Recently in Tiny Minority of Extremists™ Category

"There's really no such thing as just Sharia, it's not one monolithic Continuum - Sharia is understood in thousands of different ways over the 1,500 years in which multiple and competing schools of law have tried to construct some kind of civic penal and family law code that would abide by Islamic values and principles, it's understood in many different ways..." -- Reza Aslan

Not really. Tiny Minority of Extremists Update: in "Sharia Über Alles" at the American Thinker, May 4, Andrew Bostom summarizes a new international survey's findings about the broad support in Muslim countries for the harshest Sharia punishments.

Despite a number of (deliberately?) mitigating biases, both methodological and interpretative, the latest Pew Research Forum report, "The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society," released April 30, 2013, confirms the broad appeal of the totalitarian Sharia, Islam's religio-political "law," across Islamdom.

The data were pooled from surveys conducted between 2008 and 2012, representing, as touted by Pew, "a total of 39 countries and territories on three continents: Africa, Asia and Europe." Collectively, the surveys included "more than 38,000 face-to-face interviews in 80-plus languages and dialects, covering every country that has more than 10 million Muslims." Pew did acknowledge this important caveat about Muslim populations not surveyed because, "political sensitivities or security concerns prevented opinion research among Muslims." Notably excluded countries were Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, and Iran -- all Islamic states, governed by the Sharia, Saudi Arabia and the Sudan under Sunni Islam, the third, Iran, being the world's largest Shiite Muslim state.

Responses to four related questions on the Sharia, comprise the surveys' salient -- and pathognomonic -- findings. The questions were, "Do you favor or oppose making sharia law, or Islamic law, the official law of the land in our country?", and these three internally validating (and equally edifying) queries, "Do you favor or oppose the following: punishments like whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery?", "Do you favor or oppose the following: punishments like whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery?", "Do you favor or oppose the following: the death penalty for people who leave the Muslim religion?" Summary data from the nations with the five largest Muslim populations (as per 2010) surveyed, Indonesia (204 million), Pakistan (178 million), Bengladesh (149 million), Egypt (80 million), and Nigeria (76 million), revealed:

• 72% of Indonesian Muslims, 84% of Pakistani Muslims, 82% of Bengladeshi Muslims, 74% of Egyptian Muslims, and 71% of Nigerian Muslims supported making Sharia the official state law of their respective societies. The population-weighted average from these 5 countries was 77% supportive. (Composite regional data confirmed these individual country trends -- 84% of South Asian Muslims, 77% of Southeast Asian Muslims, 74% of Middle Eastern/North African Muslims, and 64% of Sub-Saharan African Muslims favored application of the Sharia as official state law.)

• 37% of Indonesian Muslims, 85% of Pakistani Muslims, 50% of Bengladeshi Muslims, 70% of Egyptian Muslims, and 45% of Nigerian Muslims favored Sharia-based mandatory ("hadd") punishments "like whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery"

• 42% of Indonesian Muslims, 86% of Pakistani Muslims, 54% of Bengladeshi Muslims, 80% of Egyptian Muslims, and 37% of Nigerian Muslims favored the Sharia-based hadd punishment of stoning for adultery

• 16% of Indonesian Muslims, 75% of Pakistani Muslims, 43% of Bengladeshi Muslims, 88% of Egyptian Muslims, and 29% of Nigerian Muslims favored the Sharia-based hadd punishment of execution for "apostasy"

Furthermore, the Pew survey results confirm the abject failure of the U.S. midwifed Iraqi and Afghan "democracies" to fulfill the utopian aspirations of the much ballyhooed "(Bernard Lewis doctrine." Instead, the negative prognostications, epitomized by my colleague Diana West's evocative description "Making the world safe for Sharia," have been realized. Specifically, the Pew data indicated:

• 91% of Iraqi Muslims and 99% of Afghan Muslims supported making Sharia the official state law of their respective societies

• 55% of Iraqi Muslims and 81% of Afghan Muslims favored Sharia-based hadd punishments "like whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery"

• 57% of Iraqi Muslims and 84% of Afghan Muslims favored the Sharia-based hadd punishment of stoning for adultery

• 42% of Iraqi Muslims and 79% of Afghan Muslims favored the Sharia-based hadd punishment of execution for "apostasy"

There is much more. Read it all.

Why didn't the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims in the Islamic Society at Keele University rise up and say that they would never, ever have anything to do with Zakir Naik, due to his endorsement of the twisted, hijacked version of Islam as somehow countenancing violence and terrorism? Here we see the mainstream dogma that jihad sympathizers are only a small minority of Muslims refuted yet again.

Tiny Minority of Extremists Update: "UK students given booklets claiming, "every Muslim should be a terrorist" authored by banned Islamic hate-preacher," from The Commentator, April 4 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Counter-extremism organisation Student Rights has reported that it has been contacted by students after material handed out at an event on a British university campus appeared to endorse terrorism and other discriminatory and offensive viewpoints.

At an event apparently organised by the Islamic Society at Keele University, students were shocked to receive a copy of a booklet called "Answers to Non-Muslims' Common Questions about Islam" [PDF] which has been authored by the Indian cleric Dr Zakir Naik.

Naik was officially barred from the UK in 2010 due to a number of comments, including a claim that if Osama Bin Laden was “terrorising the terrorist, if he is terrorising America the terrorist, biggest terrorist, I am with him. Every Muslim should be a terrorist”.

Naik has been noted for his views on 9/11 as an "inside job" and has also declared that “homosexuality is forbidden in Islam and the punishment for homosexuality is death”.

Since the event, Student Rights tracked down a copy of the booklet circulated, and revealed a number of deeply concerning ideals found within it. It is rumoured that the booklet was obtained via the UK-based charity, the Islamic Dawah Centre International who this afternoon confirmed via telephone to The Commentator that they do supply the booklet, but they are currently out of stock. When asked as to whether they supply to university campuses, the response was, "of course".

Student Rights have noted various concerns about the booklet, such as the comments, “If Islamic Shariah is implemented in any part of the world, whether it is America or Europe, society will breathe easier” and “Every Muslim should be a terrorist... every Muslim should be a terrorist for the antisocial elements of society, such as thieves, dacoits [bandits] and rapists”.

More concerns have been raised on the Student Rights blog.

Upon learning of the booklet's contents, members of the Islamic Society quickly disavowed it and apologised. In discussions seen on Facebook, a number of Muslim students criticised the decision to hand it out, with one committee member stating “I was shocked upon hearing the booklet."

Rupert Sutton, head researcher at Student Rights told The Commentator, "That material written by a man barred from the UK for his hateful views can be handed out by students at an on-campus event is deeply concerning, and highlights a lack of oversight that must be rectified.

"We do feel however, that the mature response from the Islamic Society after they found out the booklet's contents, should be applauded. We hope that the university staff will sit down with them to discuss both the source of these booklets, and the importance of checking any material before handing it out."

Don't be so naive, Rupert.

We're always told that the Vast Majority of Muslims abhors and rejects violent jihad. Yet again and again we see stories like this one. Apparently Les Izards is full of misunderstanders of Islam. "Neighborhood Is Torn Over a Killer’s Legacy," by Scott Sayare in the New York Times, December 19 (thanks to Block Ness):

TOULOUSE, France — In the spring, shortly after her son’s murder, Latifa Ibn Ziaten took a taxi to Les Izards, a hard-up immigrant neighborhood here, hoping to understand. She approached a group of young men to ask, “Do you know Mohammed Merah?”

Mr. Merah, a 23-year-old French-Algerian who claimed to have ties to Al Qaeda, had killed Ms. Ibn Ziaten’s son Imad, a sergeant in the French Army, with a gunshot to the head. Before dying in a police raid in March, Mr. Merah admitted that killing and those of two other soldiers, a rabbi and three Jewish children. He spent much of his short life in Les Izards.

“Mohammed Merah, you know, he’s a hero, he’s a martyr of Islam,” the men said, Ms. Ibn Ziaten recalled. “You haven’t seen what it’s like to live here?” they continued, gesturing toward their neighborhood of beige housing projects and gravelly concrete. “At least he showed the French what power is.”

She then told the men who she was; one began to cry, she said. A man took her hand, and she worried he meant to hit her.

“I’m sorry, we’re sorry, madame,” he said. They told her of feeling unwanted. “We’re never listened to, here in the projects,” one of them said. “For them, we’re just trash.” They insisted the police would not have killed Mr. Merah had he not been Arab.

“These youth, they feel humiliated,” said Ms. Ibn Ziaten, herself an immigrant from Morocco. They are treated as North Africans in France, she said, and as French in North Africa. “They don’t know where their place is,” she said. Nor did Mr. Merah.

“He took what was dearest to me; he took my son, my friend, my prince,” Ms. Ibn Ziaten said. “But he was a victim of society.”

Other residents of this depressed place say the same, though most do not celebrate Mr. Merah’s crimes. He committed the unconscionable, they say, but he was one of them, shaped by the same forces of rejection and discrimination that they say they know and resent. They understand, to a degree, and they will not denounce him.

To much of France, Mr. Merah was a terrorist, a determined killer who reviled this country, who set out for Afghanistan and Pakistan for training in jihad. In Les Izards he was, and remains, simply Mohammed. The gap between those images, both true but neither complete, seems only to have deepened the sense of alienation in the neighborhood.

“We’re still a bit in shock,” said Frédéric Mercadal, 37, who heads the local soccer club and knew Mr. Merah well. He had his troubles, Mr. Mercadal said, and was frequently childish and needy. But he could also be “courteous and kind,” even “filled with joie de vivre.”

This is invariably a feature of stories about jihad murderers. They're all decent fellows.

Like Mr. Merah, many local youths identify with the Palestinian cause, said Younouss Zeroual, 17, whose closely trimmed black hair peaks in a meticulous ridge. During his standoff with the police, Mr. Merah told negotiators that he had targeted soldiers who were fighting Muslims in Afghanistan — like Ms. Ibn Ziaten’s son — and then chose to shoot Jews, when a separate target failed to appear, to avenge Palestinian deaths.

“Everyone says he was wrong,” Mr. Zeroual said. “But they understand the message he wanted to get across.”

Conspiracy paranoia:

Still, Mr. Zeroual said he believed Mr. Merah was perhaps framed by the government. As an Arab, he had “the look of a criminal” in the eyes of the state, Mr. Zeroual said. Witness descriptions of the killer did not match Mr. Merah, he said.

Lakhdar Chadli, 25, who used to play soccer with Mr. Merah, added, “We didn’t see his body.”

There is ambivalence, even pride, in his crimes. Some young men seem to enjoy the horror they can provoke by calling him a hero, residents and social workers said. Some surely believe he is.

“We’re trying not to talk about it, to move on to something else,” said a local social worker, requesting that his name be withheld. When he has tried to engage young people about Mr. Merah, they have responded only by calling him a “god.” “You can’t have a real exchange.”

In his violence, Mr. Merah has left the area feeling under siege, too, residents say, from the police and the news media, which descended en masse after the killings, and from politicians who have made Les Izards a watchword for violence and hate. In response, there has been a sort of closing of ranks. Residents discuss Mr. Merah among themselves, they say, but consider it a betrayal to discuss him with outsiders.

“I think the neighborhood has had enough of being stigmatized,” said Martine Croquette, a deputy mayor in Toulouse....

The victims! Oh, the poor victims!

The neighborhood is small, with about 4,000 residents, mostly Arabs from North Africa or their children. Many are observant Muslims. About half the youths are unemployed.

Residents “know they’re marginalized, they know people don’t give a damn about them,” said a local businessman and Muslim organizer, requesting anonymity for fear of local reaction. Children are urged into vocational schools instead of universities, he said. Young men say they are turned away from nightclubs because they are Arab.

Yeah, nobody gives a damn about them. That's why they're only getting $25 million (read on).

Residents complain that when potential employers see their postal code, 31200, they are immediately disqualified. Many young men here “go bad in reaction,” said a local woman, a retired nurse, who asked not to be quoted by name. Some turn to the drug trade, others to Islam, though the few radical currents that exist in Toulouse have little hold here, residents say.

Yeah, obviously.

There are occasional concerts, though, a weekly open-air market, the library. “It’s the projects,” the woman said, but the neighborhood can also be “pleasant to live in.”

Meanwhile, French authorities are affirming that terrorism works by forking over the jizya in response to the jihad murders:

The killings have accelerated plans for an urban renovation program here, an investment of about $25 million from the City of Toulouse. The central government recently designated the area for additional law enforcement resources, though many residents do not feel kindly toward the police.

Two days after police commandos killed Mr. Merah in a raid in March, a gray Peugeot sedan rolled to a stop before a cluster of young men in Les Izards. A plainclothes police officer in the passenger seat held his hands to the window, residents recalled, gesturing in celebration of his colleagues’ bloody handiwork: 1-0.

The officer, despised in the neighborhood since well before that episode, still patrols there.

Oh, the poor victims!

Only if one were proceeding on ill-informed assumptions. In Iraq, policymakers were surprised at how flimsy the veneer of tolerance and modernity turned out to be. In Afghanistan, they expected tolerance and modernity if we just peeled away a veneer of Talibanization. In both cases, they were wrong.

In Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, little seems to have changed except that a different U.S. administration has been taken by surprise. "Tunisian Islamists spark fear of culture war," by Paul Schemm for the Associated Press, March 9:

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Every Friday, bearded men in shin-length robes demonstrate in Tunisia's capital against perceived insults to Islam in a country once known for its aggressive secularism. They have occasionally turned violent, attacking secular intellectuals and harassing women for their style of dress.

This emerging movement of believers known as Salafis has seemingly appeared out of thin air — and prompted fears of a culture war in this North African country of 10 million.

Since the overthrow of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011 unleashed a string of Arab uprisings, Islam has blossomed in Tunisia in a way it wasn't allowed to do for half a century.

New religious freedoms have also opened the way for the Salafis, who are now in a daily battle for hearts and minds with equally hardline secular elements entrenched in the media and the elite. Television stations, Western embassies and government offices have all felt the conservatives' wrath.

On Friday, hundreds of bearded men and veiled women converged on the public television building accusing it of "sanitizing figures of the old regime" and calling for a purging of staff members who still promote the ideas of the old ruling party.

Caught between the Salafis and the secularists are the moderate Islamists who won Tunisia's first free elections and are trying to build a democratic model for countries that followed Tunisia down this still uncertain revolutionary path.

The Salafis say they are just reclaiming rights long denied.

"Tunisians are thirsty for religious knowledge," said Mohammed Bedoui, a young adherent of the Hizb al-Tahrir, or Liberation party, which calls for the return of the Islamic caliphate. "The regime of Ben Ali neglected the religious universities and the Tunisian imams just can't answer to the demand."

The war of words is taking place against a backdrop of armed radical movements just over the porous borders in neighboring Algeria and Libya, and there are worries that
Tunisia's aggressive demonstrations could evolve into an armed struggle if the competing demands are not handled carefully.

Secular intellectuals describe the Salafis as backward and engaging in a wholesale assault against freedom of expression and Tunisia's progressive traditions. The religious conservatives — distinctive with their mustache-less beards, short robes and sneakers — counter that their religion is under daily attack.

"The demonstrations are a response to the provocations of the secularists and the leftists, particularly the polemic against the niqab (face-covering veil) in universities," said Bedoui.

The Salafis cite the broadcast of blasphemous movies, publication of seminude photos of models in newspapers and bans on women wearing the veil as attempts to target and provoke them. They call the secularists leftover supporters of the old dictator.

In one of their most high profile sit-ins, demonstrators stalled exams at a university near Tunis for weeks protesting a ban on female students wearing the niqab during exams.

On Wednesday, fights broke out between leftist student union members and Salafis on the campus, resulting in five injured. At one point, a Salafi student tore down the Tunisian flag and replaced it with a black standard bearing the Muslim profession of faith.

In October's elections, the moderate Islamist party Ennahda dominated the polls, though most believe that people voted for them not out of religious conviction but because they trusted them to do away with the old system and get the country back on track.

Said Ferjani, a high ranking member of Ennahda, told The Associated Press that the last thing they wanted right now was a culture war between the Salafis and what he calls the "secular fundamentalists."

"We are dealing with the business of government, we have floods in the north, a sinking economy and these people are talking about the burqa and the hijab (headscarf)," he said with exasperation. "I don't think they are very grown up."

Those sympathizing with the Salafis' ultraconservative views are estimated to be a small minority — Ferjani suggests just 3 percent of the population — but they are locked in a cycle of provocation and reaction with the secular elite that's spilling out into the streets.

"There is a war of lifestyles, someone from one group wants to impose their lifestyle on the other group," said Ferjani. "They each believe in freedom of speech only for themselves."...

Remember when the "radical Islamists" were supposed to be a marginal, Tiny Minority of Extremists? We do. That's when we tried to tell you.

Sharia is a package deal, as even Imam Rauf knows. As a total (and totalitarian) system of governance for every aspect of life, there can always be more of it to enforce. Someone will always demand more Sharia, and be willing to kill and topple governments to enforce it, all the more where the declaration of an Islamic state has tied the right to rule to Islamic piety. It is an Achilles' heel built into Sharia itself, and a perpetual source of instability.

"Security forces clash with radical Islamists in Tunisian town," from Al Arabiya, February 23:

Police in a Tunisian town used tear gas on Thursday to break up a crowd of about 200 hardline Islamists, armed with sticks, swords and petrol bombs, who set fire to a police station, witnesses told Reuters.

“The security forces are chasing about 200 Salafists armed with swords and sticks after an exchange of petrol bombs and tear gas,” resident Omar Inoubli told Reuters by telephone from Jandouba, about 160 km (99 miles) west of the capital.

“These groups set fire to a police station .... (They) are broadcasting recordings through the loudspeakers of mosques calling for jihad (holy war).”

Residents said the clashes broke out when police arrested a Salafist but tensions had been brewing between authorities and the conservative Islamists who have become more active since last year’s revolution.

“The situation has become serious in the city, which has been living in a state of terror and fear because of Salafist groups seeking to impose a strict way of life,” another witness, a woman who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

One resident said the Salafis had threatened people drinking alcohol and slapped women wearing trousers or skirts.

Tunisia became the birthplace of the ‘Arab Spring’ uprisings just over a year ago when a wave of protests forced long-standing secularist leader Zine ElAbidine Ben Ali to flee the country.

After the revolution, measures outlawing Islamists were abolished, and a moderate Islamist movement, Ennahda, was elected to lead a coalition government.

The Salafists, who represent a small minority of Tunisians, have profited from the new freedoms. They have attacked brothels, bars and cinemas showing films they consider to be morally suspect, and staged protests to demand an end to mixed-gender classes at universities.

While many renounce violence, some have been linked to al-Qaeda’s north African branch.

The Salafists represent an awkward problem for Tunisia's Islamist-led government.

Ennahda does not share their hardline views [how sure are we? -ed.] but if it cracks down on them, it risks alienating some of its more conservative supporters. As a result, it has been accused by secularist opponents of being too soft on the group.

How, then, pray tell, is Islam so consistently "misunderstood," across geographical areas and schools of jurisprudence, with respect to jihad warfare, and the rights of women and non-Muslims, from Great Britain to Nigeria to Algeria to Tunisia to France to Egypt to Germany to Turkey to the Palestinian territories to Lebanon to Syria to Saudi Arabia to (big breath) Yemen to Iraq to Iran to Afghanistan to Pakistan to Kashmir to the Maldives to Bangladesh to Indonesia to Malaysia?

"Islam 'most misunderstood' religion in world: Hina Rabbani Khar," from the Press Trust of India, January 26 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

DAVOS: Islam is the "most misunderstood" and "misrepresented" faith in the world, Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said today and acknowledged that illiterate and irresponsible people have been allowed to take the religion in their hands.

"In my mind Islam is the most misunderstood and misrepresented religion in the world. For example, Islam is the one religion that reinforces respect for women but we, the entire world must take responsibility because we have let Islam to be misrepresented," Khar said during a debate on Democracy at the World Economic Forum ( WEF) here.

She said Islam supports best of the democracies and her country would become the best example of this fact in ten years of time.

"If you ask whether Islam will come in the way of democracy, it is the other way round. Islam supports best of the democracies. Islam and democracy are not contradictory forces. They are rather supportive forces. Pakistan will become the best example of this fact in ten years of time.

"We have to take Islam away from the hands of the left overs of the society. We have let illiterate and irresponsible people take Islam in their hands. But it is also the duty of the Western world to understand the difference. They have been very biased on various occasions," she added.

"A big bias has been shown say in cases like Palestine and Kashmir," she alleged.

Remember when that "radical fringe" was sure to be a harmless, ineffectual sideshow of a Tiny Minority of Extremists? Not only is the Tiny Minority once again less tiny and inconsequential than advertised, but they do not need to attain absolute power to do very real damage to human rights and civil liberties.

There is also the matter of mixed and ambiguous messages: Tunisia's leaders here are finding it more difficult to uphold the inconsistency of saying the "right" things to different people. "Tunisia's Islamic leaders pressured by radical fringe," from Agence France-Presse, January 26 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

AFP - Tunisia's moderate Islamist leaders are under pressure from a radical Muslim fringe, forcing them to stress their liberal democratic credentials without alienating their base, analysts say.

Ultra-conservative Salafists have in past months launched bold challenges -- demanding full-face veils for female university students, castigating a TV channel for a "blasphemous" film and beating up journalists at a protest.

Their actions have heightened tensions in the north African country that was under secular rule for decades until the overthrow a year ago of strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali kicked off the Arab Spring and led to elections in October.

Moderate Islamist Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who took power in December, has this week adopted a firmer tone, while his Ennahda party also took unusually clear positions against the extremist religious activists.

On Tuesday, the authorities intervened to end a two months old sit-in protest by Salafists on a university campus, the faculty of letters at Manouba, about 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the capital Tunis.

The students, most of whom were not enrolled at the university, had camped out there since November to demand the right for women students to wear the full veil, known as the niqab, and for a place of prayer on campus.

Police removed them on the first day of delayed exams. The university had banned the niqab citing security concerns if students wore it with a flowing garment, which would conceal them from head to toe.

Also this week, Ennahda in an unprecedented statement affirmed its commitment to free expression and dissociated itself from a legal action lawyers close to Islamist groups launched against the privately-owned Nessma satellite TV station. [...]

The prime minister in a speech to the national assembly this week stressed his determination "to enforce the law" and denounced the beatings of journalists.

"The government is worried," said Ali Laidi Ben Mansour, editor in chief of Nessma and of news site webmanagercenter. "From my point of view, a confrontation is looming between the 'moderate Islamists' of Ennahda and the radical Salafists.

"Until now the Salafists -- who are certainly a minority but capable of mobilizing and acting -- have taken advantage of the government's hesitation."

He said Ennahda has no deep interest in facing up to this problem, which highlights that the party itself is "torn between hawks and doves".

The Salafists have a hard core of about 200 people but 5,000-7,000 supporters, including backers of Ben Ali's dissolved party, according to estimates.

"The fact remains that much of the base for Ennahda is close to that doctrine," said researcher Alaya Allani, specialist in Islamic movements in North Africa.

Suddenly, Tunisia's ruling Islamist party "finds itself in a very difficult situation," said the researcher. "It does not want go to war with the Salafists, because it does not want to lose that base before the next election.

"But it won't be able to maintain its stance of ambiguity much longer."

From iOwnTheWorld (thanks to Jack).

Tiny Minority of Extremists™ Update from modern, moderate Indonesia: "Indonesia: About '1.8 million people' have terror links," from AKI, October 12 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Jakarta, 12 Oct. (AKI) - About 1.8 million of Indonesia's 246 million people have potential links to terrorism, according to the country's anti-terror chief.

"The number is this. More or less 1.8 million people take part in terrorist networks," said Ansyaad Mbai., who heads Indonesia's National Anti-Terrorism Agency, or BNPT, speaking during a panel discussion in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Indonesia, world's most populous Muslim country, is combating Al-Qaeda linked terrorists whose most notorious attack was in Bali in 2002 when 200 people died in an attack by the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group. The country is also fighting a separatist movement in the Aceh region of northern Sumatra....

"When asked whether there are men inside the NTC that are affiliated with terrorist groups, the senior defense official admitted, 'Yeah, probably'."

We tried to tell you. More on this story. "Libya the new terrorist haven?," by Chris Lawrence for CNN, September 14:

Terrorist groups are trying to set up for a long-term presence in Libya, a senior defense official said Wednesday, but American intelligence is not showing a mass movement into the country.

The official, who gave a briefing to reporters at the Pentagon on the condition that the official not be identified, said the fall of Moammar Gadhafi has unleashed some groups that were constrained during the Libyan leader's regime.

The official said terrorist groups "are playing it safe in the short term, but are trying to set up a footprint and network internally for the long haul." The official said terrorist groups now have more freedom to operate within Libya, and "we're concerned about it."

Because some of the terrorist groups were clearly anti-Ghadafi, the Gadhafi regime put its military and intelligence resources into clamping down on the groups, the official said. Now the regime has collapsed, and the NTC is more concerned with dealing with the remnants of that regime than keeping an eye on militant groups.

The official suggested that the United States is seeing some movement into Libya by outside militants, but "in the dozens," not on a large scale.

One reason for the militants' current low profile is the NATO presence.

"It is in their interest to keep a low profile. Any perception of them being active will only draw the kind of attention they don't want while they try to establish these networks" in Libya, the official said.

There is little current danger of the National Transitional Council being co-opted by militants, the official said, noting TNC leaders have gone to great lengths to dissociate themselves from extremists.

They are talking a good game, deftly wielding emotionally loaded platitudes and buzzwords, though their success depends on leaving un-examined the particulars of where "moderation" ends and "extremism" begins.

But when asked whether there are men inside the NTC that are affiliated with terrorist groups, the senior defense official admitted, "Yeah, probably."

SHAH ALAM: Umno senator Ezam Mohd Nor said he has to come to the defence of Islam and will wage war against those who tarnish the religion, including burning online news portals.

He also warned Muslim staff of Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider not to become agents for infidels.

Wait, what could get the 'peaceful' Muslims riled up enough to 'wage war'?  Of course, it's those treacherous infidels. As for how one 'burns' an online news portal, this is not really spelled out by the senator. But would these peaceful moderate Muslims be willing to burn down real buildings, along with the people inside? With all the churches that have been targeted by arson attacks in Malaysia in recent years, we should already know the answer to this question. 

“Don’t be a (Brutus) for the infidel’s agenda. You can find employment elsewhere,” Ezam said after claiming that these portals showed strong stance against the JAIS action at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC).

“We give you a last warning. If you don’t stop, we’ll burn,” said Ezam, a former ally of Anwar Ibrahim.

And any ensuing violence that results because of this explicit threat will, of course, be entirely the fault of the 'infidels'.

He also extended his threat to the Muslims who abet the non-Muslims in conversions out of Islam.

“We have no choice but to wage war to protect the Muslim faith,” said Ezam in front of 500 fellow Muslims at the compound of the Selangor state mosque in Shah Alam.

On a similar note Ezam told dozens of reporters that Muslims have no issues with non-Muslims.

“We have a problem if the Menteri Besar pawns Islam for votes,” he said in reference to Selangor Menteri Besar, Khalid Ibrahim.

“We have a problem if Shah Alam MP pawns Islam,” Ezam added, and extended his warning to Selangor’s Christian exco members- Teresa Kok, Elizabeth Wong, Ronnie Liu and Xavier Jayakumar.

“We have problems with infidels who convert Muslims,” he said.

Don't they know that the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims abhor Osama and reject his jihad? Surely they will rise up and demand that this contest be withdrawn. Surely any minute now, the protests will begin! Tiny Minority of Extremists™ Update: "Pakistan college contest: Praise for Osama bin Laden," from the Associated Press, July 2 (thanks to JW Watcher):

Lahore: Two months after the covert U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, posters emblazoned with images of the burning World Trade Center towers appeared at the country's largest university advertising a literary contest to glorify the former Al Qaeda chief.

The poem and essay competition at the prestigious Punjab University shows the footholds of hard-line Islamists on college campuses and growing efforts to raise their profile and influence even in the relatively cosmopolitan atmosphere of Pakistan's culture capital, Lahore.

The contest's organizers have kept their identities hidden. But many students and teachers suspect it is being held by a powerful Islamist student group that has increasingly enforced its conservative religious views on the rest of the campus -- sometimes violently.

Note yet again that for AP, a conservative is someone who wants to impose Sharia on the rest of us. A conservative is also someone who wants to resist the imposition of Sharia.

The Islami Jamiat Talaba, which is connected to Pakistan's largest Islamist party, has denied involvement, saying it doesn't participate in secret activities. But its leaders have publicly acknowledged that many members support bin Laden and have a profound hatred for the U.S. [...]

The ability of Islami Jamiat Talaba, or Islamic Student Group, to gain ground on the university -- even though many students reject its radical views -- also reflects a general unwillingness of Pakistani authorities to challenge the powerful Islamist forces.

"Whoever is America's friend is a traitor!" roared the head of the student group, Zubair Safdar, in an interview with The Associated Press.

His views were echoed by 19-year-old student Bismah Khan as she read one of the posters promoting the bin Laden contest. One of three topics for the essay section was: "Osama, a thorn piercing the hearts of infidels."

The group holding the contest identifies itself only as "Sheik Lovers" -- a reference to bin Laden, who's often called the "Sheik" -- and provided an email address for contestants to submit their entries by June 30. Attempts by the AP to contact organizers by email went unanswered, and it's unclear what kind of prizes would go to the winners.

Many students said they opposed the contest, reflecting the low support for bin Laden, al-Qaida and militant groups across the nation. "The killer of humanity cannot be a great person," said student Ali Akbar.

A survey taken after bin Laden's death by the Washington-based Pew Research Center showed that 12 percent of Pakistanis have a favorable view of Al Qaeda. But only 10 percent approve of the U.S. Navy SEAL operation that killed him May 2 not far from Islamabad. The raid humiliated Pakistan because the government was not told about it beforehand. [...]

Expressing opinions freely can be dangerous business at Punjab University, which has an enrollment of roughly 30,000, because of the risk that members of Islami Jamiat Talaba will deem them against Islam, said students and teachers.

The group has effectively seized control of running the dormitories and sends groups of men across campus to enforce its strict brand of Islam: music is forbidden and men and women are not allowed to sit together outside class. It also discourages the formation of rival student groups. [...]

One of these "Vice and Virtue" squads last week beat up a philosophy student who was sitting with a female classmate, said Safdar, head of the student group and university spokesman Khurram Shahzad. Teachers who cross the group also have allegedly been targeted.

"The university is not a date point," said Safdar. "If boys and girls walk holding hands, sit together back to back or lay on the lawn, this is not Islamic culture," he said. [...]

Earlier this year, members of both groups rallied tens of thousands of people across Pakistan in support of a man who murdered a liberal provincial governor because of his criticism of harsh laws for insulting Islam. [...]

The Pakistani-American man who tried to detonate a car bomb in New York City's Times Square last year, Faisal Shahzad, was well-educated and came from an affluent Pakistani family. He said he acted out of anger about U.S. attacks on Muslims overseas. Others have expressed frustration with Pakistan's alliance with the U.S.

A medical doctor and an engineer were allegedly involved in an attack on the regional office of Pakistan's most powerful intelligence agency in Lahore in 2009, according to police records. Two other medical doctors allegedly supported militants who attacked the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in 2008 and two mosques of the minority Ahmadi sect in Lahore in 2010, the records said.

Three former members of Islami Jamiat Talaba allegedly acted as hosts and facilitators for a Pakistani Taliban suicide squad that attacked a mosque near army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi in 2009, killing 35 people, said intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Hafiz Mohammad Iqbal, dean of the education faculty at Punjab University, said students were in danger of being radicalized because of the lackluster quality of education at public universities relative to private schools and the poor job prospects after graduation.

This environment can lead students in "the direction of radicalism and extremism," he said.

Lackluster quality of education does not create jihad. Note Faisal Shahzad and the doctors above. Amd remember the Glasgow jihad doctors?

CYBERJAYA: African nations have expressed interest and responded positively to the global movement of moderates.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said he had taken the opportunity to explain the concept to the heads of governments during the Leaders Retreat at the Langkawi International Dialogue.

“The leaders are interested in the idea and there is positive response in support of the [moderation] concept,” he told reporters after chairing the retreat yesterday.

Najib had in his address to the United Nations General Assembly last year called for the global movement of moderates that would see governments, intellectuals, religious scholars and business leaders across the world take a united stand against extremism.

