Watch the most iconic Arab Vine moments as Twitter axes app

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Long Story Short: Islam

aq 9-11 Video

AFP, Al-Qaeda releases 9/11 anniversary video, 13 Sep 2011 "Al-Qaeda has released a video marking the anniversary of 9/11 which includes a message from its slain leader Osama bin Laden to the American people, monitoring group SITE Intelligence said Tuesday."

Ayman al-Zawahiri

Brian Ross, ABC News, Al Qaeda Deputy Surfaces: New Terror Leader?, 8 Jun 2011

"Appearing to assume the role as the new leader of al Qaeda, the former number two Ayman al-Zawahiri vowed to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden "blood for blood" in another day like 9/11, in a video posted on the internet Wednesday morning."

Adam Gadahn

ABC News, New Al Qaeda Video: American Muslims Should Buy Guns, Start Shooting People, 3 Jun 2011 "In a new video message released on the internet Friday, American-born al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn calls on Muslims living in America to carry out deadly one-man terrorist acts using fully automatic weapons purchased at gun shows, and to target major institutions and public figures."

Video praising 'British Al Qaeda martyr' raises fears over fresh terror attack in UK

Video praising 'British Al Qaeda martyr' raises fears over fresh terror attack in UK | Mail Online, 2 Mar 2011 "A British Muslim has apparently been filmed alongside Al Qaeda fighters in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area for the first time." I have yet to view this video.

Video: "Muslim resistance: The struggle within"

Guardian, Muslim resistance: The struggle within, 17 Jan 2011 "videoDocumentary maker Masood Khan explores the Muslim community's struggle against extremism. In the first of three videos, he goes to Luton to see how Salafi Muslims are rejecting the extreme rhetoric of al-Muhajiroun."

I've yet to see this, or others in the series:

Zoofs

arabcrunch.com, Jordanian Founders of Twitter’s Arabic Clone Launch Zoofs: Most Tweeted Youtube Videos eMagazine Site, 2 May 2010, Kareem Arafat and his friends at tootcorp, the mother company that launched around 2 years ago WatWet,Twitter’s Arabic clone- has launched a new online project this time around Twitter it self.

'Taliban flogging video'

Alex Rodriguez, LA Times, 'Taliban flogging video may show different girl, but message is the same: The Taliban did beat Chand Bibi publicly, and whether or not her ordeal was the one shown in a notorious video, the footage awakened Pakistan to the extent of the militant group’s reach', 29 Apr 2010.

"That video, made famous in the age of YouTube and cellphone downloads, stunned the country and gave the world a disturbing view of the plight of Pakistanis trapped in Taliban-controlled regions such as the Swat Valley.

"Did the video show another flogging, or was it even staged? And if so, does it matter?"

Hamas video of Gilad Schalit

Ben Hubbard, AP, Hamas releases cartoon about captured Israeli, 25 Apr 2010 "Hamas released an animated film Sunday bearing a grisly message for Israel: If it doesn't meet the Islamic militant group's demands, an Israeli soldier it has held for nearly four years could return home in a coffin.

"The short but sophisticated cartoon - which depicts Sgt. Gilad Schalit's aging father wandering empty streets with a picture of his son and ends with the words "There is still hope" - is the latest product of Hamas' growing media machine."

Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post, Analysis: Hamas’s Schalit film – cynical and smart, 26 Apr 2010 "While the movie is hard to watch, it does accurately show how Israeli leaders – including former prime minister Ehud Olmert, opposition leader Tzipi Livni and current Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – have promised to do all they can to secure Schalit’s release. This movie is a reminder of that promise."

aljazeera.com, 3D Hamas Video Shows Shalit in Captivity as Father Ages, 26 Apr 2010 "The Ezzeddine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, published Sunday a computer animated video entitled "The Sentiment in the Zionist Society regarding Shalit," threatening that captured Israeli occupation soldier Gilad Shalit will share the same fate as Ron Arad should not progress be made in talks. Arad is an Israeli pilot who went missing when he flew a mission over southern Lebanon in 1986."

Here's the video:



Also see



Further comment:

BBC News, Israel blasts new Shalit cartoon released by Hamas, 25 Apr 2010 "Noam Shalit called the film "psychological warfare" and urged Hamas to reach a deal with Israel in order to ease an Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has made life hard for Gaza's people.

""Hamas leaders would do better if instead of producing films and performances, they would worry about the real interests of the Palestinian prisoners and the ordinary citizens of Gaza who have been held hostage by their leaders for a long time," he said in a statement."

David Harris, xinhuanet.com, Hamas uses new technique in psychological war with Israel, 26 Apr 2010 "A superbly-made futuristic animated cartoon broadcast by the Islamist Hamas movement on Sunday is creating waves in Israel. It is thought to be the first of its kind from the military wing of Hamas that does not depend on the traditional images of brave Hamas warriors fighting against Israel."

German jihadis

Deutsche Welle, German jihadists targeting NATO troops. 21 Apr 2010 "In a recent Internet video, German jihadists fighting on the side of the Taliban in the Hindukush are seen boasting of attacks on American and Afghan troops."

'Jihadi Cool'

Dina Temple-Raston, NPR, Jihadi Cool: Terrorist Recruiters' Latest Weapon, 26 Mar 2010

"With so many terrorism cases emerging in the U.S. in the past nine months, experts are trying to understand why so much is happening now. One explanation has less to do with religion than with adventure. The latest wave of jihadists traveling to Pakistan and elsewhere for training may have been motivated by a sense of jihadi cool."

