Broken Britain

Broken Britain

[M]y father did not move to England in the expectation that its denizens were fluent in Muslim culture, or that there would be a mosque on every street. He did not feel More »

Gaza: Can ‘Peacekeepers’ and ‘Monitors’ Succeed Except in Wishful Thinking?

Gaza: Can ‘Peacekeepers’ and ‘Monitors’ Succeed Except in Wishful Thinking?

Hezbollah used UNIFIL’s peacekeepers as “shields” to deter any Israeli military activity and prevent compliance in case a peacekeeper might be hit. Israel was forced to just sit and watch while Hezbollah More »

Ibintu byakomeye cyane,nyuma yo kumva yuko Trump yifuza guhura n’umucamanza uca imanza zitabera z’Uhoraho Uwiteka Imana Nyiringabo kw’isi ya bazima!!!

Ibintu byakomeye cyane,nyuma yo kumva yuko Trump yifuza guhura n’umucamanza uca imanza zitabera z’Uhoraho Uwiteka Imana Nyiringabo kw’isi ya bazima!!!

Dec 15, 2025 njyanwa mu iyerekwa mbona ibitero bya ba za magigiri hamwe na barushimusi (hackers) bahawe ikiraka n’umwana w’umwega Umwakagara Paul Kagame kugirango bashake uko bakubita hasi ikinyamakuru www.inyangenewss.com More »

Adeline Mukangemanyi Rwigara alimo kurindagiza abanyarwanda!!!

Adeline Mukangemanyi Rwigara alimo kurindagiza abanyarwanda!!!

1 Timothy 3:1-12 If anyone wants to provide leadership in the church, good! But there are preconditions: A leader must be well-thought-of, committed to his wife, cool and collected, accessible, and hospitable. More »

Donald Trump arashaka guhura n’Umwami Kigeli Ndoli uca imanza zitabera kw’isi yabazima!!!

Donald Trump arashaka guhura n’Umwami Kigeli Ndoli uca imanza zitabera kw’isi yabazima!!!

Dec 14, 2025 ijambo ry’Uhoraho Uwiteka Imana Nyiringabo rikomeza kunzaho kandi cyane, maze rirambwira riti, Umwami Kigeli Ndoli, Donald Trump yasabye ko bakwiye kuguhamagara ukaza mukabonana maze ukumusobanurira umurimo ukora ujyanye no More »

 

Sorry, Egypt No Longer a Province of the Ottoman Empire by Burak Bekdil

  • Egypt is increasingly unnerved by overt Turkish activity to support the Muslim Brotherhood politically, and covert Turkish activity to support alleged subversion.


  • Erdogan’s obsessive shadow-fighting with the Egyptian regime in the hope of rebuilding a Muslim Brotherhood regime in the former Ottoman “Khedivate” is bad news: it undermines any Western effort to stabilize — relatively — the turbulent Middle East.

In August, possibly the first cheerful news containing the words “Turkey” and “Egypt” hit the headlines in the Turkish press since July 2013, when Egypt’s army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spearheaded a coalition to remove Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Turkish chargé d’affaires in Cairo (Turkey and Egypt withdrew their ambassadors after a row) married an Egyptian actress and former beauty queen on August 2. Their wedding was by attended by Turkish, Egyptian and foreign diplomats at a Turkish embassy residence in Giza.

At the wedding ceremony, the Turkish groom, Alper Bosuter, said that Turkey’s relations with Egypt have been tense but would eventually return to their normal course. The Egyptian bride, Inci Abdullah, said she wished their marriage to have a positive effect on the two countries’ relations.

Best wishes. But not so fast, given Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s obsession about building a Muslim Brotherhood regime in Cairo.

In 1805, Muhammad Ali Pasha [“Kavalali Mehmet Ali Pasa” in Turkish], an Ottoman army commander of Albanian origin, seized power in Egypt. His dynasty would rule Egypt until the revolution of 1952. Under his rule, Egypt was nominally an Ottoman province. In 1867, Egypt was granted the status of an autonomous vassal state or “khedivate.” It would remain an Ottoman “khedivate” until 1914.

With the rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 2012, Turkey’s neo-Ottomans, most notably (then prime minister) Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (then foreign minister) miscalculated that Egypt, the most populous Arab nation, could once again become a “khedivate” of an emerging Turkish empire, with its Muslim Brother rulers paying servitude to their Turkish ideological next of kin.

