Read American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us Online
Authors: Steven Emerson
Tags: #Politics, #Non-Fiction
American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us (18 page)
Elsewhere, AIG supported the Chechens in their war against the Russians. During the war in 1995, AIG published appeals from the Islamist Chechen president, Dzhokar Dudayev, for 10,000 Muslims to join the war against Russian troops.
11
Likewise, AIG published statements from
Harakat Al Jihad Al Islami Al Eretri
(the Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement) claiming responsibility for ambushes, assassinations, and a number of antigovernment military operations in Eritrea.
12
Members of the Eritrean Islamic Jihad are reported to have been trained by Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda organization.
13
Perhaps most troubling of all was the AIG’s endorsement of the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights (CDLR), a militant fundamentalist Saudi opposition group devoted to overthrowing the current Islamic regime in Saudi Arabia. CDLR is extremely radical in its views. In an interview in 1996, CDLR spokesman Mohammad al-Mas’ari said “the battle against the Jews is a specific obligation on all Muslims until they annihilate them and drive them out of Palestine…they must be fought until they are exterminated.”
14
In the April/May 1994
Islam Report,
AIG stated, “The American Islamic Group urges every good Muslim to support his brother at CDLR, and provide them all the help necessary in the accomplishment of their just cause [i.e., the overthrow of the government of Saudi Arabia]. AIG announces that it is putting all its resources and strength in supporting our brothers Drs. al-Mas’ari and al-Faqih at CDLR.” Two years later, on March 18, 1996, the sentiment was repeated: “The American Islamic Group salutes with brotherhood and love their brothers Dr. Mohammad al-Mas’ari and Dr. Ad’ad al-Faqeeh for their courageous stands in the fact of this test and we are very pleased that the enemies of Allah failed to destroy the righteous Islamic movement for reform in the land of Islam…the American Islamic Group is behind you both.”
The head of the American Islamic Group (AIG) in the United States was Kifah W. Jayyousi. Jayyousi lived in the San Diego area until approximately 1996 or 1997, at which time he relocated to Detroit.
15
In July 1999 Jayyousi was hired as the District of Columbia School Systems facilities director.
16
He left that position in April 2001.
During the 1990s, one little-known West Coast organization spread the call of Islamic extremism by means of publications and videos. The Islamic Cultural Workshop (ICW) was based in Walnut, California from as early as 1992 to as recently as 1999. Today it appears to be largely inactive. Its primary publications were a bi-monthly newsletter named
Khalif’ornia
—a juxtaposition of the words “Khilifah” or Islamic State (sometimes Anglicized as “caliphate”) and “California”—and a quarterly magazine named the
Khalif’ornia Journal.
The ICW set up booths at various Islamic conferences throughout the United States where they sold both publications, in addition to books and videos espousing the views of its Middle Eastern parent organization, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, or the Party of Liberation. At the 1998 conference of the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA), for example, the ICW was busy hawking a book by the founder of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Taqiuddin an-Nabhani, entitled
The Islamic State.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir was founded in Jerusalem in 1953, by Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabhani, a Jordanian who studied theology at Egypt’s Al Azhar University. The philosophy of Hizb-ut-Tahrir is simple and extremely militant: “Muslims nowadays live in Dar al-Kufr [the World of Infidels].”
17
To Hizb-ut-Tahrir, this situation is intolerable—the only solution to the problem is for Muslims to reestablish the
Khilafah,
or Islamic State.
18
Toward that end, the organization has been implicated in attempted or planned acts of terrorism in the 1980s and 1990s.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir is striving to “resume the Islamic way of life and to convey the Islamic
da‘wa
[message] to the world…. It also aims to bring back the Islamic guidance for mankind and to lead the
Ummah
[Islamic community] into a struggle with
Kufr
[infidels], its systems and its thoughts so that Islam encapsulates the world.”
19
According to Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the
Khilafah,
or Islamic State, does not currently exist anywhere in the world. Iran and Sudan do not qualify; the
Khilafah
is one large Islamic State, ruled by a single leader (called a ‘Caliph’)
without
national boundaries.
Theoretically speaking, the
Khilafah
would be governed solely by Islamic law; it would be neither liberal nor democratic. Hizb-ut-Tahrir makes it clear what this society would be like when it states that “The four common ‘freedoms’ [belief, speech, ownership of capital, and personal freedom] are in conflict with the laws of Islam.”
20
To Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the
Khilafah
is not something that is optional. It is commanded by Islam, as Muhammad said: “‘Whosoever dies without having a
bay’ah
[pledge of allegiance] to the
Khilafah
[Islamic State] upon his neck, dies a death of
jahiliyyah
[ignorance]’…a failure to observe this duty is a negligence of one of the most important commands of Islam.”
21
Taqiuddin an-Nabhani had a very clear vision of what had to be accomplished in order to realize the goal of
Khilafah.
As in 7th-century Mecca when the survival of the fledgling Islamic community depended on individual sacrifice and total submission to Allah, the realization of
Khilafah,
for an-Nabhani, will be based on the degree to which the Muslim community is willing to sacrifice. The endeavor will fail without jihad [holy war]. In his book
Islamic Concepts,
an-Nabhani maintained that “[J]ihad is the established method (which is unchangeable) for spreading Islam.” For an-Nabhani, there was no alternative but jihad: “Jihad is to call to Islam and to fight for the sake of Allah…. Jihad
is fard
[compulsory].”
22
When the Muslims get the upper hand, according to an-Nabhani, the Koran will dictate the course of events: “…if the enemies from the
kafireen
[infidels] are encircled then they will be invited to Islam…. If they rejected Islam, then
Jiziya
[tribute] would be demanded from them…if the enemy rejected Islam and rejected paying the
jiziya
then it is
Halal
[permissible] to fight against them.”
