Nonie Darwish


On Jihad:

Saudis Fund Balkan Muslims Spreading Hate of the West
Muslims stage a protest against the publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammed. Photograph: The Sunday Times
THE SUNDAY TIMES: SAUDI ARABIA is pouring hundreds of millions of pounds into Islamist groups in the Balkans, some of which spread hatred of the West and recruit fighters for jihad in Afghanistan.

According to officials in Macedonia, Islamic fundamentalism threatens to destabilise the Balkans. Strict Wahhabi and Salafi factions funded by Saudi organisations are clashing with traditionally moderate local Muslim communities.

Fundamentalists have financed the construction of scores of mosques and community centres as well as handing some followers up to £225 a month. They are expected not only to grow beards but also to persuade their wives to wear the niqab, or face veil, a custom virtually unknown in the liberal Islamic tradition of the Balkans.

Government sources in traditionally secular Macedonia (official title the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), said they were monitoring up to 50 Al-Qaeda volunteers recruited to fight in Afghanistan.

Classified documents seen by The Sunday Times reveal that Macedonian officials are also investigating a number of Islamic charities, some in Saudi Arabia, which are active throughout the Balkans and are suspected of spreading extremism and laundering money for terrorist organisations.

One of the groups under scrutiny is the International Islamic Relief Organisation from Saudi Arabia, which is on a United Nations blacklist of organisations backing terrorism. It did not respond to inquiries, but has previously denied involvement in terrorist activities, calling such claims “totally unfounded”.

According to its website, it works in 32 countries to provide relief to the victims of natural disasters and to carry out humanitarian, health and educational projects.

“Hundreds of millions have been poured into Macedonia alone in the past decade and most of it comes from Saudi Arabia,” said a government source. “The Saudis’ main export seems to be ideology, not oil.”

Sulejman Rexhepi, leader of the Islamic community in Macedonia, said a number of mosques had been forcibly taken over by radical groups. Four in central Skopje are no longer under the control of the official Islamic authorities. New imams claim they have been “spontaneously” installed by the “people”.

“Their so-called Wahhabi teachings are completely alien to our traditions and to the essence of Islam, which is a tolerant and inclusive religion,” said Rexhepi. >>> Bojan Pancevski in Skopje | Sunday, March 28, 2010

Matt Frei's Diary: Dangerous Minds
BBC: The Virginia Five, currently imprisoned in Pakistan, the Nigerian "underpants bomber" whose name everyone - including President Obama - is stumbling over; the Jordanian doctor who turned out to be a double agent with a suicide vest in a CIA compound in Afghanistan; what do they all have in common apart from a profound hatred of America and its allies?

They are all the products of relative prosperity and higher education. After all, Osama Bin Laden and his deputy also came from a privileged background.

None of the recent suspects are high school drop-outs or desperate refugees who have nurtured hatred of the West in the frayed lining of an empty stomach.

None have had to watch relatives die in stray American bomb attacks. They have all had a lot to lose and yet they were prepared to lose their own lives for a cause.

So, what makes the 23-year-old son of a prominent Nigerian banker pack his underpants with explosives in pursuit of martyrdom? >>> Matt Frei, BBC News, Washington | Thursday, January 07, 2010

Can Barack Obama's Soothing Rhetoric Douse the Muslim Militants' Flames?
THE TELEGRAPH: The President's plea for a new beginning will face formidable obstacles, says Con Coughlin

Metrosexual Barack Obama in Egypt. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
Short of declaring his intention to convert to Islam, it is difficult to imagine what more Barack Obama might have said during his speech yesterday to demonstrate his seriousness about healing the poisonous rift between the West and the Muslim world.

After invoking the traditional Muslim welcome – "Assalaamu alaykum" or "Peace be upon you" – the President proceeded to explain how, despite his being raised a Christian, his father's family came from generations of Muslims. He acknowledged the enormous debt Western civilisation owes to Islam, from the development of algebra to the elegant refinement of calligraphy, and stressed the Islamic faith's espousal of religious tolerance and racial equality. He reminded his audience at Cairo University that John Adams, one of America's founding fathers, wrote that "the United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquillity of Muslims".

Regarding the more contemporary conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the President articulated a very different set of objectives to those of the previous administration, which had regarded the forceful transformation of Iraq from Ba'athist dictatorship to Western-style democracy as a template to be replicated throughout the Muslim world. Mr Obama has no desire for American troops to be kept abroad a day longer than necessary. While conceding that Iraq was a far better place without Saddam Hussein – an admission he struggled to make during last year's presidential campaign – the president made it clear that he wants to leave Iraq to the Iraqis, and has no desire to establish a permanent presence in Afghanistan.

By any test, Mr Obama's attempt to reverse decades of mounting contempt, anger and violence within the Muslim world towards the West left no stone unturned. It was a skilful attempt to persuade his sceptical audience that America is not, and never will be, at war with Islam. But try telling that to the mullahs in Iran, or the leadership of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, or the millions of other Muslims who have no desire to be dissuaded from their visceral hatred of the West and all that it stands for. >>> By Con Coughlin | Thursday, June 04, 2009