Instead, today, Morsi is imprisoned, a death sentence hanging over his head, possibly never to be executed; Muslim Brothers are on Egypt’s terror list; Turkey and Egypt have downgraded their diplomatic relations to the level of chargé d’affaires; and hostilities between Turkey’s ruling Islamists and Egypt’s ruling Muslims are deepening every day, with no prospect of normalization in the foreseeable future.

Erdogan keeps on investing in the Muslim Brotherhood, politically and otherwise. No doubt, the Brotherhood’s famous “Rabia” sign, four fingers raised, the symbol of Brotherhood’s riots against President Sisi, will be cheerfully featured at election rallies in Turkey — by Erdogan — in the run up to renewed parliamentary elections on Nov. 1.

The Muslim Brotherhood “Rabia” sign was a major election campaign theme used by the Turkey’s ruling Islamists in the last three elections: municipal (March 2014), presidential (August 2014) and parliamentary (June 7, 2015). There is no reason why it should be abandoned, as Erdogan et al view it as an inexpensive and easy vote-catcher.

In this image, widely circulated in social media, Turkey’s then-Prime Minister [now President] Recep Tayyip Erdogan flashes the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s four-fingered “Rabia” sign.

Meanwhile, Egypt is increasingly unnerved by overt Turkish activity to support the Muslim Brotherhood politically, and covert Turkish activity to support alleged subversion.

In July, news reports said that the Egyptian military had captured Turkish intelligence officers and jihadists involved in guerrilla warfare targeting Egypt and Sisi’s regime. An Egyptian news site provided the names of a Turkish intelligence officer and his Arab operatives, who were captured and accused of attacks against Egyptian troops stationed in the Sinai Peninsula. Moreover, Egyptian officials often accuse Turkey of providing safe haven to Muslim Brotherhood terrorists, including their broadcasts from Turkish territory.

Erdogan’s obsessive shadow-fighting with the Egyptian regime in the hope of rebuilding a Muslim Brotherhood regime in the former Ottoman “khedivate” is bad news: it undermines any Western effort to stabilize — relatively — the turbulent Middle East.

To augment any allied campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) the United States needs regional support. Egypt remains a staunch ally in the war against radical Islamists. Turkey has just recently joined the coalition campaign after several months of negotiations with its NATO allies. But Turkey’s deep ideological problems with Egypt would only weaken the allied-plus-regional-powers effort against ISIS.

In remarks late in July, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said: “For a long time now, we have called on all states in the region to be more forthcoming in dealing with the ISIS threat, including monitoring and control of borders. Unfortunately, this has not been the case with Turkey.”

The neo-Ottoman ambitions of Turkey’s Islamists, to make Egypt a “neo-khedivate,” have crashed into the wall of Middle Eastern realities. But those ambitions are still alive and kicking, and could damage a cohesive allied fight against the jihadists.

Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Son of Bitch by Hakim Haider

  • Today, he say, am take a decision. Am calls the Seniour Persons of the street and am say to them, Choose a person Me or He, because Boy is coming with asking a questions and also arguments which was in the favour of Non-Muslims, and he have raise my Blod pressure up.
  • Then Mulla say, See his ugly Tongue, his clever Tongue, See he do not know how speeks with elders persons. He not able to live in a Muslims. His mind are Non-Muslim and he just equal to DOG for sit under Shoes, he just Son of Bitch, nothing more.

 


 

Editors’ note: To those of you who have enquired, the author is a real man living in the Middle East who sent us these pieces because he is unable to share them with anyone where he lives. At first we tried to tidy up the English, but that seemed to knock much of the soul out of his work. So we made the editorial choice to present his work basically as he sent it; what you are seeing is the result of that choice. It is the way he sees the world from his point of view, unobstructed by editors. Perhaps think of it more as a different kind of article, more as folk art but in words. It is not meant to offend anyone or any religion. It always seemed, living among people from different nations, as if wrongnesses in English were often “righter” than rightnesses. The painter Paul Gauguin reportedly said: “If you see a tree as blue, then make it blue.” We apologize to anyone who may not like these postings. “Those who understand, understand.”

Daily whenever some One am calling me, he say, Hey Son of Bitch, Come here, do that, do this.