23
Since its inception, Hizb-ut-Tahrir has been based primarily in Jordan and Lebanon. It has existed in relative obscurity except for a brief few moments: in 1981, members of the organization staged a failed assault on the military academy in Alexandria, Egypt; in 1988, group members attempted a coup d’etat in Tunisia; and in 1993 members were accused of plotting to overthrow King Hussein of Jordan.
24
Consistent with its support for terrorists, in 1988, Hizb-ut-Tahrir published a treatise entitled “The Islamic Rule on Hijacking Aeroplanes,” which sanctioned the hijacking of aircraft of countries considered to be against Muslims. Needless to say, according to Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the United States qualifies as an enemy of Islam: “The system of Islam is the only real threat that America faces, and the [American] conspiracy to destroy Islam is proof of that threat. As Muslims we should realize that only we as an
Ummah
[community] have the potential to not only counter the American plans, but also to take Islam to the rest of the world.”
25
For the ICW,
Khalif’ornia
and the
Khalif’ornia Journal
provided a forum for the dissemination of the ideology of Hizb ut-Tahrir within the United States. As stated in the
Khalif’ornia Journal,
“Hizb ut-Tahrir is the first Islamic Movement since the demise of the Islamic State that is seriously willing to enter society.”
26
In editions of the
Khalif’ornia Journal
from January 1996 through June 1997, “A Draft Constitution of the Islamic State,” a document prepared by Hizb-ut-Tahrir was published in its entirety.
Regarding what they referred to as the “butcherization from the Muslims in Bosnia,” the pages of
Khalif’ornia
stated, “Help them by not carrying candles [in peaceful vigils]. Muslims need swords, not candles!”
27
Against whom these swords might be used was further explained: “The
Khilafah
would regard states with imperialistic motives, such as the United States, Britain, and Russia, as belligerent and potential enemies of war…. [S]tates such as Israel…would be regarded as actual enemies of war.”
28
In another article entitled “Qaid’a: A Legal Principle,” the use of weapons in Islam is explained: “Use of Swords is permissible in Islam, however, what Islam restricts is the way it is utilized…. [T]he act of using a sword in Jihad is rewarded.”
29
Not surprisingly, the Islamic Cultural Workshop was violently opposed to the Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements: “All the current peace treaties with Israel [are forbidden]…. The treaties are an oppressively clear infringement upon the rights and interests of Muslims. They also run against the interests of Islam and the goals of the foreign policy in Islam.”
30
The absolute goal of the Islamic Cultural Workshop, the re-establishment of the Islamic State, requires combat with all infidel Jewish and Christian societies. What the establishment of this Islamic State means to those in the West is a repeat of the history of the Islamic State, i.e., “the Islamic State carried Islam to the world through
da‘wa
[propagation] and jihad to expand the horizons of Islamic rule.”
31
CAIR is the most prominent of the Muslim organizations concerned with “civil rights.” In its charter, CAIR stated it would “promote interest and understanding among the general public with regards to Islam and Muslims in North America and conduct educational services in the fields of religion, culture, education, society and history concerning Islamic issues both in the United States and abroad.” The organization generally purports to represent the Muslim viewpoint in America.
Founded in 1994, CAIR is an outgrowth of the Islamic Association of Palestine. In 1994, then-IAP president Omar Ahmad approached Nihad Awad, IAP’s public relations director, and “suggested that they leave the IAP and concentrate on combating anti-Muslim discrimination nationwide.”
32
When the organization was incorporated, the three individuals involved were Awad, Ahmad, and Rafiq Jaber who served as Ahmad’s successor to the position of president of the IAP.
CAIR takes the public position that it condemns terror. Shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, the organization took out a full-page advertisement in
The Washington Post
stating: “We at the Council on American Islamic Relations, along with the entire American Muslim Community, are deeply saddened by the massive loss of life resulting from the tragic events of September 11th. American Muslims unequivocally condemn these vicious and cowardly acts of terrorism…. We join all Americans in calling for the swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators of these crimes.”
On its Web site, the statement appears as an adjunct to a section labeled “Passenger Profiling,” in which American Muslims are invited to submit complaints “if you or someone you know has been a victim.” Another subsection titled “Help for Victims” asks, “What you can do for the victims of the WTC and Pentagon attacks” and allows contributions through both the Red Cross and the Holy Land Foundation.
In fact CAIR has often served as an ideological support group for militants. On May 24, 1998, for example, CAIR cosponsored an incendiary rally at Brooklyn College that featured speakers spouting anti-Jewish rhetoric. One speaker was Wagdy Ghuneim, a radical cleric from Egypt. He told listeners, “Allah says he who equips a warrior of jihad is like the one makes jihad himself.” He led the audience in a song with the lyrics: “No to the Jews, descendants of the apes.”
33
On October 28, 1998, CAIR’s Southern California branch issued a press release to protest the existence of billboards in the Los Angeles area that depicted the visage of Osama bin Laden with the headline “the sworn enemy.” The billboards had been sponsored by the Los Angeles-based KCOP Television, Inc., and were intended “to take recognizable characters and situations that affect people’s lives because they are in the news” (as CAIR put it).
34
The CAIR statement claimed that the billboard was “an insult to the hundreds of thousands of Muslims who live in Southern California.”
35
CAIR has even refused to condemn the Taliban. A conference in Columbus, Ohio, entitled “Leadership Ambassadors, Making a Difference,” featured a seminar led by CAIR’s Director of Communications, Ibrahim Hooper. There, Hooper explained how he preferred to contextualize the regime:
