Prosperous, educated Muslims joining the jihad? How could this be? Everyone knows that poverty causes ignorant Muslims to join terror groups — right?
Wrong.
The New York Times reported last year that “not long after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001…Alan B. Krueger, the Princeton economist, tested the widespread assumption that poverty was a key factor in the making of a terrorist. Mr. Krueger’s analysis of economic figures, polls, and data on suicide bombers and hate groups found no link between economic distress and terrorism.”
CNS News noted in September 2013 that “according to a Rand Corporation report on counterterrorism, prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2009, ‘Terrorists are not particularly impoverished, uneducated, or afflicted by mental disease. Demographically, their most important characteristic is normalcy (within their environment). Terrorist leaders actually tend to come from relatively privileged backgrounds.’ One of the authors of the RAND report, Darcy Noricks, also found that according to a number of academic studies, ‘Terrorists turn out to be more rather than less educated than the general population.’”
Yet the analysis that poverty causes terrorism has been applied and reapplied and reapplied again.
“As Kashmiri youth assaulted at Sharda University joins militancy, his family struggles for answers,” by Safwat Zargar, Scroll.in, November 3, 2018 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Ahtisham Bilal Sofi, who was injured when a mob assaulted Afghani students at his campus last month, said he has joined an affiliate of the Islamic State.
On October 4, Ahtisham Bilal Sofi, 19, was injured when a mob assaulted Afghani students at Sharda University in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. On October 28, the Kashmiri student disappeared after leaving the campus for Delhi. On November 2, he appeared online, a militant.
“By the grace of Allah, I, Ahtisham Bilal, have joined the ranks of Jundul Khilafah Kashmir and pledged my allegiance to Amiral-Mu’minin Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi al-Husseini al-Quraishi,” he declared in an audio message that has since gone viral on social media.
A picture of Ahtisham Sofi, dressed in black and a grenade vest strapped around his chest, holds the screen while his voice plays in the background. The Islamic State’s black banner forms the backdrop of the picture.
Ahtisham Sofi’s seemingly sudden transformation from a “sober boy who loved cricket” to a guerrilla fighter threatening to “spill the blood of infidels from Delhi to Kerala” has left his family and relatives reeling. They cannot fathom why he took “such a step”, his father said. “I was planning to visit him during the Diwali holidays,” Bilal Sofi added. “Only last week, he was pestering me and his mother to visit him in Greater Noida. I have no idea what happened during the last one week. God only knows.”
The family has now appealed to militant groups to help their son return home. “Whichever group my son is with, I beg them to allow him to return home,” his sobbing mother Irfana said in a video released on Saturday. “For God’s sake, please return my Ahtisham to me. We don’t have any other son in our family. I appeal to every militant group to help me in getting my son back.”…
Ahtisham Sofi is the latest in an expanding list of educated, prosperous youth joining the militancy in Kashmir. Just last month, security forces killed Hizbul Mujahideen’s Mannan Wani, who had abandoned his PhD studies at Aligarh Muslim University, to take up the gun.
In his message, which runs to about six minutes, Ahtisham Sofi maintains that the assault on Afghani students at his university made him realise he could no longer “avoid jihad in Allah’s way.”
“I was already a soldier of Jundul Khilafah when I fought against more than 100 infidels for Afghani Muslims,” he says, referring to the campus violence. “The only difference was that I wasn’t aware of it. In my heart, I had already pledged allegiance to Jundul Khilafah but when infidel dogs came in hordes to attack me, I understood that I have avoided Jihad in Allah’s way for long enough. Not any more.”
AdvertisementYet, his father said, Ahtisham Sofi had refused to seek punishment for the local students who had hurt him. “Even when the university’s officials and the police assured him of action against the students who had assaulted him, he refused,” Bilal Sofi said. “He only asked for his hostel to be changed.” He had enrolled in the university in September and was studying for a Bachelor’s in radiography.
After learning of his son’s injury, Bilal Sofi went to stay with him for a few days. “During my stay on the campus, all those students who had assaulted Ahtisham except two came to me and apologised,” he said. “They were afraid of being suspended. Ahtisham even accompanied them to the administration. I didn’t notice any change in his behaviour.”
On October 28, Ahtisham Sofi left his hostel, saying he was going to Delhi for sightseeing. “Every Friday and Sunday, we would go out and visit places,” said Mubashir Nazir Sofi, 19, his cousin and roommate. “I did not join him since I had exams the next day.”…
Bilal Sofi said his son never showed any inclination towards militancy. “He was fed up of the daily violence and strikes because they were affecting his studies,” he said. “It was Ahtisham who expressed his wish to study outside the state. I spent nearly six lakh rupees on his and his cousin’s admission in Sharda University.”
