The news has been dominated recently by the withdrawal of U.S. special operations advisers from northern Syria ahead of the Turkish invasion of the region.
Those advisers were primarily charged with training and assisting indigenous forces in battling Islamic State jihadists, who, despite reports to the contrary, are still very much active in the area.
The Department of Defense released a statement emphasizing that the withdrawal does not mean that U.S. forces have abandoned the fight against the Islamic State:
U.S. Will Continue Defeat-ISIS Campaign, Official Says
The United States will continue its campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria from outside Syria, said a senior defense official…
“The Defeat-ISIS campaign will continue,” the official said. “The enduring defeat of ISIS remains one of our top security priorities. We have significant assets and personnel as well as coalition capabilities throughout the region that will continue to prosecute that campaign.”
Here is the most important part of the DOD statement. I don’t agree with the terminology, but the substance is important:
It is important to remember that ISIS is not just a Middle East/Central Asia phenomenon. The terror group is attempting to foment extremism in many other areas including Somalia, Niger, Southeast Asia, the Philippines and elsewhere.
This statement is important because it acknowledges the fact (without coming right out and saying so) that we are in a global jihadist insurgency. The Islamic State was not defeated when its caliphate was rolled up in Syria and Iraq. Its affiliates operate in West Africa, East Africa, Southeast Asia (most likely referring to Thailand), the Philippines (where just a few years ago ISIS took over an entire medium-sized city for months) and elsewhere.
What is meant by “elsewhere?”
We can’t be sure what DOD means by this, but there is no doubt that the Islamic State has sympathizers and operatives throughout Europe and here in the USA. Periodically we read of plots, attacks and arrests. Mostly our media has relegated these reports to the “back pages” of the news, in my opinion because they seek to downplay the threat because it doesn’t resonate for Leftist politicians most of the media covertly support.
The policy of the Trump administration seems clearly aimed at pursuing violent Jihadists militarily where ever they gather. This stands in stark contrast to the Obama era policies which allowed violent Jihadists to have safe havens in various areas of the world.
No where is this more true than in Somalia, where Al Shabaab has become resurgent. Clearly the U.S. is now actively engaged in pursuing and destroying Al Shabaab jihadists…
U.S. forces say they have carried out three drone strikes within 24 hours in Somalia, stepping up their campaign against the Islamic extremist rebels of al-Shabab and the Islamic State group. With these three attacks, the U.S. has now carried out 26 attacks in Somalia against extremist targets in 2017.
This is a hugely important story which, naturally, is being ignored by the U.S. news media because it didn’t happen here…yet…or this time…or something…
An Imam at a mosque in southern Italy has been arrested for recruiting Somali refugees to launch terrorist attacks in Italy, including an attack at Rome’s central train station.
This is obviously important for two reasons:
1. It is another case of an Islamic religious cleric being involved in Jihadist terrorism, something that has happened frequently, but continues to be ignored by our bureaucratized counterterror apparatus and media.
2. The recruiting activity was being conducted among refugees seeking asylum in Italy.
There are lessons to be learned here, but we won’t hold our breath…
Campobasso (Italy), March 9 (IANS/AKI) Police arrested a Somali imam in southern Italy on Wednesday for allegedly inciting other asylum-seekers to stage jihadist terror attacks including on Rome’s central train station.
The cleric was detained in Campobasso at the Happy Family centre accommodating asylum-seekers in the city.
The imam “repeatedly encouraged other Muslims at the centre to commit acts of terrorism” showing them images of gruesome acts carried out by Islamist extremists, police said.
He also exalted the Islamic State’s deadly November attacks in Paris and urged guests at the Happy Family centre to travel to Syria with him and wage jihad, according to police.
Police seized the cleric’s phone as well as that of another Somali asylum-during searches at the centre on Wednesday.
Prosecutors in Campobasso are spearheading the ongoing probe in coordination with the national anti-mafia directorate and the European Union’s judical cooperation unit Eurojust.
The internet has literally been littered with news reports about a new propaganda campaign being waged by the head of the Council on American Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) Chicago director.
The man’s name is Ahmed Rehab and his methodology has been to run advertising on buses to change the public perception of the word “Jihad.”
Rehab has chosen two of the most liberal cities in America in which to conduct his campaign so far: Chicago and San Francisco.
