Islam and Terrorism (20 page)
You have witnessed, dear reader, how Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman not only defeated the attorney general, but how he also defeated the justice system in Egypt.
Yes, jihad means killing all the enemies of Allah and Islam. Yes, Muslims believe in taking the law into their own hands and killing Allah’s enemies, as if he can’t handle them himself. Yes, the laws of the land could not overrule the Quran. Yes, the mastermind of the murder of the president could justify his acts through the Quran and be declared not guilty in the highest court of a great nation, Egypt. What a shame.
Sheikh Abdel Rahman was set free officially because they did not have material evidence that he was the one who gave al-Jihad the religious order to kill Sadat as an infidel. In my opinion the blind sheikh’s own words were more than enough evidence for a conviction.
However, the crime did not go unpunished. Five men were executed military style, including Khaled al-Islambouli, the sharpshooter, and Mohammed Abed al-Salem, the author of
The Missing Commitments
. When the police arrested the author, they confiscated all his books and burned them. It can only be found on the black market now.
In spite of the tremendous resistance of the Egyptian government, al-Jihad survived, grew, and never stopped. Many of the leaders of the al-Jihad movement were able to flee to other countries, such as Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, and Czechoslovakia. A large number went to Afghanistan to become a part of the al-Jihad movement there.
Later they united with Osama bin Laden, who based his movement on the same beliefs and principles. Those leaders who fled from Egypt, the original members of al-Jihad, helped bin Laden to establish a new movement. They named it al Qaeda. Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the Egyptian al-Jihad leaders, became bin Laden’s right hand man and later the leader of al Qaeda. Afghanistan became the place of refuge for those who were persecuted by the Egyptian government.
Later the fundamentalist Islamic group in Afghanistan, the Taliban, welcomed all these men and supported them as partners in the same call of jihad—ready to be partners in death but hoping to be the victors when Allah’s people rule the world.
(Courtesy of Sinai Publishing, Cairo, Egypt)
Khaled al-Islambouli, put to death by the Egyptian government in 1982 as the sharpshooter who assassinated President Anwar Sadat.
JIHAD BLEEDS OUT OF EGYPT
Egyptian Leaders Travel to Surrounding Countries
W
HEN YOU THROW
a stone into the water, the ripples go in all directions. This is what happens with militant fundamentalist groups. A major event in one country causes a ripple effect in many other countries.
Egypt is like the stone that was tossed into the water. It is at the center of modern terrorism. The reason for this is that Egypt is the capital of Islamic education for the entire world. Al-Azhar University sends missionaries everywhere to spread Islam.
If there are religious questions in a Muslim nation anywhere in the world, they ask Al-Azhar. When I was in South Africa, if the Muslims had a question they couldn’t answer, they wrote to Al-Azhar. For example, they needed a ruling on when to start Ramadan, which depends on the sighting of the new moon. Al-Azhar declared that when they could see the moon in Cairo, the world could start Ramadan.
At the time when Muslim Brotherhood, IGM, al-Jihad, and others were developing, I was immersed in Al-Azhar University. I spent eleven years there, earning my bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees. In addition, after I earned my bachelor’s degree, the university sent me out as a visiting professor to Islamic universities in other countries, including Tunisia, Libya, Iraq, and Morocco. From this vantage point, I observed what was happening.
We’ve looked in detail at the uprisings in Egypt and
Iran. Now let’s see the ripple effects of Sadat’s assassination in North Africa. Going west from Egypt, the movement traveled to Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria. Going south, effects were felt in Sudan.
L
IBYA
Next door to Egypt thousands of Libyan Muslim men were inspired by the murder of Sadat. They too were willing to die in the name of Allah and for the cause of jihad.
The Libyan Muslims organized many movements to assassinate Muammar Qaddafi and overturn his government. After a brief civil war Qaddafi was finally deposed and killed on October 20, 2011.
Though Qaddafi was a Muslim, many Westerners may not recognize that his position was far from Islamic fundamentalism. After he took over in 1969, he ruled the country with a constitution not Islamic law. His original goal was to create a democracy.
Qaddafi admired the past president of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser, for his harsh methods in dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood Movement. (President Nasser was well known for his zero tolerance of radicals. Twice he gathered them and slaughtered them—in 1954 and 1965.) Qaddafi took every opportunity to call radical Muslims “the street dogs” on Libyan national television. He followed Nasser’s methods: he slaughtered radicals many times to eliminate their influence in his country.
The Libyan members of these Islamic radical groups fought against Qaddafi for two main reasons: 1) his anti-Islamic political ideology and 2) his dictatorship and corruption.
Eventually during the Arab Spring, with the support of
the Western countries (especially France and the United States), they were able to put an end to his regime and capture Qaddafi and kill him publicly.
The vast majority of the Libyan people stood behind these groups during the Libyan revolution. They were hoping that after getting rid of Qaddafi and his regime that these groups would be united and bring a new beginning, forming an Islamic government and leading Libya into justice, freedom, and prosperity.
After the elimination of Qaddafi, however, people witnessed nothing in their country but division, chaos, violence, killing, and destruction. This caused quite a good percentage of the Libyan people to wish they had not gotten rid of Qaddafi’s regime. This situation reflects the real dilemma not just in Libya but also in many other countries of the Middle East, such as Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria.
