Islamic Intentions for the World,Check Hear:

IP: *.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com 05.08.02, 21:12
'We will replace the Bible with the Koran in Britain'

Islam and the West: Observer special


Paul Harris and Burhan Wazir in London Jason Burke in Peshawar
Sunday November 4, 2001
The Observer

On a brisk Thursday night outside Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, Abdul
Qassim and his friend Mohamed Salim were talking of war. They look like
typically articulate and casually dressed young Asians. But they want to
fight for the Taliban.
'I'd never have previously considered going off to fight. But this is
serious. Very serious. And something has to be done,' said Qassim.

Qassim, 26, and Salim, 22, are members of al-Muhajiroun, followers of
firebrand Islamist Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohamed. They had gathered at the mosque
along with 50 other young Asian men to hear their leader speak.

Fiercely uncompromising in their interpretation of Islam, the members of al-
Muhajiroun are dedicated to their faith. But there can be a price to pay.
Last week the group announced the death of at least three of its British
members in Afghanistan. It said they had joined the Taliban to defend Islam,
but were killed by an American bomb.

Qassim and Salim walked into the mosque and began to wash before prayer,
removing their socks and shoes at a sink. Salim looked approvingly at the
bearded Bakri, dressed in white robes and seated by the microphone.

'I have pledged myself to what he says. It's a promise and one that I intend
to keep. I'd do anything he'd ask me to,' he said. The duo listened as Bakri
began to condemn, with characteristic flair, Britain's war against terrorism.

'The British Government has to be stopped,' said Bakri. 'Blair knows that he
is wrong. And he will pay for it. We will remodel this country in an Islamic
image.' Waiting until his followers stopped giggling at the vision of an
Islamic state of Great Britain, Bakri continued: 'We will replace the Bible
with the Koran.'

Salim leaned inwards, whispering of his intention to fly to Lahore within
weeks. 'I have managed to save some money from my job in a shop and I'll use
that to get over there.' He looked round at Qassim in encouragement. 'You're
going to do it as well, aren't you?' he asked. 'I think we should both go and
fight. It's our duty to do it.' He glanced up at Bakri, who was now
vociferously condemning Britain to an internal intifada . 'Christians have to
learn that they cannot do this to Islam. We will not allow our brothers to be
colonialised. If they try it, Britain will turn into Bosnia.'

Al-Muhajiroun was founded in Jeddah in 1983 by the charismatic, Syrian-born
Bakri. It promises to re-establish 'true' Islam throughout the world to the
extent of wiping out other religious faiths. It is extremely anti-Semitic.
Bakri, who was expelled from Saudi Arabia and has lived in London since 1986,
calls for young Muslims to take up arms against the opponents of Islam.

The organisation has offices across the developed world - in Kuwait, France,
South Africa, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Syria and Algeria - and
regularly asks its members for donations to fund its work. It funnels its
British supporters to conflicts around the world by providing them with
guides and contacts, but volunteers almost always have to pay their own way.
Many commentators have previously written off Bakri and his tiny band of
followers as an unpleasant joke. Bakri was even the subject of a documentary
by the humorist Jon Ronson. But after the deaths last week, few people now
see al-Muhajiroun as funny. Suddenly it is a threat.

To Al-Muhajiroun, Afzal Munir, Aftab Manzoor and Yasir Khan are martyrs who
died defending their Islamic brothers against an attack by the infidel. They
are to be glorified.

To many Britons, including government politicians, they are traitors, willing
to take up arms to fight the armed forces of the country they grew up in.
They are to be feared.

But to their parents, they were idealistic but perhaps mistaken young men,
who gave up a life of suburban normality to die in a foreign field. They are
to be mourned.

For Chudry Manzoor, who last week buried his son in the village of Sakria
just outside Islamabad, it is a tragedy. He had repeatedly warned him about
the risks, forbidding him to fight several times over the past three
years. 'I never wanted him to fight a holy war against anybody,' he said at
the burial.

For many, the most shocking thing about the three young men is the suburban
normality of their lives. Chudry Manzoor is a Luton grocer who has lived in
Britain for 20 years and brought Aftab up to be a respectful family man.
Aftab, 25, had a variety of part-time jobs, including one as a driver. The
family home - like those of the other two dead men - is on a quiet
residential backstreet, leafy and modestly prosperous.

Aftab divided his time between Pakistan, where he had a wife and young
daughter, and Luton, where he had gone to Denbigh High School and took his
GCSEs. He worked hard and sent much of his earnings to Pakistan for his young
family. He had left Luton for Pakistan for the last time before the 11
September attacks. But three weeks ago he telephoned his father and spoke of
his plans to join the Taliban.

