whether an investigation will actually take place is extremely questionable. The legal system in Iraq does not enjoy the reputation of being independent, but rather of adhering to the will of those in office. The recent death penalty imposed upon Saddam's former foreign minister and deputy Tariq Aziz serves as more proof of this.

Birgit Svensson

© Qantara.de 2010

Translated from the German by John Bergeron

Editor: Nimet Seker, Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

URL: http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=476&wc_id=1411

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Asadullah Syed

Pak clerics' refusal to issue 'fatwas' against terror raise sinister conspiracy theories

Islamabad, Oct 27 : With fatwas (legal pronouncements in Islam) playing an important role in Muslim countries, it is questionable why most prominent clerics and muftis in Pakistan refuse to issue them against terrorist organisations and suicide bombings, which are responsible for killings of over thousands of innocent Muslims.

"Rehman Malik and the Interior Ministry have tried their best to seek fatwas from influential Deobandi and Ahl-e-Hadith clerics but they simply refuse to give out fatwas," the Daily Times quoted a top Interior Ministry official, as saying.

Understandably, fatwas play a huge role within the terrorist community, where a rat race is on over who is giving out which fatwa against whom, the paper said.

So important is the business of fatwas that ex-prime minister of Pak-occupied Kashmir, Mumtaz Rathore, once famously said, "How can you stop us from jihad when religious scholars gave a fatwa that Rs 430 million Zakat Fund could be spent on jihad?" it added.

Rathore's remarks point towards what seems to be a conspiracy by religious scholars to support and encourage militancy in the country, and keep their influence in corridors of terror.

While in Islamabad, under the government's supervision, major Sunni Muslim scholars, academicians, thinkers and political leaders publicly condemned suicide bombings and universally agreed that suicide bombing is anathema, antithetical and abhorrent to Islam, they have shied away so far from issuing any fatwa in this regard.

"Not good enough. They are considered sell-offs - the legit clerics would never give out fatwas or even talk openly against suicide bombings because that would ruin there reputation within the respected sect and they can be killed," an intelligence chief pointed out.

It is noteworthy that Mufti Taqiuddin Usmani, the former 'grand mufti' of Pakistan and the vice chairman of the PIC's Islamic Fiqh Council, who has a huge clout over the Deoband sect and even Ahl-e-Hadith seminaries and followers, to this date has not signed the fatwa forbidding suicide attacks in Pakistan despite repeated efforts by the government, the paper said.

He did not come out openly to condemn the recent attacks on Sufi shrines, and even refused to speak on the subject, it added.

An Interior Ministry official said, "Taqi Usmani is a problem and a key man who can save a lot of lives by giving out one single statement."

"Even Osama Bin Laden needs fatwas," said a well-informed diplomatic source, adding, After all, it was an operational fatwa issued by an Egyptian leader of the Gama'ah Islamiya, Sheikh Omar Abd al-Rahman that resulted in the assassination of president Sadat and the first attack on the World Trade Centre in 1993. In Pakistan, we have many Sheikh Omar Abd al-Rahmans."

Over 400 people have so far been killed in suicide attacks in Pakistan alone, with three major Sufi shrines having been hit this year in what are being described as the worst attacks on the very foundation of Barelvi Islam.

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Asadullah Syed

Mohammed most popular name for baby boys in UK

Mohammed most popular name for baby boys in UK   Mohammed has become the most popular name for newborn boys in Britain.

 

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Mohammed has become the most popular name for newborn boys in Britain.

It shot up from third the previous year, overtaking Jack, which had topped the list for the past 14 years but was relegated to third spot, the Daily Mail reported.

Olivia topped the list for little girls for the second year in a row, behind Ruby and Chloe.

A total of 7,549 newborns were given 12 variations of Prophet Mohammed's (PBUH) name last year, such as Muhammad and Mohammad.

The second most popular boy's name, Oliver, was given to 7,364 babies.

Harry and Alfie came in fourth and fifth place respectively.

The official list, which covers all births in 2009 in England and Wales, has Mohammed at number 16 but this does not include the many different spellings, which are all ranked separately.