The Prime Minister said that during the discussion, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete had shared his country's experience in which the government was in the midst of identifying moderates to solve the conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes in Burundi.

Exactly what this swell 'moderation concept' is supposed to all about is not disclosed in the article. And don't bother looking, either. Remember that articles in the Malaysian media are generally uncritical of and rather faithful to their government masters (and Islam is naturally blameless and beyond reproach). Which means that they're quite good at passing along their government's lies and taqiyya with a more-or-less straight face.

Neither does Najib bother to explain what 'extremism' is either. Naturally, it goes without saying that Islam is never to be considered as 'extremist' or to be associated in any way with 'extremism'. Of course; this would be Islamophobic and probably racist as well.

Prime Minister Najib, would supporting a bunch of homical-minded Jew-hating terrorists in the Middle East be considered 'extreme'?  Would throwing Malaysians who stop believing in Islam -- a.k.a. 'apostates' -- into Government built and funded prisons where they are assaulted and tortured by police be 'extreme'? Would those Malaysians who carry out and enforce a legal system -- a.k.a. Shariah -- that denotes women and non Muslims as inferior be deemed 'extremists'?

Malaysia's Najib may be able to fool a bunch of African leaders that he can 'identify moderates and extremists' with his (at best) questionable 'moderation concept'.  But if Najib wants to see a real extremist, all he really has to do is look in the mirror.

In the face of statements like that, suddenly the usual "underlying causes" -- poverty, alienation, lack of education, even "Zionist" conspiracies -- don't cut it as well to explain the culture of genocidal hatred and religious intolerance that simmers in Gaza. Gee, maybe there are underlying causes underlying the "underlying causes." Ones with chapter and verse.

"Pro Bin-Laden Rally In Gaza Strip: '[Osama Bin Laden] is the Man Who Shattered the Crosses; That is the Man Who Brought the Americans to Their Knees'," from MEMRI, May 31:

At Gaza Rally: "America is the Enemy of Allah"

Crowds: "There is no god but Allah.

"America is the enemy of Allah." […]

At Rafah Rally: "Osama Destroyed America"

Crowds: "Our souls and our blood we will give for you, oh Osama.

"Our souls and our blood we will give for you, oh Osama.

"Our souls and our blood we will give for you, oh Osama."

Demonstrator: "There is no god but Allah."

Crowds: "There is no god but Allah."

Demonstrator: "Sheikh Osama is loved by Allah."

Crowds: "Sheikh Osama is loved by Allah." [...]

Skipping over still more call-and-response (you can see it all at the link above)...

Demonstrator: "Beware, oh Pakistan…"

Crowds: "Beware, oh Pakistan…"

Demonstrator: "…of the soldiers of Taliban."

Crowds: "…of the soldiers of Taliban."

He's got them into such a hypnotic rhythm at this point, he could say "Brought to you by Nabisco," and they might go for it. But no, it gets worse, with an Islamic battle cry invoking Muhammad's massacre of the Jews of Khaybar, and promising more Khaybars to come:

"Khaybar, Khaybar, Oh Jews, the Army of Muhammad Is Returning"

Demonstrator: "Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews…"

Crowds: "Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews…"

Demonstrator: "…the army of Muhammad is returning."

Crowds: "…the army of Muhammad is returning." […]

Sheikh Munir Al-'Aydi: "This blessed man, Osama, Allah's mercy upon him, has given his money and his soul for the Jihad for the sake of Allah. At a time when real men are few, he united the nation around monotheism. Allah's mercy upon you, oh Osama. You were good in your life, and you were good in your death. That man Osama thwarted the American plan in this region, and did what no man has ever done before, especially in our times. He is not a man like all men. He is a man who was true to the pledge he made before Allah.

"That is the man who said: 'I pledge before Allah that America and its people will enjoy no security before we enjoy true security in Palestine.' He was always devoted to the land of Palestine. He was always devoted to the liberation of the holy places. He was always devoted to the instating of the law of Allah. […]

"Today, this proud lion has been dumped in the sea by the country of heresy and prostitution, America. They wanted him dead or alive. […]

"That is the man who brandished his weapon to fight the enemies of Allah. He led the Global Front for Jihad against America and its allies, the worshippers of the cross. He rightfully earned the title of the imam of our times."

Sheikh Munir Al-'Aydi: Bin Laden Is "The Man Who Shattered the Crosses"

In that, they make him sound like the Jesus of Islamic eschatology. And it goes on like that....

Is there any other poster outselling this one? Is the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims Who Abhor Bin Laden and Abominate Al-Qaeda buying up Gandhi posters at this clip? Or maybe Justin Bieber posters?

"Record sale of Osama posters in Pakistan," from IANS, May 10 (thanks to Mehreen):

ISLAMABAD: There has been a record sale of posters of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan after the al-Qaida leader was gunned down in a daring US commando raid May 2 in the country, a media report said on Tuesday.

More than 100,000 posters of Osama Bin Laden have been sold since his death, the Online news agency reported citing the print industry. It added that the volume of sale is increasing daily....

Yet more poll data indicates that the support for the global jihad and Islamic supremacism among Muslims is much larger than is widely believed in the West.

Tiny Minority of Extremists™ Update: "64% of Palestinians would not object to Bin Laden burial in 'Palestine,'" by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik for Palestinian Media Watch, May 9:

A Palestinian polling institute surveyed Palestinians in the first week of May 2011, apparently before it was known among Palestinians that Bin Laden's body had been buried at sea, and found that:

"64% of respondents stated that they would not object to Bin Laden being buried in Palestine, were such a possibility raised."...

