“Freedom House, a New York-based human rights group, is preparing a report that it says examines documents distributed in some American mosques containing denunciations against non-Muslims and fellow Muslims who show religious tolerance.” From AP, with thanks to Twostellas:
Alleged Takfir connections have popped up elsewhere over the past year, including France and Jordan. In Belgium, security forces are looking into possible links between the Nov. 2 slaying of Van Gogh and recent anonymous threats against politicians.
The uncompromising Takfir doctrine has been around for decades _ denouncing even moderate Muslims as “infidels.” But global communications and louder militant voices could be offering fresh energy. It’s part of larger worries about rising Islamic extremism in an Internet age when texts and sermons reach nearly everywhere and peripheral movements can quickly gather momentum.
“Authorities are looking in the wrong direction,” said Azzaz Tamimi, head of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought in London. “Many Muslims feel under pressure. This pressure and anger can make people radicalized. Extremism is not just with big terrorist groups. It’s out on the streets and radical movements are easily tapping into it.”
Freedom House, a New York-based human rights group, is preparing a report that it says examines documents distributed in some American mosques containing denunciations against non-Muslims and fellow Muslims who show religious tolerance.
Takfir, literally “excommunication,” refers to scorning societies perceived as corrupt and deserving retribution. Hijra refers to withdrawing from anything considered against Islam….
The Takfir movement’s limitless suspicion of outsiders and elusive tactics create huge complications for monitoring and infiltrating. Among Takfir precepts is “taqiyya,” or use of deceptions that include blending into non-Muslims societies. This led some U.S. investigators to suspect Takfir links to some of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, though no clear evidence emerged.
There’s also worry about a trend toward smaller, independent Takfir cells that follow their own random agendas.
“Now we have a new generation of fundamentalists,” said Mohamed Salah, an expert on Islamic radicals and the Cairo bureau chief of the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat. “The atmosphere in the world now makes it easy for someone to get two or three people together and form a group.”
Takfir has cropped up on the fringes of recent terrorist probes.
In Jordan, one of 13 suspects accused of plotting to bomb American targets earlier this year is an alleged Takfir adherent. Moroccan officials have targeted Takfir followers in raids. Last year, French anti-terrorist agents detained more than a dozen suspected Takfir members.
Also last year, Lebanese forces arrested dozens of suspects accused of planning to assassinate the U.S. ambassador and other plots. Some suspects were reportedly Takfir followers.
Belgian investigators, meanwhile, are looking for possible ties between the Van Gogh slaying and threats against political figures including the justice minister and a lawmaker with Moroccan parents, Mimount Bousakla, who has challenged conservative Muslim social codes. Bousakla went into hiding after receiving anonymous calls that included a threat “to ritually slaughter her,” Belgian officials said Wednesday.
But some people still have no clue. Here is one of the comments on this article:
By Daniel Trujillo (Submitted: 11/19/2004 1:39 pm)
Big deal. We got that here in American Christianity with those who think moderates should be excommunicated and those that believe their faith is the only true faith. Here also factions exist and politics are affected.