The report “Islamic anti-democratic and violence-promoting environments in Denmark. What do we know?” is groundbreaking. Even our Social Democrats seem to notice the imminent danger and that the basis of our society and whole way of life – democracy – is under attack. According to the report, Islamic movements also reject multiculturalism…
Translated from Danish by Nicolai Sennels, Politiken, May 8: “Report: Copenhagen has for years had Islamic movements that promote violence“:
There are several different types of anti-democratic movements that adhere to Islamist ideologies in Denmark. This is the conclusion in a new report on the extremist currents in parts of the Muslim community in Denmark. The report is published by the Ministry of Social Services and Integration.
According to Minister Karen Haekkerup (Social Democrats), the report show that extremist environments pose a threat to democracy. The report also states that several of the extremist environments have played a role for people who were caught in terrorist cases.
“Research indicates that for several years there has been an environment in the Copenhagen area that supports violence, environments that are connected to several terrorism cases,” it states.
“In Denmark, there are different types of anti-democratic movements which profess Islamist ideologies.”
Islamism is defined in the report as a political interpretation of Islam, where society is to be regulated and guided by principles found in Islam.
According to the report, Islamism gets its nourishment from a victim mentality among its followers. “The perception of injustice and oppression of Muslims in a Danish and global context is a recurring theme,” it explains.
“Not only the present rulers of the world are perceived as enemies, but also non-Muslims as Muslims who do not reject the Western lifestyle, multiculturalism, integration and participation in democratic elections are perceived as enemies in these environments,” it states. “Wars and violent conflicts around the world, and conflicts and problems in Denmark are also linked to give a coherent picture of a general conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims, where Muslims are superior, but at the moment are ‘victims'”.
However, there are differences in how far the communities want to go. Some believe that the caliphate – an Islamic state – should be introduced everywhere in Denmark. Others consider this goal unrealistic.
There are four types of groups who adhere to political Islamic ideologies.
There are groups that follow a single leader and are mainly oriented towards situations outside Denmark. Then there are some that are oriented both towards abroad and Denmark.
And there are the activist movements that “in an aggressive way interact with Danish society”, and finally, the established organisations that are mainly concerned about situations abroad. All types of groups have contacts to Islamic extremists abroad – also through the Internet, including social media.
Hence, groups gathered around individuals such as Sheik Abu Ahmad and the network Called that has distinguished itself in Copenhagen by warning Muslims against participation in democratic elections and by introducing Sharia zones in the troubled ghetto Tingbjerg.
According to the report, the introduction of sharia zones suggests that Called has had contact with the controversial imam Anjem Choudary in Britain, who has had several of his groups prohibited.
“It seems likely that Called to some extent cooperates with, or is at least inspired by Choudary,” the report states.
The most extreme movements reject Muslim participation in democratic action.
“Such persons can be branded as infidels, so-called kufr,” says the report on Islamist extremism.
Among other extreme movements are organizations such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, which also participates in the public debate and is part of an international organization with origins in the Middle East. It is believed to have up to 200 active members and can gather around 1000-1200 people to its public events.
The degree of contact with society divides the Islamist groups. It even happens that outright hostility erupts between the groups if one group chooses to cooperate with authorities in cases of reporting crimes.
Several of the movements have been involved in the terrorism cases that the police has been able to unravel in recent years. In the Glasvejen case (Denmark), one of the convicted had contact with Hizb-ut-Tahrir and with persons connected to other cases in Glostrup (Denmark) and Sarajevo (Bosnia). It also had connections to the imam Said Mansour, who is convicted of encouraging terrorism. Also the Vollsmose case (Denmark) and the case of a Somali who attacked Muhammad cartoonist Kurt Westergaard in his own home are associated with environments suspected of terrorism.
According to the report, the former Guantanamo prisoner Slimane Hadj Abderrahmane has explained how he started looking in the Aarhus area (Denmark) for contacts that could help him to participate in combat.
The Danish Islamic communities have existed since the early 1990s, when Denmark allowed suspected terrorists or convicted terrorists to settle in the country. One of them was the Egyptian Talat Fuad Qassim, who was convicted in Egypt for involvement in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981 and who was granted asylum in Denmark. According to the report, Qassim propagated at Friday prayers in a mosque in Nørrebro. Another was a terrorist case from Aarhus in which fingerprints of the accused were found in the investigation of an attack against the World Trade Center in 1993.
The report states that it is extremely difficult to get a precise picture of Islamist extremism. “It is exceedingly difficult to do research on this worrisome topic, since it is extremely difficult to access existing data and to generate new ones,” it states.
JihadWatch on the sharia zones in Tingbjerg: “Denmark: Islamic group seeks to introduce ‘Sharia zones’ in Copenhagen“