One day am disscuss this with my friend who ar Christian.

My friend say, But you are Muslim here, so are not need have Tenshin.

But am have Name, am say, So then why abusages? Are this word My Identity?

You are right, he say, but now what is we do? Look, am are Christian and every One have calling me this too. No one are give me a glass for drinking water. They thinks Christians are Non-Muslims and that they are Putrid and Non-Holy. Some Muslims is give me a water or like these things in Dog Bowl. Is it means that Muslims have Extremist not only for others but also for Muslims too?

You may right, am tell him

There is nothing for us here, he say. We are just for cleans the Gutter. If some One from Christians are get a education then Muslims thinks that we is just for him a Worker, nothing more. Muslim are treats with us like a Animals or worst.

Yes, am know, am tell him. Am also facing these. Can you tell me what are a defination of Christ religion?

Christ, he say, are a peace Full religion. Our Prophet say that if some One are Slap you on a Right Chick, then you may gave him Other Left Chick but Never Raise a Hand on him. What are on your Religion?

Our Religion, am say on him, are demand that if some One Cut you Hand then you may cut his Both hand, If some One kill your Brother than you may Kills his Brother and also him too.

So you do not thinks, he say, that this is a Extremist, our church? May ask you, If you are Muslim then you may allowed to come on our church, but why Non-Muslims not allowed to enter on a Mosque or enter also on a Makkah and Madina in Saudia Arab? Am have my Brother who is working at Saudia Arab. He is very found to see a Makkah and Madina so he go there, but a Police person catch them and the Judge are give a punishment and he are stay in Jail there for years.

Yes, am say, but do not have know the reason to this, but in next few days will gave you a Answer for your Question.

So am decide to go for ask this question on my Imaam Mosque (Mulla), and at night am go to the Imaam after Esha Prayer (last Prayer of Day). Imaam sitting on Bed, so am sits infront to him on floor.

When he looking me he say, How are you and why are you here for?

Sir, am say, Having question on Islam.

Yes ask, he say, questions is always comes from idiots like you.

Sir, am say, have my friend, we are works together, eats the meal together. Last day he is ask me a questions.

Ask, say Mulla, One by One.

Sir, am say, he asking me first, What are the defination of Islam?

Mulla look on me and say, This are a Complicated Question. The Defination of Islam Is Nothing. Because of Islam is a True Religion on Earth, and Muhammad P.B.U.H. was a Prophet of Allah, and all the Sayings of Muhammad is a defination of Islam.

Sir, am say, in Islam it is the rule to takes revenge, but in christ religion, it not. Christ religion say if some One for slap on your Right Chick than you may gave him other Left Chick for other slap, but in Islam When some One are Slap you then you may gave him two slap, why?

Mulla say, Look Islam is A Only True Religion and this is because people get a fear from Islam and accepts the Islam due to fear.

Sir, am say, Non-Muslims is Non-Allowed to enter in a Mosque and also in Makkah and Madina in Saudia Arab?

Look, he say, because these are Putrid and Unholy, and not superior than us. Muslims is A Superior Religion in the world. If Islam give permission to Non-Muslims, than this superiority is finish, that is why. And Makkah and Madina is A Superior Place in the world and the most peace Full place, that is why too.

Sir, am say, if the Makkah and Madina is a Superior Place than why Non-Muslims non-allowed there? If a Non-Muslims can Not see what are happening in the Makkah and Madina, then how they are follow Islam?

Mulla say, If you preech Islam then you may say first to accept the Islam, If they Not accept then you may Fight with him and at the end if he do not accept, than you Cut his Neck.

Cut his Neck, why, am say. Is this a Muslim or this a Extremist Muslim? If this are Islam, then how are Islam the Superior?

Mulla then down his Legs from Bed and say, If Islam are a Extremist Religion than you may are doing WHAT? Accepting the Christian? THESE are a peace Full Religion, according to you?

No Sir, am say, if am accepts the Christian religion, then Muslims Like you to kill me.

Mulla smile and put his one Leg on my one shoulder and say, Look it is a Islamic Fear because you are Never Left Islam.

No Sir, am say, it is not a Islamic Fear, it is a Terrorist People Fear, that is why.

