-Caveat Lector-
http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4291687,00.html
'We will replace the Bible with the Koran in Britain'
Islam and the West: Observer special
Paul Harris and Burhan Wazir in London Jason Burke in Peshawar
Sunday November 4, 2001
The Observer
On a brisk Thursday night outside Finsbury Park Mosque in north
London, Abdul Qassim and his friend Mohamed Salim were talking of
war. They look like typically articulate and casually dressed young
Asians. But they want to fight for the Taliban.
'I'd never have previously considered going off to fight. But this is
serious. Very serious. And something has to be done,' said Qassim.
Qassim, 26, and Salim, 22, are members of al-Muhajiroun, followers of
firebrand Islamist Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohamed. They had gathered at
the mosque along with 50 other young Asian men to hear their leader
speak.
Fiercely uncompromising in their interpretation of Islam, the members
of al-Muhajiroun are dedicated to their faith. But there can be a
price to pay. Last week the group announced the death of at least
three of its British members in Afghanistan. It said they had joined
the Taliban to defend Islam, but were killed by an American bomb.
Qassim and Salim walked into the mosque and began to wash before prayer, removing
their socks and shoes at a sink. Salim looked approvingly at the bearded Bakri,
dressed in white robes and seated by the microphone.
'I have pledged myself to what he says. It's a promise and one that I intend to keep.
I'd do anything he'd ask me to,' he said. The duo listened as Bakri began to condemn,
with characteristic flair, Britain's war against
terrorism.
'The British Government has to be stopped,' said Bakri. 'Blair knows that he is wrong.
And he will pay for it. We will remodel this country in an Islamic image.' Waiting
until his followers stopped giggling at the vision
of an Islamic state of Great Britain, Bakri continued: 'We will replace the Bible with
the Koran.'
Salim leaned inwards, whispering of his intention to fly to Lahore within weeks. 'I
have managed to save some money from my job in a shop and I'll use that to get over
there.' He looked round at Qassim in encouragement. '
You're going to do it as well, aren't you?' he asked. 'I think we should both go and
fight. It's our duty to do it.' He glanced up at Bakri, who was now vociferously
condemning Britain to an internal intifada . 'Christian
s have to learn that they cannot do this to Islam. We will not allow our brothers to
be colonialised. If they try it, Britain will turn into Bosnia.'
Al-Muhajiroun was founded in Jeddah in 1983 by the charismatic, Syrian-born Bakri. It
promises to re-establish 'true' Islam throughout the world to the extent of wiping out
other religious faiths. It is extremely anti-Sem
itic. Bakri, who was expelled from Saudi Arabia and has lived in London since 1986,
calls for young Muslims to take up arms against the opponents of Islam.
The organisation has offices across the developed world - in Kuwait, France, South
Africa, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Syria and Algeria - and regularly asks its
members for donations to fund its work. It funnels its
British supporters to conflicts around the world by providing them with guides and
contacts, but volunteers almost always have to pay their own way. Many commentators
have previously written off Bakri and his tiny band of
followers as an unpleasant joke. Bakri was even the subject of a documentary by the
humorist Jon Ronson. But after the deaths last week, few people now see al-Muhajiroun
as funny. Suddenly it is a threat.
To Al-Muhajiroun, Afzal Munir, Aftab Manzoor and Yasir Khan are martyrs who died
defending their Islamic brothers against an attack by the infidel. They are to be
glorified.
To many Britons, including government politicians, they are traitors, willing to take
up arms to fight the armed forces of the country they grew up in. They are to be
feared.
But to their parents, they were idealistic but perhaps mistaken young men, who gave up
a life of suburban normality to die in a foreign field. They are to be mourned.
For Chudry Manzoor, who last week buried his son in the village of Sakria just outside
Islamabad, it is a tragedy. He had repeatedly warned him about the risks, forbidding
him to fight several times over the past three ye
ars. 'I never wanted him to fight a holy war against anybody,' he said at the burial.
For many, the most shocking thing about the three young men is the suburban normality
of their lives. Chudry Manzoor is a Luton grocer who has lived in Britain for 20 years
and brought Aftab up to be a respectful family m
an. Aftab, 25, had a variety of part-time jobs, including one as a driver. The family
home - like those of the other two dead men - is on a quiet residential backstreet,
leafy and modestly prosperous.
Aftab divided his time between Pakistan, where he had a wife and young daughter, and
Luton, where he had gone to Denbigh High School and took his GCSEs. He worked hard and
sent much of his earnings to Pakistan for his you
ng family. He had left Luton for Pakistan for the last time before the 11 September
attacks. But three weeks ago he telephoned his father and spoke of his plans to join
the Taliban.
Afzal Munir, 25, was also from Luton. He still lived with his father - a builder - and
his mother, three sisters and 11-year-old twin brothers. The crowded family home was
less than a mile from Aftab's house. He was known
as a quiet, friendly young man. He too had gone to a local school, Challney
Secondary, before going on to do A levels at Barnfield College and a computer course
at Luton University. He was a regular mosque goer and atten
ded Friday al-Muhajiroun meetings. But even three weeks ago - when he was still in
Luton - many of his friends had known little of his intentions to head for Afghanistan.
Some did, however. Mohamed Abdullah, 22, said the bombing of Afghanistan had affected
him deeply. 'He may have lived in Luton but he felt the pain of his Muslim brothers
and he wanted to do something about it,' he said. W
hen Munir left for Pakistan he did not even tell his wife where he was going.