What absurdity: this non-Muslim Muslim leader whom all Muslims despised is going to be the cause for their rioting? Pamela Geller observes: "But Obama said Osama bin Laden was 'not a Muslim leader.' So why are Muslims in a lather? If he doesn't represent Islam, why would Muslims go jihad? Such stupidity has no precedent." Indeed.

"Appeal For Calm In UK After Bin Laden Death," from SkyNews, May 2 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

The head of one of Britain's largest Muslim organisations has urged people to remain peaceful following the death of Osama bin Laden.

Councillor Salim Mulla, who is chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, told Sky News: "I am appealing publicly to all Muslim communities wherever they may be that there is no backlash. We should now move on."

Cllr Mulla said although he was not critical of the American operation that resulted in the Bin Laden's killing, he thought many Muslims would be "irritated".

He said: "I really hope and pray that there will not be a backlash. I hope it won't happen and I can't see it happening.

"I have been very critical of American foreign policy in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it is time to move on.

"In relation to Osama bin Laden - we believe that the soul of anybody who dies belongs to God and he will now be accountable to God."...

But...but...I thought bin Laden was not a Muslim leader, and represented only a Tiny Minority of Extremists. Shouldn't these Muslims be dancing in the streets and passing out candy because the great Hijacker of the Religion of Peace is dead?

"Arabs Riot in Jerusalem Over Bin Laden's Demise, Hamas Angry," by Hillel Fendel for Israel National News, May 2 (thanks to Benedict):

Arabs in the village of Silwan, adjacent to the City of David neighborhood in Jerusalem, rioted Monday night in protest over the elimination of Osama Bin-Laden. The rioters were throwing stones at police and attempting to block roads....

AP says he killed the "apostate" in accord with "his interpretation of Islamic law," but actually there is no traditional or mainstream formulation of Islamic law that does not call for the killing of apostates.

Tiny Minority of Extremists™ Update: "Admitted Pakistani assassin gets Valentine's love," by Asif Shahzad for Associated Press, February 14 (thanks to David):

ISLAMABAD - The confessed killer of a liberal Pakistani governor pleaded guilty to murder Monday, telling a judge he had no regrets because he killed "an apostate" as required under his interpretation of Islamic law, lawyers said.

Mumtaz Qadri shot dead Punjab province Gov. Salman Taseer in January while serving as a bodyguard. Qadri has told authorities he killed Taseer because the governor spoke out against harsh Pakistani blasphemy laws that impose the death sentence for insulting Islam....

Qadri was indicted Monday on a murder charge by an anti-terrorism court in the city of Rawalpindi.

Outside the court, dozens of Islamic activists carried banners saluting Qadri and demanded his immediate release. A small group of college students gave police flowers and a Valentine's Day card they wanted delivered to the defendant.

"Happy Valentine!" read one of the banners....

When the judge asked Mumtaz Qadri if he'd intentionally killed Taseer, the 26-year-old said he didn't consider his actions illegal, said defense lawyer Shuja-ur-Rehman Raja.

The lawyer quoted his client as saying he dealt with "an apostate" as required under Quranic and Islamic laws....

No one has been put to death for blasphemy because courts typically throw out the cases or commute the sentences. Still, some who are released are later killed by extremists or must go into hiding. Others accused of blasphemy spend long periods in prison while waiting for their cases to wind through the courts.

Taseer, a prominent member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, campaigned for a reform of the laws after a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, was sentenced to death last year for allegedly insulting Islam's prophet, Muhammad.

But in a sign of how scared the largely secular ruling party is of Islamist street power, party leaders didn't support Taseer's move and, since his killing, have said they would not touch the existing laws.

Angry Anglicans? Quarrelsome Quakers? Cantankerous Catholics? Belligerent Buddhists?

No, sorry. Islam's Tiny Minority of Extremists only ever seems to get less tiny. "Britain facing 'unstoppable wave of home-grown suicide bombers' warns MI6," from the Daily Mail, February 4 (thanks to all who sent this in):

The terrifying prospect of a wave of suicide bombings by home-grown terrorists unknown to authorities was revealed today.

The problem is set to blight Britain for a generation, an MI6 officer warned in secret intelligence documents.

The Secret Intelligence Service official warned that radicalised British Muslims who undertake training will become 'suicide operatives' who will target innocent civilians.

British-born terrorists were behind the July 7 2005 London bombings and the four men involved had been radicalised and received terror training abroad.

The warning came in a briefing of U.S. congressmen who visited the UK in 2008 and was contained in a cache of American diplomatic cables obtained by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.

The documents also reveal American concerns that British intelligence workers are failing to contain domestic terrororist because of budget cuts.

The warning was revealed by the Daily Telegraph as the independent reviewer of anti-terror laws claimed that European human rights rulings had made the UK a 'safe haven' for suspected terrorists.

In his annual review of legislation, Lord Carlile of Berriew backed the Government's attempts to deport foreign suspects with assurances over their treatment once returned home.

According to the U.S. embassy's record of the congressmen's visit, the MI6 official told them that the UK was 'wholly or largely dependent' on help from the CIA and other American sources for monitoring terrorism.

And he told them that 'the internal threat is growing more dangerous because some extremists are conducting non-lethal training without ever leaving the country.

'Should these extremists then decide to become suicide operatives, HMG (Her Majesty's Government) intelligence resources, eavesdropping and surveillance would be hard pressed to find them on any "radar screen".'

The document said that the officer 'described this as a "generational" problem that will not go away anytime soon'.

The problem of jihad hasn't gone away for almost 1400 years.