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Kyrgyzstan: Imam arrested for urging Muslims to fight for Islamic State

Feb 19, 2015 10:22 am By Robert Spencer

Rashot KamalovBut Obama just told us again: the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam! How is it, then, that a Muslim cleric, someone who has dedicated his life to understanding Islam correctly, would get it so drastically wrong? His supporters here claim that his arrest is politically motivated, and it may be indeed, but in reality it is not at all farfetched that a Muslim cleric could be recruiting for the Islamic State. And that shows up yet again the falsity of the Obama narrative.

Note also how the professor at the end of the piece is worried that the arrest will cause young Muslims to become “radicalized.” So here again we’re supposed to believe that young Muslims who abhor and reject terrorism as a perversion of Islam will turn to it if they’re angry.

“Kyrgyzstan detains imam for ‘encouraging followers to fight for Isis,'” the Guardian, February 18, 2015 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Al-Sarahsiy Mosque is usually packed with thousands of worshippers from across southern Kyrgyzstan.

They come to Kara-Suu – a town of 20,000 – to listen to the sermons of Rashot Kamalov, the mosque’s charismatic imam, who is respected for criticising brutal and corrupt officials, society’s moral decline and western pop culture.

However, on Friday 13 February, the two-story mosque near the Uzbekistan border was half-empty and surrounded by police. Government officials introduced a new imam.

Kamalov had been arrested four days earlier for allegedly encouraging militants to fight alongside Islamic State (Isis) in Syria and Iraq, charges his supporters say are intended to silence a prominent critic.

“The imam in custody has not just appealed for the creation of a caliphate but has also been telling believers about the war in Syria and making extremist statements,” Zhenish Ashirbaev, an Interior Ministry spokesman told Interfax on 10 February.

Ashirbaev added that Kamalov is also suspected of belonging to Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an international Islamist group banned throughout the region which agitates for the creation of a state governed by its interpretation of Islamic law but officially disavows violence.

Police “found extremist books and other materials at the suspect’s house and in the mosque,” Interfax quoted the spokesman as saying.

In connection with Kamalov’s arrest, Kyrgyz security forces have fanned out across southern Kyrgyzstan arresting dozens of alleged militants. Security officials say the raids have led to the recovery of illegal weapons and extremist literature, and have disrupted cells that were recruiting Kyrgyz citizens to join Isis….

In an interview weeks before his arrest, Kamalov said he had received death threats from Isis supporters for his criticism of the terrorist movement.

“I have many enemies because I tell people the truth. I am not afraid of anyone save Allah. They can only take my life, not my soul,” he said.

Supporters dispute the government’s characterisation of Kamalov as an Islamic militant and say evidence against him is being fabricated….

Observers are divided over how much Kamalov’s arrest will affect stability in southern Kyrgyzstan, which is still grappling with the consequences of the 2010 bloodletting. Approximately 500 Kamalov supporters gathered on the day of his arrest, though police managed to disperse them without force. During Friday prayers four days later the streets were still filled with police.

Observers have cautioned that the arrest could be counter-productive for the government’s efforts to curb recruitment of potential Isis fighters.

“Kamalov worked hard to reduce radicalism’s allure,” the economics professor said. “By arresting him, authorities have made things difficult for themselves. Many young believers are disillusioned by the arrest, and they will turn to radicals.”

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Filed Under: Featured, Kyrgyzstan, mosques Tagged With: Rashot Kamalov


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Comments

  1. Angemon says

    Feb 19, 2015 at 10:31 am

    In an interview weeks before his arrest, Kamalov said he had received death threats from Isis supporters for his criticism of the terrorist movement.

    (…)

    Observers have cautioned that the arrest could be counter-productive for the government’s efforts to curb recruitment of potential Isis fighters.

    “Kamalov worked hard to reduce radicalism’s allure,” the economics professor said. “By arresting him, authorities have made things difficult for themselves. Many young believers are disillusioned by the arrest, and they will turn to radicals.”

    Something doesn’t add up.

    • Alex says

      Feb 20, 2015 at 1:28 am

      Something really doesn’t add up Angemon —-C-O-N-T-R-A-D-I-C-T-I-O-N !!!!!! Shouldn’t they follow his preaching and prove he is innocent of accusations instead turning radicals on the opposite side? Which in reality is not opposite side!!!!

    • M S case says

      Feb 20, 2015 at 5:41 pm

      GREAT GOOD GOD IN HEAVEN…………………… ONLY ONE ARRESTED????????

  2. Jackson says

    Feb 19, 2015 at 11:36 am

    We should let them have a Caliphate, bear with me, then, they will turn their sites on Shiite Iran and Saudi Arabia, who are our worst enemies. All true Muslims want to live under sharia, let them all go over there, then we can tell who is really a REAL Muslim

    • Marco says

      Feb 19, 2015 at 1:20 pm

      Problem with that is they want the entire world under the caliphate not just some of it. That then would include the N America and Europe. I agree our true enemy is Iran And the House of Saud.

  3. xxxChurch100 says

    Feb 20, 2015 at 3:03 pm

    We have 2 missionaries, Ben and Lara and their 4 children from our church here in Sydney that have been working to grow Gods’ Kingdom , the living God of the Bible , in Kyrgyzstan for the past 5 years …

    Please pray that they will remain safe and continue to bring the good news of the Saviour to the ordinary Muslim of that country . Thank you .

    • M S case says

      Feb 21, 2015 at 7:33 pm

      I praise God for any missionaries anywhere in the world and since the muslims are trying and succeeding in driving the =Christians out of their countries and killing them also I pray that all missionaries are safe from this arm of satan.

  4. Matthieu Baudin says

    Feb 21, 2015 at 1:24 am

    The fate of all the Central Asian Republics is important vies-à-vis the International Jihad.
    It would be nice to know a lot more about the internal struggles of these countries.

  5. Kenneth Medenbach says

    Feb 21, 2015 at 10:57 am

    2 Peter 2:1 “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”

    As Christians, we are cautioned against false prophets and false teachers, who, in the Muslim’s case, Mohammad and his Imams who secretly teach destructive religious opinions and deny the gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ, will bring upon themselves swift destruction.

  6. Anna says

    Apr 7, 2015 at 1:46 pm

    Dr.bill Warner
    A must to read

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