When they are added in, Mohammed zooms all the way up to top spot for the first time.

Since 1999 the number of babies called Mohammed, however spelled, has increased by more than half. In 1999 the name was given to 4,579 newborns.

Going even further back, the single spelling Mohammed appeared at 73 in the list in 1964 and 87th in 1944.

Some names appeared to have been given a popularity boost by celebrity association.

There were 282 boys called Brooklyn, 78 called Romeo and 73 called Cruz – sharing their names with the sons of David and Victoria Beckham.

The top 100 names lists include six new entries for boys: Aiden, Arthur, Frederick, Jude, Stanley and Austin. The girls' list had just three new entries: Heidi, Mya and Sara.

Overall, the popularity of the most common names has changed little, with the top tens for both boys and girls remaining almost identical.

There were 706,248 children born in England and Wales last year.

 

http://www.abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=210894

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Asadullah Syed

Talaq Joke On Skype Jeopradises Youth's Marriage

A Talaq joke to his wife on the internet may cost an e-savvy youth his marriage. The youth, a resident of Qatar, had spelt talaq three times while chatting with his wife on Skype, but little did he realise that his humourous intention in cyberspace will nullify his marriage in reality. Islamic seminary Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband has ruled that saying talaq thrice even casually without any serious overtone is valid as per the Shariyat (Islamic Law) and the marriage stands nullified. The nationality or the identity of the youth was not revealed. The ruling was given by Deoband' fatwa section Dar-ul-Ifta in reply to a query posted by a youth from Qatar. The youth in his query (question number 26075) had stated that while chatting with his wife over net he jokingly spelled talaq thrice. Claiming to have less knowledge about Islam, the youth said that he didn't know how Talaq is taken. The youth had stated that he was happily living with his wife and wanted to live with her in future as well. Dar-ul-Ifta in its reply has said that once talaq is spelled three times it amounts to divorce and her wife was "haraam" for him. The fatwa section in its reply stated that in the process it does not matter whether the man had enough knowledge of Islam or not. Under such circumstances the youth was neither allowed to take his wife nor to marry her again, it stated adding that now she would be required to go through "halalah". Halalah is a practice under which the woman has to marry and divorce another man before she can marry her previous husband again. As per the ruling that the woman would be required to complete 'iddat' (three months time) period after which she would be required to marry another man. The woman would be then required to divorce her second husband and go through iddat period again. "Then only the woman would be allowed to re-marry her former husband," it stated. Iddat is a period when the woman is supposed to stay away from celebrations and socialising. "When you gave three talaqs, all the three took place. No matter whether the woman gives talaq or not. Your wife became haram for you whether you are aware from the commandment of Islam more or less," the fatwa read. "Neither you have the right to take her back nor solemnize new nikah without a valid halalah. After the completion of iddat period, the woman can marry where she wishes except you. It is proved from Bukhari (Vol. 2, P. 791) and Fatawa al-Hindiyah etc," it added. Senior mufti of Dar-ul-Uloom Waqf Arif Kasmi said that under Shariyat talaq even if given in a lighter vein amounts to divorce

Hahahaha! These jokes making fun of Islam.

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Asadullah Syed

Tidiane N'Diaye's "The Veiled Genocide" Selective Theses on the Arab Slave Trade

A French-Senegalese author has raised his voice in protest. Tidiane N'Diaye accuses Arabs of not acknowledging their responsibility for the slave trade. He demands an explanation, yet sheds very little new light on the situation himself. A review by Moritz Behrendt

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"The excessive lifestyle and laziness of the Arabs": N'Diaye's book lacks a real discussion on whether and why the "Arab-Muslim" slave trade was more terrible than the other forms of trade in human beings, writes Behrendt | When a book deals with Africa, sometimes a bit of sensationalism is necessary for it to be even noticed. In this case, the key words "GENOCIDE" and "SLAVE TRADE" can be read in the title in upper case letters. And as if this weren't enough, the word genocide is also "veiled," insinuating an inherent "Muslim" connection to the slave trade.