Afzal Munir, 25, was also from Luton. He still lived with his father - a
builder - and his mother, three sisters and 11-year-old twin brothers. The
crowded family home was less than a mile from Aftab's house. He was known as
a quiet, friendly young man. He too had gone to a local school, Challney
Secondary, before going on to do A levels at Barnfield College and a computer
course at Luton University. He was a regular mosque goer and attended Friday
al-Muhajiroun meetings. But even three weeks ago - when he was still in
Luton - many of his friends had known little of his intentions to head for
Afghanistan.

Some did, however. Mohamed Abdullah, 22, said the bombing of Afghanistan had
affected him deeply. 'He may have lived in Luton but he felt the pain of his
Muslim brothers and he wanted to do something about it,' he said. When Munir
left for Pakistan he did not even tell his wife where he was going.

The third man in the trio, Yasir Khan, was from the Sussex commuter town of
Crawley. He may have lived across the other side of London from the Luton
pair, but Khan inhabited the same, seemingly quiet, suburban world. He lived
with his mother in a maisonette. He was also a regular worshipper at the
local mosque and had recently helped out with some renovation work. He was a
keen cricketer with the Eagles Cricket Club, whose players come from Asian
backgrounds. Three years ago a picture was taken at a club presentation
night. The only hint of Khan's religious conviction was a t-shirt bearing the
slogan: 'The Final Revelation, The Final Message, The Final System, The Final
Conquest: Islam.'

Like scores of Crawley residents, Khan worked at Gatwick Airport. He had
spent the last five months as a driver and loader for LSG Sky Chefs but,
ironically, lost his job due to the downturn following the New York attacks.
He had been asked to change his work schedule and refused. He is believed to
have left for Pakistan shortly afterwards. His family insist that he was only
on a mission to carry out aid work.

No one should have been surprised that Luton and Crawley produced Taliban
fighters. Last year a Crawley family went to Pakistan to search for 18-year-
old Omar Kyam. Al-Muhajiroun had sent him to fight in Kashmir. A Briton
jailed in Yemen on bombing charges hailed from Luton. A suicide bomber in
Kashmir was from Birmingham.

Al-Muhajiroun are effective because they exploit a sense of Asian
victimisation, a feeling that - despite their qualifications, jobs and
families - Asians will never be seen as properly British. It is a situation
the older
    • Gość: as Hej Buraku, tutaj to "here","hear" to sluchac, IP: *.nyc2.dsl.speakeasy.net 05.08.02, 21:30
      Jak sie jakiegos jezyka nie zna to sie go nie uzywa zeby nie zrobic z siebie
      asshola. Panie grinpojnt
      • Gość: Zionista Re: Hej Buraku, tutaj to 'here','hear' to slucha IP: *.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com 05.08.02, 23:18
    • Gość: Tolek Re: Islamic Intentions for the World,Check Hear: IP: *.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com 06.08.02, 03:33
      • Gość: as Zdecyduj sie :Jacek911,Tolek czy Zionista IP: *.nyc.rr.com 06.08.02, 03:37
        co bys nie wymyslil rogers.com to i tak nie chwycilo, i odswierzanie swoich
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        Odpusc sobie
    • Gość: mirmat Juz oficjalne:w W.Brytanii wiecej muzulmanow niz a IP: *.dialup.eol.ca 09.08.02, 06:06
      Przyszlosc jest teraz. Jak podja brytyjskie statystyki w W.Brytanii jest
      obecnie wiecej zarejestrowanych muzulmanow niz czlonkow kosciola
      anglikanskiego. Kaput Anglia.
      • Gość: Alfik Re: Juz oficjalne:w W.Brytanii wiecej muzulmanow IP: *.nyc2.dsl.speakeasy.net 09.08.02, 17:48
        Gość portalu: mirmat napisał(a):

        > Przyszlosc jest teraz. Jak podja brytyjskie statystyki w W.Brytanii jest
        > obecnie wiecej zarejestrowanych muzulmanow niz czlonkow kosciola
        > anglikanskiego. Kaput Anglia.



        Drzyjcie zydy ze strachu, araby was zjedza.
        zeby cie pocieszyc w USA Islam jest najszybciej rozwijajaca sie religja.
        Ironia jest fakt ze we zydy jestescie temu w duzym stopniu winni.
        ludzie na calym swiecie szukaja sposobu na was, niestety wiara z ktorej sie
        wywodze(ale nnie praktykuje)katolicyzm jest za miekki, nie sprwadzil sie a
        wrecz poddal sie waszej zydowskiej ekspansji, wiec ludzie probuja z islamem,
        jest bardziej radykalny i daje jakas nadzieje na przeciwstawienie sie waszej
        zydowskiej zagladzie swiata.
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