MPACuk Calls for Jihad, Again
This is a guest post by Alexander Hitchens
On Monday, Asghar Bukhari’s MPACuk ran an article entitled Gaza’s Murderers have Iman, Muslims Don’t. In this piece the author urges Muslims ‘stop being “Muslim” in name…and prove you’re a Muslim by partaking in Jihad’. The reader is told that by only protesting and giving money to Palestinian charities, Muslims are simply not doing enough to help their brothers and sisters in the disputed region and in turn are not fulfilling their Islamic duty. No, they must stop deluding themselves that through prayer and observance of the five pillars of Islam they are properly observing their religion.
Instead it seems that MPAC, with their world renowned theological expertise, assert that the first pillar of Islam, Shahada, is not being properly observed by Muslims unless they fight the Israelis. It must be pointed out that the article does not specify what type of Jihad the author is calling for, rather it has been deliberately left open to be interpreted as either violent or non violent. Although any misunderstanding could easily be avoided by the simple addition of an adjective, the ambiguity is clearly deliberate.
Things become slightly less ambiguous when one takes a look at MPAC’s track record of anti-semitism and justifications for violence. They are singled out in the report of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism for “publishing material on its website promoting the idea of a worldwide Zionist conspiracy, including the reproduction of articles originally published on neo-Nazi and Holocaust Denial websites.” The report also recounts how MPAC launched a campaign to unseat Lorna Fitzsimons, the Labour MP for Rochdale, during the 2005 general election, claiming that because she was Jewish (which she is not), she had no interest in helping the Palestinians. More recently, a Centre for Social Cohesion press release revealed that Asghar Bukhari has been informing Facebook users why terrorism is justifiable in an Islamic context. His comments included:
“Muslims who fight against the occupation of their lands are ‘Mujahadeen’ and are blessed by Allah. And any Muslim who fights against Israel and dies is a martyr and will be granted paradise.”
“The concept of Jihad is a beautiful thing, and logical to those with a sincere heart. It tells the human being to stand up and fight against those who bring evil and oppression on this earth, and by standing up – roll back that oppression until the people are free from it.”
There are a couple of things that are very wrong with Monday’s MPAC article.
First, unless MPAC has secretly hired some real Islamic theologians (I can assure you Asghar Bukhari certainly is not one of these), they cannot be depended upon to provide their readers with accurate interpretations of how to properly observe the five pillars.
Second, and perhaps more important, although most of the readers of this blog would I hope agree that Jihad is not the best answer to the ills of the Muslim world, younger and more impressionable British Muslims may well see MPAC as a very useful portal for finding out about their religion and can be influenced by the hate filled and inflammatory rhetoric coming from this organisation.
This is not helped by that fact that the mainstream media still depicts its founding member, Bukhari, as a voice of moderate British Islam. Surely the time has come for BBC, Sky and other media outlets to take a leaf out of the NUS no platform policy and ban anyone associated with MPAC from appearing on their programs.
Comments
| 7 January 2009, 1:04 pm |
Ummah.com is also drawing up a list of prominent British Jews to be targetted:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2103995.ece
Another moderate group of folks. Being mostly Pakistani exactly why they need to be so concerned about a distant event remains unclear.
| 7 January 2009, 1:08 pm |
Good post, thanks. There is nothing to be done about willing dupes/useful idiots and the like. Peter Barron, editor of BBC Newsnight, recently described Asghar Bukhari as a ‘moderate’. Then he expressed surprise that this ‘moderate’ advocates suicide bombings in Israel (although not in Britain – that would have been a step too far, even for the simpleton of Newsnight).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_4680000/newsid_4686200/4686295.stm
| 7 January 2009, 1:24 pm |
http://redstarcommando.blogspot.com/2009/01/anti-zionism-is-not-anti-semitism.html looks like even the pretence that this isn’t simple jew hatred is slipping
| 7 January 2009, 1:29 pm |
Darren – can I guest post that?
| 7 January 2009, 1:44 pm |
When kinetic jihad comes to the west in a big way then suddenly it will be a problem. Islamic inspired terrorism always suffers from one huge flaw: overreach. It’s not as if the antisemites and antizionists won’t blame the Jews for it when buses are exploding in Trafalgar square on a regular basis, anyway. And since Arab on Arab violence and mayhem always gets a pass from those people, it’s not really a crucial issue of jihadis starting detonating themselves in predominately Muslim areas. I say give the extreme left their head and let’s see what happens. I’ll bring the S’mores we’ll watch it all burn to the ground.
| 7 January 2009, 1:47 pm |
Re: Darren spotting that crusty fellow with the ‘In My Country There is Problem’ Palestinian flag. Can someone really be so thick that they are using a Borat catchphrase to try to make a serious antisemitic point?!
| 7 January 2009, 1:48 pm |
Darren – can I guest post that?
good spot Darren …. that definitely needs posting.