When it comes to Africa, one doesn't necessarily have to stick so close to the truth. At least, this must have been the main idea at Rowohlt publishing house when they decided to publish the work of the French-Senegalese economist and anthropologist Tidiane N'Diaye.

The author attempts to rewrite the history of the slave trade with two controversial theses. First, N'Diaye claims "that the slave trade conducted mercilessly by Arab Muslim robbers and the jihad they simultaneously pursued had a far more devastating effect on black Africa than the trans-Atlantic slave trade". Secondly, he attempts to demonstrate that this continuous "campaign of destruction" lasting from the 6th to the 20th century has been and continues to be systematically "covered up."

A moral legitimacy for the colonization of Africa

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According to Behrendt, N'Diaye's book is a "pamphlet loaded with prejudices and full of historical inaccuracies" | N'Diaye's problem, however, is that his proof for the first thesis fundamentally contradicts his second claim. In order to show how brutal the slave dealers on the East African coast and in the Sahara region were, the author quotes almost exclusively from the writings of European explorers such as Henry Morton Stanley and Gerhard Rohlfs. N'Diaye fails to mention that their books were bestsellers in their day.

The "Muslim" slave trade was a hot topic of discussion in Europe in the late 19th century and provided, not least of all, a moral legitimacy for the colonization of Africa.

Yet, N'Diaye's wholesale acceptance of these sources without much reflection does not necessarily disqualify his claim that the "Muslim" slave trade was more far-reaching in the damage it did to Africa than the trans-Atlantic trade. There is ample historical research on this topic and the figures, at least, seem to confirm N'Diaye's thesis. It is now accepted that some 29 million people were exported from black Africa as slaves – 12 million by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, 9 million by the trans-Sahara slave trade, and 8 million from the East African coast.

Boisterous theses and no academic debate

N'Diaye adopts these figures, but presents them as if they were something new. He seems completely disinterested in the academic debate on the various forms of the slave trade and their consequences for Africa. He almost completely ignores the last 30 years of literature on the subject. This is a shame, as N'Diaye's book lacks a real discussion on whether and why the "Arab-Muslim" slave trade was more terrible than the other forms of trade in human beings.

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Crime against humanity: 29 million people were exported from black Africa as slaves – 12 million by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, 9 million by the trans-Sahara slave trade, and 8 million from the East African coast | N'Diaye also fails to sufficiently explain why he refers to the one side as "Arab-Muslim" and the other not as "European-Christian," but rather as the "trans-Atlantic" slave trade. It is true that Islamic scholars justified the trade in non-believers for centuries. Religious dogma likewise veiled the racist motivation for the kidnapping of black Africans. Muslims and Christian apologists, however, equally referred to Noah's curse upon Ham, offering a misanthropist interpretation that justified a subservient role for black Africans.

If N'Diaye truly wanted to focus on the subject of "Muslim slavery," then he would also have to protest against the practices of the Caliphate of Sokoto in the 19th century. According to Paul Lovejoy, a respected researcher on slavery, this was the "second or third largest slave society in modern history." The Caliphate, which is located in the north of present-day Nigeria, only receives a mention in passing by N'Diaye, probably because he finds it difficult to attribute the atrocities there to the Arabs.

The excessive lifestyle and laziness of the Arabs

Instead, he unremittingly repeats his central accusation. "The Arab Muslims were the most murderous of all those involved in the slave trade," writes N'Diaye, without specifying whether he is referring to the slavery at the court of the Moroccan kings in the 17th century, those forced to tend the fields in Iraq in the 7th century, or the slaves on the plantations of Zanzibar in the 19th century, when the island became the most important exporter of cloves.

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Tidiane N'Diaye: His book was nominated for the Prix Renaudot in 2008 | All three were brutal crimes, but, under closer scrutiny, they shared little in common. Tidiane N'Diaye tends to ignore such historical discontinuities, leaping from region to region and from century to century. What is important to him are the actors. "The duration of the slave trade from the 7th to the 20th century and Arab Muslim slavery in Africa has to do with the traditions of the Arabs themselves, who because of their excessive lifestyle and laziness could not do without the blood and muscle of servants."