The name of the campaign is “MyJihad” and it aims to convince Americans that Jihad only means “to struggle” or, more specifically, an internal, personal struggle. Rehab claims that this is the “true” meaning of Jihad.
Unfortunately for Rehab, he is only partially correct and any campaign that claims that the term Jihad only means an internal, personal struggle amounts to disinformation. The dualistic nature of Islam, in this case as it applies to the meaning of “Jihad,” is well documented both in historical Islamic doctrine and in contemporary use of the term.
And Jihad definitely does not only mean an internal, personal struggle. In fact, the most widespread meaning of the term that is of particular interest to Westerners who are threatened by Jihad does in fact entail violence.
A false and misleading statement has been attributed to the San Francisco chapter head of CAIR, Zahra Billoo:
“A common misconception of the word jihad is that it means armed struggle or holy war, and that is something that has been perpetrated by many who’ve made careers out of pushing anti-Muslim sentiment.”
Such a meaning for Jihad has nothing to do with anyone with an “anti-Muslim sentiment.” It has everything to do with Islam itself.
Let us examine definitions of Jihad from two authoritative sources.
Jihad According to the Quran
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The first is the Quran itself. In this case, specifically The Noble Qu’ran, translated into English by two scholars: Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali, PhD, professor of Islamic Faith and Teachings at the Islamic University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia and Dr. Muhammad Mushin Khan of the same institution. The Noble Qu’ran was published by Darussalam Publishers and Distributors, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It has been catalogued by King Fahad National Library. On page 818, in a glossary accompanying the text of the Quran, The Noble Qu’ran provides the following definition of Jihad:
“Jihad: Holy fighting in the Cause of Allah or any other kind of effort to make Allah’s Word superior. Jihad is regarded as one of the fundamentals of Islam.”
Can the Quran itself be promoting “anti-Muslim sentiment” as CAIR’s Zahra Billoo asserts?
Jihad According to Shariah
Our second source is Reliance of the Traveler: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law.
Reliance of the Traveler is one of the world’s most widely read manuals of Shariah law. It has been endorsed by a variety of Islamic authorities, including Al Azhar University in Cairo, IIIT (International Institute of Islamic Thought) in Herndon, Virginia, the Fiqh Council of North America, the Islamic Fiqh Academy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Mufti of the Jordanian Armed Forces andthe Imam of the Mosque of Darwish Pasha in Damascus, Syria.
These can hardly be termed as those pushing “anti-Muslim sentiment” as Billoo claims.
On page 599 of Reliance of the Traveler, readers can find the following passage:
o9.0 JIHAD
(O: Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada, signifying warfare to establish the religion…
The scriptural basis for jihad, prior to scholarly consensus is such Koranic verses as:
(1) “Fighting is prescribed for you” (Koran 2:216);
(2) “Slay them wherever you find them” (Koran 4:89);
(3) “Fight the idolators utterly” (Koran 9:36);
and such hadiths as the one related by Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:
“I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and perform the prayer, and pay zakat. If they say it, they have saved their blood and possessions from me, except for the rights of Islam over them. And their final reckoning is with Allah”;
and the hadith reported by Muslim,
“To go forth in the morning or evening to fight in the path of Allah is better than the whole world and everything in it.”
Jihad According to Terrorists
If Jihad truly means to “struggle” and not warfare to establish the religion, how does CAIR explain the names of all these terrorist organizations?
A 4-minute posthumous call to Jihad by American-born Anwar al Awlaki. Keep in mind that, before he became head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Awlaki had been an Imam at mosques in San Diego, Denver and northern Virginia and was regarded as a great “moderate” who was a favorite show pony for “outreach” programs. He was invited to the Pentagon. He delivered sermons to the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association on Capitol Hill. Prominent CAIR officers, employees and members attended these sermons. At least one former CAIR employee who attended Awlaki’s sermons on Capitol Hill in Washington DC is now in jail on terrorism charges:
Ten days ago, the Pakistanis gave in to the Taliban in NW Pakistan by agreeing to institute Shariah law. The Taliban quickly took that deal simply because, as they themselves said, Shariah law is their main goal.
Most in the West are completely ignorant of the central role that Shariah plays in our enemies’ entire strategy and ideology. The Jihadists don’t necessarily want us to convert to their form of Islam, but they absolutely do find it necessary for Shariah law to the the supreme law of the land the world over.
Terror Trends Bulletin 