Then Mulla put his second Leg on my Second Shoulder and say, If We are not here, than how are Islam is Run? This is because of Us and it is for Us our Duty to Raise The Islam in the World, because with Love, Peoples are not accept this.

Then Mulla say, It sound me you have eating with Non-Muslims Christian. You do not know that Muslims is not Allow to sit with Non-Muslims and you are doing this, Son of Bitch, you are eating with DOGS and ANIMALS, why you are do this?

Sir, am say, because Muslims is busy to spread Extremist and Terrorism so that is why am eat with Non- Muslim.

After this, he stand up and starts for Kicks me, then he are picks up a Sticks and say on me, Stand with walls and raise your both hand up and your chest are touch with wall.

Then he start with Sticks to beat me hardly. He are say, You do a friendship with NON- Muslim and eating with him, means you have eating with DOGS and SHEEPS!

During this, Mulla Wife knock the door and say, Which kind of voice is this and what you are doing here?

Nothing, Mulla say, After few minutes a DOG become a MUSLIM!

The pain are furious for me more stand, so am put my hand to my back, but then he start on hit me to the hands. All at once the sticks is brakes, but the Pain are too much, so am just keeps hands to hips.

Mulla say, You asking me a Questions, you are CHALLANGE me?

Then he Sit on the chair while am still with the wall.

Today, he say, am take a decision. Am calls the Seniour Persons of the street and am say to them, Choose a person Me or He, because Boy is coming with asking a questions and also arguments which was in the favour of Non-Muslims, and he have raise my Blod pressure up.

When listen this, am say to him, Please you not do this, if you do this then Street peoples do not give me for work, and my earnings is finish, please not you do this.

He just give me a Shut-up call with another abusaging Son of Bitch. After this he just go inside to house and take a Mobile and call Some One to come in Mosque with few persons, and after a Few whiles, more Mens to coming the Room. Am still standing with wall and broken sticks placed on the floor nearly me. All these mens starts offering regular Prayer in Mosque. One men look at me and say, So you again came here disturbs our Imaam.

No Sir, I tell him, am never disturb any One.

They are sits on chairs and Imaam Mulla sit on bed after shake a hand with every One.

All of them are Aged. One of them to saying, Imaam, why your face are red and you in sweat drip?

He are passing smiles on every One.

Mulla say, He is Boy and he is great headache for me. He is always raise question on Islam and always speak in the favour of Non-Muslim. Am much disturb due to this.

One person say that, You may broken a stick on this, take another one and broke on that.

Then they to laughs.

One Other of them say, Who are he, and what his Father name?

Other reply, He just like orphans and peoples gave him meat some time and he is wondering in the streets all the Time, he are just A Nothing Poor Boy and also have the Poor mother and father.

After this, all these person laughing with look on me.

Am listen that He are Poor and also his father and mother are poor, and some time people give him meal to eat.

Am reply, Godd knows am poor but have not request anyone to give me a meal to eat, and untill now none of you is give me a Single glass of water, and Do not use any Words about my father and mother. They have poor but they are not teach for kill or damage any human person.

After this, am stops. Then Mulla say, See his ugly Tongue, his clever Tongue, See he do not know how speeks with elders persons. He not able to live in a Muslims. His mind are Non-Muslim and he just equal to DOG for sit under Shoes, he just Son of Bitch, nothing more.

One person say, Now what we are do with this. If he stay here, than he may damage also the brains of our childrens too.

A Other person say, We thinks this later, but now we just help the Imaam Mullah take a sticks and beat him, then later we thinks if he are stay here or not.

All go again to passing smiles on one an Other.

He say to Imaam, Now you may take some rest and see what we do with him, You are in sweat drip before, so now you may sits and watch.

After listen this, am want to run from there but am unable because One person are standing in the door for take a Stick. Am try hide my Self at the corner of the room so sits there, but the Wall never hide me itself. Then a person hold a Plastic PVC Pipe and coming on me. He say for me to show the back but am sit at corner and try to save my Self from more beat but two person hold my Arms and Other person starts for beat me on the backs. Am try hard not to have beat but they keeping on, Back, Hips, and back side Legs, One by One. When they releasing my Arms, am pour down on Earth.

Then they are sits back on Chair while am for Floor.

After this, a Son of Mullah take in a dinner for every One.

(Image source: Ji-Elle/Wikimedia Commons)

Am watching them, then Am say on Mulla, Sir, may takes on this? May have eat?