My own favorite is Jew Comes With a Claw.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qgQaz8ANLXA&feature=related
Maybe the Guardian should warn its readers to how protect themseleves from this next threat.
| 7 January 2009, 1:49 pm |
If we assume that the guy in the photo Darren links to actually is making a Borat reference, then surely he’s some sort of infiltrator making a comment on the demonstrators? I mean, would anything else make any sense?
| 7 January 2009, 1:52 pm |
I see that Kool Aid got in there while I was typing….
| 7 January 2009, 1:59 pm |
“Surely the time has come for BBC, Sky and other media outlets to take a leaf out of the NUS no platform policy and ban anyone associated with MPAC from appearing on their programs.”
I’m assuming this is a joke, but the goal shouldn’t be to get the media to act as if they don’t exist. They need to treat them like the vile extremists they are. That would mean they would only get called in when they need someone to speak for vile extremists. As well as less coverage for MPAC, this would have the helpful side-effect of viewers finding out whereabouts MPAC are thought to lie.
| 7 January 2009, 2:23 pm |
“First, unless MPAC has secretly hired some real Islamic theologians (I can assure you Asghar Bukhari certainly is not one of these)”
MPAC doesn’t need to hire any real Islamic theologians, no matter what Bukhari’s status may be. They need only refer to the commands of the Koran, read the example set by Mohammed – the perfect man, the model for all human behaviour – in the Sira and the Hadiths. And if tip-top theologians are required for a bit of help interpreting the holy books, then they go to the writings of the most highly respected luminaries such as al-Banna, Qutb and Qaradawi, for the sunnis; Khomeini for the shiites – and Mawdudi (sunni, but not totally shunned by shiites) – probably the most influential Islamic scholar in the British mosques. They all are in no doubt whatsoever what Muslims should be doing, not only during the present situation, but without ceasing: spreading Islam by any and every possible means. Not one of them would disagree with the Hamas motto: “Allah is our goal; the Prophet our model; the Koran our constitution; jihad our path, and death for the sake of Allah our most earnest desire.”
How many more times does this have to be spelled out?
| 7 January 2009, 2:29 pm |
http://redstarcommando.blogspot.com/2009/01/anti-zionism-is-not-anti-semitism.html looks like even the pretence that this isn’t simple jew hatred is slipping
Surely, I must be missing something here!
| 7 January 2009, 2:38 pm |
ta v m!
| 7 January 2009, 3:15 pm |
The ummah.com poster, saladin1970, can also be found over at MPACUK as saladin1970.5, where I expect he has said much the same thing. Now he wants the MPAC moderators to “check through any posts with the links to the jewish top 100 and make sure there are no illegal threats etc.” What!? The moderators need to be ASKED to do that? He’s been caught out at Ummah, now he’s trying to cover his tracks at MPACUK.
| 7 January 2009, 3:23 pm |
Which is battier: MPACuk’s Calls or Daniel Pipe’s pipe dream? You decide!
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231167283823&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
[….]
Let’s first review what we know does not and cannot work:
• Israeli control. Neither side wishes to continue the situation that began in 1967, when the IDF took control of a population that is religiously, culturally, economically and politically different and hostile.
• A Palestinian state. The 1993 Oslo Accords began this process but a toxic brew of anarchy, ideological extremism, anti-Semitism, jihadism and warlordism led to complete Palestinian failure.
• A binational state: Given the two populations’ strong mutual antipathy, the prospect of a combined Israel-Palestine (what Muammar Gaddafi calls “Israstine”) is as absurd as it seems.
Excluding these three prospects leaves only one practical approach, which worked tolerably well in the period 1948-67: Shared Jordanian-Egyptian rule, with Amman ruling the West Bank and Cairo running Gaza.
[…..]
And while Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak announced a year ago that “Gaza is not part of Egypt, nor will it ever be,” his is hardly the last word. First, Mubarak notwithstanding, Egyptians overwhelmingly want a strong tie to Gaza; Hamas concurs; and Israeli leaders sometimes agree. So the basis for an overhaul in policy exists.
Secondly, Gaza is arguably more a part of Egypt than of “Palestine.” During most of the Islamic period, it was either controlled by Cairo or part of Egypt administratively. Gazan colloquial Arabic is identical to what Egyptians living in Sinai speak. Economically, Gaza has most connections to Egypt. Hamas itself derives from the Muslim Brethren, an Egyptian organization.
Is it time to think of Gazans as Egyptians?
Thirdly, Jerusalem could out-maneuver Mubarak. Were it to announce a date when it ends the provisioning of all water, electricity, food, medicine and other trade, and accepts enhanced Egyptian security in Gaza, Cairo would have to take responsibility for Gaza. Among other advantages, this would make it accountable for Gazan security, finally putting an end to the thousands of Hamas rocket and mortar assaults.