I have referred to this concept in iMuslims and elsewhere. The link has audio, transcript and report.

"Al-Qaida Threatens Terror Attacks in Germany after Election"

Yassin Musharbash, Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark, Spiegel, Al-Qaida Threatens Terror Attacks in Germany after Election, 18 Sep 09 "In a new video message, the terrorist network al-Qaida has warned of attacks in Germany during the two weeks after the Sept. 27 election, if there are no signals of a withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan. Authorities are taking the threat seriously and have raised the level of security precautions.

"If the sender of the video released on Friday afternoon was not in all likelihood al-Qaida, it would be difficult to take it seriously: The speaker has dressed for the occasion in an atypical style, in a black suit and blue tie. Standing in front of a red curtain, the Islamist Bekkay Harrach, who is originally from the German city of Bonn, utters his threats. Nothing in the video is reminiscent of the style of previous publications of this kind."

A significant point.

This has been picked up elsewhere:

ABC News, Well-Dressed and Ready to Kill; Face of Terror in Suit and Tie, 21 Sep 09 ""The overt traditional garb and long beard is going to raise a red flag. They are adapting to us reacting, investigating, and prosecuting," said Brad Garrett, former FBI who was involved with terrorism-related investigations for years and is now an ABC News consultant."

Read Jarret Brachman, Bekkay Harrach: Al-Qaida’s Epistemological Ambassador, 19 Sep 09, which looks further into the background of Harrach (who has featured in other videos, although this is the first time in a suit) and makes some interesting points. "What we have here is the most explicit trans-epistemological appeal to Western Muslims from a Western-rooted al-Qaida individual dressed like a Western circus ringmaster (I dont think that’s the image they were shooting for).

"It is their attempt to look, smell, sound and talk like youth in the West albeit they exist on a fundamentally different epistemological plane. He is al-Qaida’s epistemological ambassador."

Amr Khaled > Gummah > Islamic resources

AKI, Egypt: Muslim televangelist uses Youtube to reach the young, "The video-sharing website Youtube is believed to be having a tremendous influence on young Muslims. Egyptian Muslim televangelist and self-professed inspirational speaker Amr Khaled is believed to be among those transforming the popularity of the site."

This article also refers to Gummah:

"Recently, the popular search engine Google had an Islamic variant called Gummah, the name being a play of words "Google" plus the word "Ummah", referring to the Islamic community or nation.

"A search using the word 'sex' in Gummah, takes you to a screen warning: "You may be searching for something that may be contradictory to Islamic laws. Our philosophy is Search-No-Evil, therefore we warn you that bad results may be displayed.""



The search-engine is effective; a search-box from Gummah can be added to sites. There's also a useful news section.

Gummah led me to a couple of other sites of interest:



lilummah offers (according to their blurb) a "parent powered" site:

* "Big collection of videos for kids
* Ability to create your own continuously playing collection
* Add videos from youtube, rate, comment and share them.
* Totally Free and Safe for your kids, all videos are reviewed."

Nice idea. There's a set of clips showing children responding to or reciting the Qur'an. For example, "little child listen to quran" sets the tone. Technically, this has some useful ideas, including the "lights out" on the videos.



Gummah also led me to the beta of Ummah24. "Ummah24 is a communication tool for Muslims to express themselves and share news 140 characters at a time. Sounds like Twitter? Oh yeah! but its for the Ummah." The 140 character challenge is always a difficult one ...

Taliban video

CBS News, Teen 'Suicide Bombers' Seen in Taliban Video. 2 Jun 09, "An increasing number of children and teenagers are appearing in jihadi videos of the militant Afghan Taliban movement, which claims that they carry out suicide attacks. A new propaganda video showing attacks carried out by the group shows two young boys who allegedly carried out two separate suicide attacks in Nangarhar in Western Afghanistan."

AQIM Video

CBS News, Child Seen Pledging To Wage War on “Worshippers of The Cross” In New AQIM Video, 27 Apr 09 "A new video released by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) on the Internet shows three children who seem to be between six and 12 years in one of the militants’ camps. The children are identified as Abu Dujana Sufian, Muadz Abdel Salam and Osama and were born and raised in the camps according to the video. The eldest of the three Abdel Salam is seen making a speech before the camera pledging to fight the “worshippers of the cross.”"

Pakistan Taliban

CBS News, Taliban Behead Two Pakistani Spies In New Video, 24 Apr 09, "Taliban Pakistan released an eight-minute video showing gruesome pictures of the beheading of two men accused of collaborating with “crusader forces.”"

Neda al-Jihad

CBS News, Neda al Jihad Release Afghanistan Compilation Video, 17 Apr 09

Jundullah Studios

NEFA Foundation, A Unique Look Inside the IMU's "Jundullah Studios" (March 2009), "The NEFA Foundation has obtained new video footage of day-to-day operations inside "Jundullah Studios", the official media wing of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)-an Al-Qaida and Taliban mujahideen ally fighting in pockets along the Afghan-Pakistani border."

Background: NEFA

Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)

aQ

AP/MSNBC, U.S.: Suspect made videos glorifying al-Qaida, 28 Oct 08 "One of Ali Hamza al-Bahlul's videos depicted the 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen and was shown at terrorist training camps in Afghanistan to inspire recruits, Army Maj. Daniel Cowhig, lead prosecutor in the second Guantanamo war crimes trial, said in opening statements."