T
UNISIA
The influence of the Egyptian al-Jihad traveled from Libya into Tunisia. Among the participants were Rashid al-Ghannoushi, the exiled leader and articulate spokesman of al-Nahda, Tunisia’s Islamic opposition movement. They were in constant struggle with the previous president Habib ibn Ali Bourguiba and president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
I visited Tunisia in the early 1990s, and the Muslims treated me with great respect because I came from the country of Islamic heroes. They called Khaled al-Islambouli a modern Islamic hero for killing Sadat. They told me, “Our Islamic Arab nations need people like that to
overturn all of the infidels’ governments and establish the Islamic dynasty just as in Muhammad’s days.”
A
LGERIA
To fully appreciate the effect in Algeria, we need to look at the unique history of this country. It was one of the first areas to be conquered by Islam.
Within ten years of the death of Muhammad, the Islamic military invaded Algeria. From that point on Algeria remained an Islamic state under the Islamic empire until the French invaded it in 1830. The French occupied Algeria until 1962. The French influence was so strong in the Algerian culture that even after the liberation, French remained the main language; throughout most of the country the Arabic language was almost forgotten.
After the Algerian revolution that was led by Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria was governed by a national government that was not Islamic based. Many Arab Muslim countries helped Algeria to overcome the French influence and establish Islam and the Arabic language. My uncle was one of the head missionaries sent by Al-Azhar University to Algeria to teach the Arabic language and to reinstall Islam.
Slowly but surely Algeria became an Arabic country again. In the process Algeria was influenced by two major Egyptian organizations: Al-Azhar University’s educational mission and the Muslim Brotherhood Organization.
During Egyptian president Nasser’s tremendous persecution of the Muslim Brotherhood Organization between 1954 and 1960, many of its members immigrated to Algeria. They spread their beliefs among the new generation of Algerians.
Ali Belhadj and Dr. Abbas al-Madani, who were
professors at the University of Algiers, started a new Islamic movement called
al-Gabha al-Aslamia Lilncaz
, meaning Islamic Salvation Front. This was just a new name for the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt. This movement had a strong relationship with other Islamic movements across the Arab countries, especially Egypt.
The leaders of the Algerian and the Egyptian movements worked closely together to lead all Islamic movements in the world at the time. These two groups worked hard to enter Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya to establish the Islamic nation across North Africa. They planned to unite with the movements in Sudan and Iran so that the world would see the reestablishment of the Islamic authority throughout the Arabic region.
Muammar Qaddafi immediately felt a threat to his government in Libya. He was pressured from the east by the Egyptians and from the west by the Algerians. Qaddafi volunteered to help the existing government of Algeria fight the radical groups and their leaders, al-Madani and Belhadj.
Hijacking an election
In the early nineties the leaders of the Islamic Salvation Front hosted one of history’s largest rallies for Islamic fundamentalist groups. They jam-packed the national soccer stadium. The Algerian capital will always remember the crowd’s cheers that day: “Allah is great! Patience, patience, all ye Jews; Muhammad’s forces are on the way.”
All these anti-Jewish hate cheers were inspired by the guest speaker, Khaled al-Islambouli’s mother. Yes, the mother of President Sadat’s assassin, who was put to death by the Egyptian government, spoke to the leaders of jihad in Algeria.
During her speech she inspired the crowd to sacrifice their money as well as their souls to make jihad a reality in their country and the world. She stated that she gave one son as a sacrifice for jihad, and she was willing to present her other son, Mohammed, who was standing on stage beside her, to the same cause—to see the banner of Islam take over the world. She said that she was willing to die herself to bring victory to Islam over the enemy.
The crowds cheered aggressively when she said, “Nothing made me more proud as a mother than that my son Khaled was sentenced to death by the enemy of Islam.” She ignited the spirit of jihad and martyrdom in everyone’s heart when they heard her saying how many roads and streets were already named in honor of her son in Islamic nations around the world. She added, “Even the enemies of Islam look at my son as a hero for giving his life for what he believes in.” She quoted one of the prophet Muhammad’s teachings in hadith, “Any nation that abandons jihad will be conquered and subdued.”
1
Make no mistake; this woman left the crowd in the flames of hate toward their government. She prepared the Algerian movement for what would happen in their battle to overturn the government. The impact of this rally was electrifying. It gave the Muslims in Algeria the courage to carry out their mission.
Not long after this rally a new election was held (1991). The Islamic Salvation Front used this opportunity to manipulate the election for their personal gain, hoping to take over. The movement won the election by scaring all other candidates out of running for office; however, it was not going to take over the country that easily.
The Algerian upper class, the elites, and the highly educated citizens immediately rose up to warn and object to
the existing government turning over authority to these radicals. Many of the Arabic countries such as Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Morocco were familiar with the danger of these groups. They also warned the government about the results of letting the radicals take over. Algeria had no other option but to order the military to secure the country and cancel the election. This was the beginning of the long battle between the military and the Islamic movement that continues to this day.
In the 1990s more than one hundred fifty thousand people were killed to keep fundamentalist Islam from ruling their nation. The Algerian government arrested the leaders of the Islamic Salvation Front, but it could not stop the bloodshed. Afghanistan sent in many experienced fighters to try to unseat the government.