The Jordan-Egypt option quickens no pulses, but that may be its value. It offers a uniquely sober way to solve the “Palestinian problem.”
| 7 January 2009, 5:02 pm |
Daniel Pipes is calling for the assasination of prominent ‘Palestinians’, Rastalion? Really?
| 7 January 2009, 5:02 pm |
| 7 January 2009, 5:06 pm |
Maggot, have you got a reading age of a 5year old or something?
| 7 January 2009, 5:38 pm |
The ummah.com poster, saladin1970, can also be found over at MPACUK as saladin1970.5, where I expect he has said much the same thing. Now he wants the MPAC moderators to “check through any posts with the links to the jewish top 100 and make sure there are no illegal threats etc.” What!? The moderators need to be ASKED to do that? He’s been caught out at Ummah, now he’s trying to cover his tracks at MPACUK.
I’ve been aware of this Saladin chap for quite some time. I used to debate with him (he’s always been a supporter of suicide bombings against Israelis) on The Independent Argument forum (which was actually hosted by Delphi Forums) although The Independent has long since shut it down. On another of Delphi’s forums Saladin started a thread stating that Harold Shipman was Jewish and that the MSM were trying to cover it up. He backed up his claim with a link to Shipman’s Wikipedia entry which did indeed state that Shipman was born into a Jewish family. Only problem was that it was Saladin himself who had changed the Wikipedia page to falsify Shipman’s origins. In the end Wiki banned his IP address – which from memory was a proxy one.
Saladin himself still appears on this Delphi Forum, which is hosted by an American woman of American Indian descent. One of the forums regular contributors is a high ranking Israeli army officer who’s moniker is Bm – well worth a read.
Btw Saladin claims to be of Turkish origin now residing in London.
| 7 January 2009, 5:42 pm |
Go back to the ovens
But as the protest continued and crowds grew, one woman in a hijab began to shout curses and slurs that shocked Jewish activists in the city, which has a sizable Jewish population.
“Go back to the oven,” she shouted, calling for the counter-protesters to die in the manner that the Nazis used to exterminate Jews during the Holocaust.
“You need a big oven, that’s what you need,” she yelled.
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,477450,00.html
| 7 January 2009, 5:49 pm |
She is an idiot or worse an ignoramus!
| 7 January 2009, 6:17 pm |
Don’t worry, Jihad is just a ‘peaceful inner struggle’, or so I’ve been informed. The worst that can happen is a headache or a pair of shitty drawers for the person conducting their Jihad.
| 7 January 2009, 6:56 pm |
Rastalion, what’s your objection to going back to the way it was before the occupation? I thought that’s what you wanted.
| 7 January 2009, 9:24 pm |
Rastalion, what’s your objection to going back to the way it was before the occupation? I thought that’s what you wanted.
And how did you reach that conclusion, Mark?
| 7 January 2009, 9:29 pm |
Well, if Israeli occupation is causing all the trouble, returning to the previous situation would appear to be a good idea, don’t you think? Certainly not something one would compare with calls for Jihad.
| 8 January 2009, 5:41 am |
9853.1
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053520.html
Report: Islamist site compiling list of U.K. Jews to target over Gaza op
By Haaretz Service
Tags: Amy Winehouse, Gaza
An Islamic extremist Web site is believed to be drawing up a list of prominent British Jews to target over Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza, The Sun reported on Wednesday.
According to the British newspaper, Amy Winehouse record producer Mark Ronson and Foreign Secretary David Miliband were among names discussed on the online forum Ummah.
The report came as a British Jewish watchdog group, the Community Security Trust, said there has been a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Britain since the upsurge of hostilities in Gaza.
The British daily quoted the Ummah site as saying, “Saladin1970″ asks for help compiling “a list of those who support Israel.”
“Abuislam” asks: “Have we got a list of top Jews we can target? Can someone post names and addresses?”
Tony Blair’s Middle East envoy and tennis partner Lord Levy, TV’s The Apprentice boss Sir Alan Sugar and Princess Diana’s divorce lawyer Anthony Julius were also reportedly among those mentioned on the site.
| 8 January 2009, 3:14 pm |
Well, if Israeli occupation is causing all the trouble, returning to the previous situation would appear to be a good idea, don’t you think?
I suppose that depends on how far back [or to what previous situation] you would want to return to, doesn’t it?
| 8 January 2009, 4:01 pm |
“mental and political jihad”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231167317200&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
[....]
The protest ended when the commander of the country’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohammad Ali Jafari, sent a letter asking them to end the demonstration and calling for a “mental and political jihad” against the enemy.
| 8 January 2009, 9:23 pm |
That’s avoiding the issue, rasta.
1. If Israeli occupation is the problem, what’s your objection to returning to the previous situation? Unless you are thinking of bringing back the mandate or Ottoman rule, 48-67 is what you’ve got.
2. Do you really think that the article you quoted is on par with calling to kill Jews worldwide?
| 9 January 2009, 10:20 pm |
Asghar Bukhari:
“The concept of Jihad is a beautiful thing, and logical to those with a sincere heart. It tells the human being to stand up and fight against those who bring evil and oppression on this earth, and by standing up – roll back that oppression until the people are free from it.”
What’s he got to say about Domestic Violence, Forced Marriages and peasant Patriarchy in general?
Well after reading the MPAC piece it certainly looks as if Bukhari is a couple of pillars short of a full set – uncannily however this is what he is complaining about.