His aunt Shabnam said Ahtisham Sofi was a “sober boy” who loved cricket. Pointing to a portion of his house’s compound wall with chipped paint, she said, “Ahtisham didn’t go out much. He and Mubashir grew up together and they would often play indoors. When he was alone, he would bowl a plastic ball against this wall. It was his companion.”
In the days before he disappeared, Bial Sofi said his son had been constantly asking his mother to visit him. “He really wanted to see her,” the father said. “Ahtisham wanted me to hire or buy a flat in Delhi on my next visit so all of us could stay together there. Save for that incident of violence, he was really enjoying his stay at the university.”
Bilal Sofi runs a sanitaryware store in Khanyar and the family also owns a shopping complex. “Ahtisham is the lone heir to this property,” Shabnam said. “Who else is it for?”
But Ahtisham has entered a different life. “Do you think this world won’t end?” he asks in his message, addressing his family. “Do we have to stay in the world all our life? I have taken my decision so that I could pray before Allah in the afterlife to seek paradise for you.”
Mac-101 says
No country has been more accepting of their enslavers who murdered over 60 million of their people yet have so much terrorism against them in the 21st century. You can NOT befriend a rattle snake. No good deed goes unpunished!
Peter Buckley says
“I am requesting the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to help us exit from Pakistan.” — Ashiq Masih, Asia Bibi’s husband.
“Placing Asia Bibi on the ECL [no-fly list] is like signing her death warrant.” — Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association.
Government caving in to “extremists”.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13250/asia-bibi-pakistan-betrayal
gravenimage says
Yes–I hope we get her and her family out of Pakistan.
infidel says
What cold served Taqiyya by the terrorist boy’s father. It is only because the present Indian Govt under PM Modi is taking very strict action against Islamic pests, that the boy’s parents are afraid that their son will be encountered. Had it been the previous Govt which used to appease these terrorists for votes, his father would have been a very proud father of a mad Jehaadi. Also, the Indian Govt is bending over backwards to educate these Muslim youth in order to main stream them, but still most of them become hardcore terrorists. Not only that, Muslims outside of Kashmir silently support these traitors.
raja says
+1
Raja says
When a snake is reared in the house it might bite anytime. Same is the case with Islam. You eat, live and sleep Islam and one fine day someone (maybe all) might turn pious Muslim, a potential mass murderer. And this allah god requires you to lie, kill and do all things immoral for 72 voluptuous virgins in a carnal paradise. They don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting anywhere close to 72 virgins in paradise. This is just the opposite of What Jesus taught.
And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” (Luke 20:34-36)
Leftists: Ah the bible and Koran are so similar…
Elisha says
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. – Ecclesiastes 3:11
No excuses come Judgement. Plenty of “Conservative” atheists out there too. Go figure. 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12
Westman says
“When he was alone, he would bowl a plastic ball against this wall. It was his companion.”
Like the movie Cast Away and its “Mr. Wilson”? Nothing abnormal here…
It seems the degree of social discomfiture and the rejection of unbelievers is directly proportional to the saturation level of Islam in the believer’s brain. The wealthy have more free time to become saturated.
mortimer says
90% of jihadists come from well-educated, financially well-off and emotionally stable families.
Poverty and social instability does not lead to RADICALIZATION.
Contact with Islamic PRIMARY SOURCE TEXTS and the writings of MAUDUDI, AWLAKI, QUTB and MUHAMMAD FARAJ does lead to RADICALIZATION.
There is no excuse for any journalist to ever repeat the canard that poverty and instability cause jihadism.
PURITAN ISLAM CAUSES JIHADISM.
Prabh says
Memo to IslamoSquattors of the Subcontinent (Aryavarthasthan/india):
Kashmir will NEVER be yours. (not ever)
Raja Hari Singh decided (for ALL Time) his Kingdom of Kashmir is with India (Bharat) – end of story.
Please also note islamojihadists: Might of Hindu Arm is not an idle threat –
in the last major war (Kurukshetra, Haryana, India) at the junction of two ages (Dwapar/Kaljug – Silver and Iron – there was a mixup in the order of the ages – bronze was earlier I hear) about 5000 years ago there were only Eleven (11) survivors. Within this current age of blackness we are in a downward spiral – a twilight within the kaljug according to Rajaram, the author of Nostradamus and Beyond: Visions of Yuga-Sandhi.
For the Truthful and pious it is always Satya Yuga (Golden Age) (this is what gives me hope)
Islamojihadists belong in the sands of arabia-far, far away from Aryavarta/Akhand Bharat.
I encourage all Muslims to undergo Ghar Wapsi – Return to your Vedantic Arya roots – become genuinely happy and blissful – enjoy the ethical pleasures of life – like going out for a walk with a canine – or organic gardening – and do not squander the gift of life in human form in something as stupid as islamojihad. Please acquire an education. There is no need to fight, however I assure you, India has learned her lessons well – push us hard enough, and I assure you we will fight – and fight to win, I might add.