By resorting to such culturalistic explanations, N'Diaye completely misses his target. He thereby resorts to means that he elsewhere justifiably condemns. Racism is indeed a great problem in Arab countries, even today. Black Africans are accepted, at best, only in the role of servants in countries like Saudi Arabia, Libya, and even Lebanon. Tidiane N'Diaye therefore demands that the Arab world confront the darkest chapter of its history and come to grips with slavery.

This desire is justified, yet it is highly doubtful whether the publication of a pamphlet loaded with prejudices and full of historical inaccuracies will help the situation.

Moritz Behrendt

© Qantara.de 2010

Translated from the German by John Bergeron

Tidiane N'Diaye's Le génocide voilé ("The veiled genocide") has not yet been published in English.

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de
http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=478&wc_id=1110

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Asadullah Syed

Fresh Dispute over Islam: Why the German Media are Courting the Anti-Islam Movement

Fresh Dispute over Islam

Why the German Media are Courting the Anti-Islam Movement

If discussions on the cultural pages of German newspapers in spring 2010 were representative of German opinion, then we must assume that around half the German population comprehend Islam as a threat. Does the negative attitude towards Islam testify to vigilance or to prejudice? Stefan Weidner looks into the matter

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"The crucial formulation in the anti-Islamic doctrine is extremely simplistic: Islam was never good, is not good, and cannot be good," writes Stefan Weidner | No matter how coarse and emotional these debates may have been, a glance across Germany's frontiers shows that things could have been much worse. In Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Switzerland the anti-Islamic mood is not only to be felt in newspaper feature supplements, blogs and talk shows; it also influences party politics, election results, and special legislation on Islam. In Germany the political fallout of this debate is astonishingly limited. Udo Ulfkotte's attempt to establish an anti-Islam Party failed.

At present movements hostile to Islam are only being set up at the local level. They emanate an almost pitiable lack of success. Even some of the figureheads of what calls itself criticism of Islam such as Ralph Giordano don't want to have anything to do with them.

No political parties hostile to Islam

Within political elites there exists a consensus that less emphasis should be put on Islam, which should rather be left to conferences and committees of specialists and representatives of particular interests. They realise that there is nothing to be gained by taking action over Islam. One of the reasons is that the conflict over Islam permeates all the political parties. At public discussions in Munich, Cologne, Berlin, and Brussels in recent weeks, opponents of Islam among the audience frequently mentioned their adherence to the established parties so as to not to be seen to be on the wrong side, i.e. the extreme rightist camp.

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Anti-Islamic rally in Cologne, Germany: "In order to seem unassailable, protest has entrenched itself behind monolithic ideological dogmatism," says Weidner | None of these people can be satisfied with their party's policy regarding Islam. That is all the more the case when Islam has taken on the urgency of a matter of survival for many of them. Even if one doesn't share their views, no one will deny that they are serious about them. But it is not possible to foresee how this seriousness might be transformed into concrete political objectives beyond religion-specific discrimination scarcely compatible with a state based on the rule of law.

The fact that despite broad appeal and despite people such as Henryk Broder and Necla Kelek, who could easily play the parts of Geert Wilders and Ayaan Hirsi Ali in Germany, the anti-Islam movement remains without a political foundation may be linked with this lack of implementable visions.

Powerlessness fans the flames of indignation

There is, however, another reason, too. Anti-Islamic protest does not need any political structure. The movement has at its disposal an outlet which provides very much more appropriate expression for rage irrespective of its origin. This is nothing less than the debate about Islam per se. The media, themselves undergoing a profound crisis of orientation, provide a grateful sounding-board for this kind of excitement. They have assumed the function of a lightning-conductor for the uncertainty directed against Islam, which with a bit of luck will continue to spare us an anti-Islam party to the right of the existing political spectrum.

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In Germany the political fallout of the debate on Islam is astonishingly limited: Udo Ulfkotte's attempt to establish an anti-Islam Party failed | So long as the politically impotent anti-Islam movement can be expressed in the media mainstream, its adherents should feel sufficiently represented and taken seriously. The more shrilly and dogmatically protest is able to have its say there, the less it will need to take another form.

