UAE Friday sermons in English

Ahmed Al Majaida , Khaleej Times, Friday sermons in English soon in mosques, 25 Oct 2010

"In an unprecedented move Islamic scholars has suggested English Friday sermons for certain mosques, along with the reduction in the time gap between prayer call and the actual prayer in certain mosques.

"The committee has also decided to install LCD screens at the pulpit for Imams to read out the sermons from, rather than using paper ...

" ... Asad Rifaat, a non-Arabic Moroccan, seemed impressed with the decision to have English Friday sermons. “I think it’s necessary, because Islam is not regional, it’s global. Faith should extend beyond language, since most expats here speak English, this will be a beautiful way of extending Islam and making it more relevant for non-Arabic 
speakers.”"

It'll be interesting to see if they start streaming these sermons as well.

Gadahn video released

AP, American al-Qaida spokesman urges attacks in US, 24 Oct 2010 "A U.S.-born spokesman for al-Qaida on Saturday urged Muslims living in the United States and Europe to carry out attacks there, calling it a duty and an obligation. In a 48-minute video posted on militant websites, Adam Gadahn directed his appeal to Muslim immigrants in what he called the "miserable suburbs" of Paris, London and Detroit, as well as those traveling to the West to study or work."

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Akhtar Jamal, Afghan Taliban rejects peace talks, 25 Oct 2010 "In an electronic interview sent via internet, Maulavi Abdul Kabir, member of the “Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” said that the peace council (established by President Karzai) “consists of people who practically support the Americans, though they claim being Jihadic figures and leaders.” He said that “by siding with the American invaders, they (council members) have forfeited their credibility in the eyes of the Afghans.”"

'What Jihadists Talk About Online' article

Amarnath Amarasingam, huffingtonpost.com, What Jihadists Talk About Online, 22 Oct 2010 "As jihadists talk to each other online, create common goals and rail against common enemies, we would do well to listen in. Learning more about how they articulate their various grievances with the West is integral for devising better strategies in counter-radicalization." Overview from a PhD student, referencing Marc Sageman's work, and the Quilliam Foundation's recent report.

Afghanistan net crackdown

Reuters, Afghan Journal, Afghanistan cracks down on Internet cafes for allowing porn, 24 Oct 2010 "Seventeen internet cafes have been shutdown in the Afghan capital Kabul, for allowing their clients to surf porn websites and access other unspecified “un-Islamic websites”, the local Pajhwok news agency reported."

Also see Muhammad Hassan Khitab, pajhwok.com, ATRA shuts down 17 net cafes in Kabul, 18 Oct 2010"The net cafes had been warned last week not to allow customers to look at porn or other un-Islamic websites in their venues or face action, Muhammad Ibrahim Abbasi, a member of Afghan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ATRA), said."

al-Awlaki on YouTube

MyFox New York, Weiner Wants Terrorist Videos Off Youtube, 24 Oct 2010, "Representative Anthony Weiner(D-Queens and Brooklyn) says that videos by wanted terrorists can be found in the same place as videos by Lady GaGa - and he called for their removal from Youtube on Sunday.

"In a letter to Youtube CEO Chad Hurley, Weiner called for the removal of videos featuring Anwar al-Awlaki, dubbed the "Bin Laden of the Internet," whose videos aim to find new recruits and promote radical Islamic extremism and violent jihad against Americans."

Greek Muslims and the net

Today's Zaman, Greek Muslims, 24 Oct 2010

"Another person with great knowledge and authority when it comes to questions about the state of Muslims in Athens is Ahmed Eldin. Eldin is best known for his website that has videos of questions and answers about Islam. He takes and answers questions about many topics over the Internet. The bulk of the questions received by Eldin are from young Greeks. He spoke of the new mosque for Athens, noting that it is quite necessary, but that it should not mean that the smaller mescids that have cropped up around the city are closed down. He notes that there are now Muslims in every corner of Athens and that they cannot all go to the same place when it is time for prayer."

Book review: 'Talking to the Enemy'

Jason Burke, Observer, Talking to the Enemy by Scott Atran, 24 Oct 2010 "Rather than being brainwashed by militant recruiters, terrorists tend to be ordinary people driven by their peer group, argues anthropologist Scott Atran."

Useful review for those interested in the 'radicalization' process and related theories.

Details: Scott Atran, Talking to the Enemy: Faith, Brotherhood, and the (Un)Making of Terrorists, (London: Allen Lane)

Looks like it is in hardback only at present in the UK ...