Islamists please note that your dysgenic marriage practices are revolting and disgusting to the entire Dharmic World. Torturous removal of children’s vital body parts is INTOLERABLE as is the inability to see women as full EQUALS.
Prabh (excuse any and all errors)
Marina says
“They cannot fathom why he took “such a step”, his father said.”
Well one reason is that he finally read the Koran attentively
Marina says
They cannot fathom why he took “such a step”, his father said.
Well one reason is that he finally read the Koran attentively
Walter Sieruk says
As well explain in an essay a few years ago about the dangerous and murderous actions of many violent jihadist /Muslims ,they can’t be stopped by “education” As writer explained “Education is no the answer…” So the question may be posed “What is the answer to the scheming and deadly violent behavior of those, so many jihadists ?”
The answer is that the Muslims in their irrational and deluded Islamic quest need to wake up by coming out of denial about the many errors and falsehoods of Islam. “How can they do this ? ” a person might rightly asked ! It’s by and if they are not so intentionally ignorant as to refuse the check out the facts and well as investigate other worldviews.
A great example is they should first understand the it wisely written ,in the Bible “Do not stand up for a bad cause.” Ecclesiastes 8:3. [N.I.V.]
So in the light and information found in the Bible, Islam ,with or without its jihad is “a bad cause.”
As Islam’s denies of the Bible’s doctrines of and about the actual nature of Jesus is blasphemous. For Islam denies that Jesus is the Son of God. That is the Son of God the Father. Likewise, Islam denies the Jesus is God the Son. What blasphemy! For the Bible does, indeed, teach that Jesus is the Son of God, Matthew 3:16,17. First John 2:22 23. As well as hat Jesus is God the Son, Hebrews 1:8. First John 5:20. As a former Muslim who is now a Christian had explained “In the Son, the real issue of belief is certainty entering the Kingdom of heaven in the life and the full Deity of God lives in Him. He therefore is able to transfer people to the heavenly kingdom and unite them with God.” [1] The last three words, “them with God” meaning God the Father. The Bible confirms this about the Deity of the Son. The Bible teaches “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” Colossians 2:9. Therefore, in the Light of the Bible, Islam is a false religion, Isaiah 8:20. John 14:6.
[1] ISLAM AND THE SON OF GOD by Daniel Shayesteh page 222
The is also the Christian internet site http://www.answering-islam.org
Indiana Tom says
Prosperous, educated Muslims joining the jihad? How could this be?
In Islam…
The more you know, the more you blow.
Indiana Tom says
Everyone knows that poverty causes ignorant Muslims to join terror groups — right?
This is why the Jihadis need a jobs program. Solves all the problems.
We could put them in charge of building nuclear missiles.
What could go wrong?
FYI says
It’s that one finger tawheed thing again with the muslim fanatic showing us how high their IQ is.
Giving up the chance of a productive life for the false promises of a false god with his false religion and false scripture,by following the Commandment-of-God violating sunnah of islam’s false prophet and perfect man,muhammed for a carnal paradise of immorality.
yes{sarc},we can see how islam always attracts the bright people..
allah does not even guarantee muslims salvation!k4:18
So no jihadist or suicide-bomber can be 100% certain of being spared by their god allah the deceiver.
And moslems cannot differentiate between their islamic god allah “The best of deceivers” k3:54 and God.
{There is a BIG CLUE in allah revealing himself to be very good at fooling people:something which muslims simply don’t get..they cannot figure out that it is they who are deceived by the lies of islam,the religion of antiChrist..}
allah,the “best of deceivers” k3:54,rewards the evil doers in islamic paradise:who needs God’s Exodus 20 laws when you have allah to tell his holy muslims they can BREAK them and be rewarded for doing so!
gravenimage says
Kashmir: Prosperous, educated Muslims join the jihad in increasing numbers
………………….
This is actually quite common–Jihad Watch has pointed out this phenomenon many times before. Jihad is not about ignorance and poverty as apologists pretend.
simpleton1 says
He believes that in laying down his life, it is so that he can intercede plea for up to 70 of his relatives.
So what greater love is, than to sacrifice one’s love for Allah, and plus great gains for his family,
This is what we must know to combat more effectively.
There seems to be more than the 70 eternal virgins that we joke about in the reward. Ok it is good to joke about them.
We must know some of these other very important points about what a “shaheed” follows!
—————————
From the writings of another muslim, son of a head master of a school, born in 1968, who fought the Russians in Afghanistan.
http://www.archive.org/stream/Virtuesofjihad/VirtuesOfJihad_djvu.txt pg 27
So we must learn that though they say they love death, it is also love for redemption, not only for themselves, but for their family that is being sold.
We must know our enemy, and we must know ourselves.