Politics retains freedom of action in its dealings with Muslims in accordance with the well-tried principles of the rule of law. The situation is similar in other areas of politics condemned to be the status quo. The legislative outcome of the banking crisis and climate change inversely reflects the passion impelling debates about these issues. Capitalism can no more be abolished than Muslims can be transformed into Christians or spirited out of the country. And of course it is precisely the fact of powerlessness that fans the flames of indignation – whether this be well-founded or not.

Dominance of discourse by the anti-Islam movement

However, it also means that good arguments will achieve nothing here. It is no longer about the issues themselves; there is merely protest for protest's sake. In order to seem unassailable, protest has entrenched itself behind monolithic ideological dogmatism. The crucial formulation in this doctrine is extremely simplistic: Islam was never good, is not good, and cannot be good.

It is precisely the fact of being closed to counter-arguments that constitutes the movement's cult status for many intellectuals and media administrators. They enjoy being allowed at long last to have a clear-cut opinion rather than constantly having to differentiate and twist and turn. This dogmatism only increases when confronted by the opposition still encountered here and there; and if that opposition is well-founded, intransigence turns up the volume and intensifies even further.

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The tragic case of Marwa El-Sherbiny: According to Weidner, the anti-Islam movement in Germany has created an atmosphere that can mediate to any potentially violent anti-Islamic criminal the impression that justice is on his side | It is already the case that the more popular the medium, the more apparent the dominance of discourse by the so-called critics of Islam. Their claim and feeling of being deprived of a platform are not based on any lack of media presence but rather on the aforementioned political ineffectiveness. In that, this movement is similar to its ideological opponents, from whom it has nonetheless copied its most important discussion strategy: criticism of Israel. Even critics of Israel urgently insist that such criticism is not really allowed in Germany. That has always been as nonsensical as the claim that people are not allowed to criticise Islam. But neither criticism of Israel nor disparagement of Islam achieve a sufficient political response. It is the resultant frustration that makes both sides become so shrill.

However, if speaking of 'criticism of Israel' is too sweeping, because the majority of these critics are not concerned with the existence of Israel as such but rather with specific aspects of Israeli policy such as settlement and legal discrimination against Israeli Arabs, then reference to 'criticism of Islam' is even more sweeping. This criticism entails everything and nothing, just as Muslim blanket criticism of the West might. But criticism of Islam that wasn't sweeping would immediately lose its target – how Islam is imagined to be – and thus its capacity to focus diffuse unease, feeding on many sources and almost all political camps.

"No tolerance for the intolerant"

However, if one cannot negotiate with the anti-Islam movement because it lacks any satisfiable political objectives, if one cannot argue with the movement because it doesn't want to know about making distinctions, if one cannot mollify it because the movement wants to enjoy indignation for indignation's sake and castigates any mollification as appeasement, then how should the more thoughtful among our contemporaries behave towards upholders of anti-Islam? Silence and taking the situation for granted are no use if one doesn't want to accept a creeping poisoning of the social climate.

An initial but obvious warning sign, the murder of an Egyptian woman, Marwa El-Sherbiny, by a right-wing extremist in a Dresden courtroom, no longer played any part in recent debates, as if one had nothing to do with the other. In fact they are very probably linked. The anti-Islam movement in Germany has created an atmosphere that can mediate to any potentially violent anti-Islamic criminal the impression that justice is on his side and that he is acting in the name of a majority.

For the moment the only possibility of countering the anti-Islam movement is to adopt one of its strategies. Opponents of Islam preach 'No tolerance for the intolerant'. At present it is to be recommended that we take what they say absolutely literally and do not let them get away with anything whatsoever.

Stefan Weidner

© Goethe-Institute/Fikrun wa Fann

Stefan Weidner is editor-in-chief of Art & Thought/Fikrun wa Fann.

Translated by Tim Nevill

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php?wc_c=476&wc_id=1399

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Asadullah Syed