The Islamosphere

Mustafa Stefan Dill, Reclaiming The Perceptions Of Muslims, pt. 1 – Be A Citizen, 19 Oct 2010 "Go visit some other part of the internet. Take a long hiatus from blogging about Muslim issues that — let’s be real here and call a spade a spade — are pretty much only read and discussed by other Muslim bloggers blogging about Muslim issues. I’m not saying that kind of exchange shouldn’t happen, of course it should. I love the Islamosphere and we need that internal discourse, but we need to shake any delusions about the Islamosphere’s true external reach and influence on non-Muslims. There are ways to improve that reach that I’ll address later in this series, but currently that reach is not much at all."

Abdelhamid Abu Zeid

Edward Cody, Washington Post, 'Emir of the south' Abu Zeid poised to take over al-Qaeda in NW Africa, 20 Oct 2010 includes net ref "For many Europeans, Islamic terrorism has a new face: Abdelhamid Abu Zeid, the "emir of the south." "

South-east Asia and the web

Ben Doherty, Guardian, Silence of the dissenters: How south-east Asia keeps web users in line, 21 Oct 2010 features an interactive map, with links to Malaysia issues.

'North Caucasus Jihadists'

Murad Batal al-Shishani, The New Ideologues of the North Caucasus Jihadists, Terrorism Monitor Volume: 8 Issue: 38, October 21, 2010 "The movement’s links with the global jihad, particularly on the propaganda level, are also increasing. Lately the interest shown by jihadist web forums in North Caucasus developments has been growing and they are reaching out to both Russian and Arabic speaking audiences by including pages in the Russian language to disseminate jihadist materials. On August 28, jihadist web forums released a new documentary-style video entitled "The Caucasus: 50 years," stating that jihad against Russia will last as long as 50 years, as the late Amir Ibn al-Khattab predicted. [2] The Arabic-language video is reminiscent of propaganda videos that jihadists used to release in order to mobilize young Arabs after the Second Chechen War erupted in 1999."

[2] refers to a Global Islamic Media Front video. See article for link.

KSA media market

Reuters.com, Telcos scramble for piece of booming Saudi market, 20 Oct 2010 "With a population of 29 million and a per capita income of $16,000, the world's largest oil-exporter dwarfs the small states on its periphery, and its rigid social system makes the allure of phone or internet connectivity all the more powerful."

Zachary Adam Chesser

Spencer Ackerman, Wired, South Park-Hatin’ Internet Jihadi to Plead Guilty, 20 Oct 2010 "Matt Parker and Trey Stone can exhale now. Zachary Adam Chesser, the 20-year old who threatened the two South Park creators online for depicting the prophet Muhammad in a bear costume, will plead guilty to supporting terrorism this afternoon in a Virginia court."

RevolutionMuslim.com

Dina Temple-Raston, NPR, 'Revolution Muslim' A Gateway For Would-Be Jihadis, 13 Oct 2010 "Revolution Muslim has its own gossamer connections to terrorism. A list of its recent members reads like a who's who of American homegrown terrorism suspects. One has been arrested for wanting to launch an attack on the Long Island Rail Road for al-Qaida; three others were intercepted getting on flights to join a terrorist group in Somalia. An editor believed to be behind an online magazine for al-Qaida's arm in Yemen was a regular in Revolution Muslim chat rooms, as was Jihad Jane, the Philadelphia woman arrested last year for plotting to kill a Danish cartoonist." Audio and transcript available.

I've posted links to related reports below. All are worth listening to. I've written about many of these elements in iMuslims and elsewhere.

Adam Gadahn and Anwar al-Awlaki

Dina Temple-Raston, NPR, Two Americans Become Al-Qaida Media Strategists, 14 Oct 2010 "There are a lot of different ways of promoting the terrorist message, but few people have been as successful at doing so as Americans Adam Gadahn and Anwar al-Awlaki." Audio and transcript available.

Inspire 2 - follow-up

Following on from the online publication of issue 2 of 'Inspire' (previously posted):

Dina Temple-Raston, NPR, American Editor Brings U.S. Savvy To Jihad Outreach, 12 Oct 2010 "A new issue of the online magazine Inspire — from the Yemeni group al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula — has some alarming advice for would-be terrorists: Open fire on lunch-hour crowds in Washington, D.C., to "knock out a few government employees." Audio and transcript available.