The third man in the trio, Yasir Khan, was from the Sussex commuter town of Crawley.
He may have lived across the other side of London from the Luton pair, but Khan
inhabited the same, seemingly quiet, suburban world. He
lived with his mother in a maisonette. He was also a regular worshipper at the local
mosque and had recently helped out with some renovation work. He was a keen cricketer
with the Eagles Cricket Club, whose players come f
rom Asian backgrounds. Three years ago a picture was taken at a club presentation
night. The only hint of Khan's religious conviction was a t-shirt bearing the slogan:
'The Final Revelation, The Final Message, The Final S
ystem, The Final Conquest: Islam.'
Like scores of Crawley residents, Khan worked at Gatwick Airport. He had spent the
last five months as a driver and loader for LSG Sky Chefs but, ironically, lost his
job due to the downturn following the New York attacks
. He had been asked to change his work schedule and refused. He is believed to have
left for Pakistan shortly afterwards. His family insist that he was only on a mission
to carry out aid work.
No one should have been surprised that Luton and Crawley produced Taliban fighters.
Last year a Crawley family went to Pakistan to search for 18-year-old Omar Kyam.
Al-Muhajiroun had sent him to fight in Kashmir. A Briton
jailed in Yemen on bombing charges hailed from Luton. A suicide bomber in Kashmir was
from Birmingham.
Al-Muhajiroun are effective because they exploit a sense of Asian victimisation, a
feeling that - despite their qualifications, jobs and families - Asians will never be
seen as properly British. It is a situation the olde
r generation have tolerated. But young Asians like Manzoor, Munir and Khan, are less
willing to accept the status quo.
'There is a sense that Asians have to be twice as good to be accepted as an equal,
whether in accounting or football,' said Professor Tariq Modood of the University of
Bristol's Ethnicity Research Centre.
That gives al-Muhajiroun an opening. Islam is the answer, they say. The West will not
accept you, therefore reject the West. The Muslim world is where you belong. Come home
to Islam. Come home to Afghanistan.
Near the banks of the River Ravi workers, hawkers and beggars push and shove down
Lahore's traffic-clogged streets. In the din it is difficult to pick out the call to
prayer. But in the plush suburb of Garden City the wai
l of 'Allah-u-Akhbar' can be heard loud and clear. And the men in the al-Muhajiroun
office are listening.
One of their leaders is Hassan Butt, a 21-year-old Luton-born former student. He
helped the three on their move to Afghanistan. Butt has been in Pakistan for the past
eight months. He has been involved in al-Muhajiroun fo
r far longer.
Butt, who grew up in Manchester and has A levels in media studies, computing and
English, has been busy recently. There has been a steady flow of donations, including
a cheque for £6,500 from a British-based doctor, and n
ew people to be processed and sent to war.
Some are from Britain. Abdul Momin, a 25-year-old from east London - where
al-Muhajiroun is known to have recruited among university students - arrived a month
ago. Now the former civil engineer is preparing himself for j
ihad. 'I did not like London because it is spiritually rotten,' he said. 'I want to
live a proper Muslim life.'
Despite the claims of al-Muhajiroun to have recruited up to 600 Britons to fight for
the Taliban, the true numbers are much smaller, perhaps no more than a few dozen.
Spokesmen for several Islamic groups with offices near
to al-Muhajiroun headquarters all said there has been no flood of British volunteers.
But the fact remains that a few are making it through. The Britons killed in Kabul two
weeks ago were with a group of Islamic fighters diverted from the guerrilla war in
Kashmir. It had been simple to join them and head i
nto Afghanistan through the gateway of Peshawar. From there it's a short ride in a
pickup and a few hours' mountain hiking.
The handful of British volunteers for the Taliban are unlikely to have any material
impact on the war in Afghanistan. They are poorly trained, poorly equipped and few in
number. A British deserter last week described the
problems he had faced when he was taken to the front line with other overseas novices
and told to shoot at Northern Alliance soldiers. The result had been a bloody
shoot-out, with the Taliban losing.
But the real danger from the British volunteers lies in the impact they can have on
race relations. That is why the Government has threatened prosecution against any
found to have fought and rumours have circulated about
reviving long-dormant treason laws.
The nightmare scenario would involve British soldiers clashing with British Muslim
volunteers, which experts warn could spark a disastrous breakdown in race relations.
'The ripple effect upon social attitudes, community s
egregation and race gang fights would be enormous, especially as many white people
can't tell who is a Muslim and who just has Asian or Middle Eastern appearance,' said
Modood.
But the divisive impact has already begun. In Luton the vast majority of Muslim
leaders were outright in their condemnation of al-Muhajiroun. The group's leader in
the town, a man known only by the name Shahed, has been f
orced into hiding.
'We cannot allow this generation to fall off our radar and leave them
in the hands of extremist lunatic groups like al-Muhajiroun. That
would be to condemn them to certain death,' said Dr Ghayasuddin
Siddiqui, leader of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain.
Yet many young Muslims may not be listening to their elders any more.
At the Finsbury mosque Mohamed Salim now hears only the words of al-
Muhajiroun. 'It seems to have given me a place in life. I was never
very religious before, until I met someone from al-Muhajiroun. Now I
think of the good of Muslims everywhere in the world.'
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