Thomas Hegghammer, Jihadica, Inspire 2, 12 Oct 2010 On the contents of Inspire 2:

"Perhaps most interesting are the advice on how to avoid detection:

* Do not travel abroad for jihad – act on US soil instead.
* Do not use mobile phones and the Internet for any jihad-related communication – if you have to, use coded language and encryption tools.
* If you are clean stay clean – do not interact with other activists.
* Do not access jihadi websites – get your jihadi propaganda fix from anti-jihadi monitoring sites such as MEMRI and SITE."

The last point is interesting. If there were plans of potential jihadis to do that, for some content on MEMRI and SITE, subscriptions are necessary ...

Steven Stalinsky, MEMRI, Second Issue of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) 'Inspire' Magazine: A General Review, 13 Oct 2010 "It should be noted that within hours of its release, this edition of Inspire was posted on the major social media outlets YouTube and Facebook, and was made available for download to Amazon's Kindle and to Daisy and DjVu."

Shuaib M. al-Mosawa, Yemen Observer, AQAP releases new issue of Inspire, pictures of Abyan attacks, 16 Oct 2010 "Written in near perfect English, the 74 page long document includes photos of AQAP fighting Yemeni security forces in Abyan, a guide to “mowing” down civilians with large trucks, and an essay written by American born Samir Khan, now residing somewhere in the Yemeni countryside."

Lynne Nahhas, AFP, Al-Qaeda reaches out armed with English, Internet, 18 Oct 2010 "Philip Seib, a professor at the University of Southern California and co-author of "Global Terrorism and New Media," believes the terror network has itself become a media organisation.

"It might be time to stop thinking of Al-Qaeda as the terrorist organisation that does media and more as the media organisation that does terror," Seib said."

Richard Spencer, Telegraph, Al-Qaeda magazine teaches how to kill Americans, 12 Oct 2010 "It seems to confirm that al-Qaeda operations are being hampered by better intelligence and drone attacks on its bases in Pakistan and Yemen. Last month, a "Mumbai-style" attack on European cities was uncovered by a combined operation involving US, UK, French and German intelligence agencies."

Y. Carmon and H. Migron, MEMRI, New Trend in Al-Qaeda's Recruitment Efforts: American Muslims Should Carry the Burden of Jihad in U.S. "The new trend of addressing Americans is reflected in the call made on Islamist websites to circulate the Inspire magazine on various English-language websites – not only on jihadist sites but on general ones, such as sports sites. The trend is also reflected in the statement that "the target audience" of Inspire magazine is "non-Arab Muslims" (meaning English-speaking Muslims of all nationalities)."

It's also worth listening again to the NPR piece broadcast in July on issue 1, which is still relevant:

Dina Temple-Raston, Al-Qaida Magazine Draws Attention, But Few Fans, 19 Jul 2010 "Yet for all of the attention the magazine has received in the Western media, it hasn't seemed to get much traction with the very audience it is supposed to attract: aspiring violent jihadists."

I will be writing about 'Inspire' 2 in due course. It's easy to locate a copy online. I haven't read it all yet ...

Shumukh Al-Islam

The MEMRI Blog, Jihadists "Brainstorm" On How To Repeat 9/11 Attacks: Hijacking Airplanes, Targeting Football Stadium And Skyscraper, 18 Oct 2010 "On October 18, 2010, a member on the Shumukh Al-Islam jihadi web forum posted a topic titled "The Easiest Way to Execute an Attack Similar to 9/11.""

Subscription to JTTM required to read full post.

Inspire 2

globaljihad.net, New edition of 'Inspire', jihadi magazine published "The second edition of the Jihadi internet INSPIRE MAGAZINE was posted by Sada al-Malahim media branch in the web, on Monday 10/11/2010, the eve of the tenth anniversary of the USS Cole attack."

“Wordling”

Jarret Brachman, “Wordling” Our Way Through Al-Qaida Texts, 18 Oct 2010 "Here’s a fun little non-scientific experiment. Below, you’ll find a visualized comparison of a recent article from Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki in Inspire 2 with a recent text from Sheikh Abu Yahya al-Libi and a recent transcript of an Ayman al-Zawahiri video using something called “Wordle.”"

If you have some spare time, this is an interesting diversion!

This is the wordle for this blog (current page):

wordle for virtuallyislamic.blogspot.com 19.10.10