One person say, No, nothing. Today he is already eat a Lot from Us, If he are digest This, then that are enough for him.

Every One again are Laughs heavily between them.

Together every One are eats a Dinner, After this, Mulla throw a piece of Bone to me and say, Hey, DOG, this are for you, Son of Bitch. Every one again have laughing on this.

After dinner Mulla serve a Tea for all these persons, and After take Tea, One person say, Now what is doing with This?

Other One say, He are just equal to garbage so throws him any Place, Nothing will effect.

Mulla say, Now listen all of you, you may select one person Me or He?

One person say, How is you talk like this, how it is possible we keeps a DOG and lose A Islamic Leader?

Mulla say, Now it are up to you what you will do, am for not interrupt.

One person say on me, Where is your father and where are you live?

My father are on the bed, am tell him, not Able for move, and we are live situated near by high Way.

One person say, Yes he is just like orphans, or like a Street Dogs or animals, he are useless, just like his mother and father.

When listen this am say, My mother and father not are useless but may be I am the useless because am never hurts on any one.

After, one person stands up from chair and hold the Pipe again and start me again with beat. After this he put the Foot down on my head and say on me, Now if you speaks more any Thing, am cuts you the Tongue.

Then All these decides to kick Boy out from street, and if next time he are seen by any One in a Street or with the Mosque, then catch to him and beat again till death.

The person who are standing on me say, You will come on here again?

No, am tell him, never come.

After this he put back the foot back down on floor from my head and kick to me again.

One person say, This not a good way to release. I hope soo that he Will come here again. Am enjoy to learning him.

Other person say, Do not trust on this, may Be he are Likes this and after the month he are comes for here again.

A Other person say, Are not worry. This time ten persons beats him so next time will be fifty.

All to Laughing.

One say then, Thanks Godd Satanical mind is gone and a Islamic Leader is safe and in between us. Now every One can decide on slaps, Last Time, One by One, and after Last kick-push, will give to Imaam For throw him out to mosque.

So every One are slaps me, and last, from Room to Mosque Gate, Imaam start to push at me with feet kicks. At last they very sharp release me.

It too pain Full for run, but after efforts, an reach under the Shadow of a Shop Shade store.

At morning shop keeper give me a Packet of biscuits and a Water for drinking. After using, am go on for my friend.

Why you are going there? he tell me.

Am going there for defination of Islam, am tell him, and a answer of your question about Makkah and Madeena.

So, he say, what you got the answer?

Yes, am tell him. The answer are Nothing. Muslims saying, We think right, other one wrong.

This was My last questions and After am never asking question on any Muslim. But am often thinking that My Parents not for in good condition.

These mens, they thinks that am Orphans, and equals to garbage, which, by seeing, it may true, but reality are farther.

Am feeling pain servirile days continue but am not call to any One . Am missing most my mother’s lap. Am miss her soft hand touch my Chick. But not am Son of Bitch. Bitch are not my mother. But if a place who are Berething and Growing for Extremism and Terrorism thaughts that am a Son of Bitch, then am not minds this.

Hakim Haider is a (real) Muslim based in the Middle East.

Soft Sharia in Turkey by Burak Bekdil

  • The bad news about the Turkish justice system is that it is increasingly religiously ideological, reminiscent of the Ottoman justice system where non-Muslims were legally inferior to the Muslims and were constantly reminded of their inferiority to the dominant community through restrictions and markers.

  • The legislation reads that law enforcement officials cannot “intentionally marry a person who is known to be impure, or to stay in a marriage, or continue to live with such a person.”
  • In addition, the decree covers stricter rules against drinking, gambling, the vague and emphatic “going to places that would ruin your reputation,” as well as “excessive spending”.

The good news about Turkish justice is that despite 15 years of not-so-creeping Islamization, court verdicts do not yet sentence wrongdoers to public lashing, stoning, amputations or public hangings in main city squares. The bad news about the Turkish justice system is that it is increasingly religiously ideological, reminiscent of the Ottoman justice system where non-Muslims were legally inferior to the Muslims and were, in principle, expected to be constantly reminded of their inferiority to the dominant community through restrictions and markers.

In 21st century Turkey, fortunately, there are not [yet] markers revealing non-Muslim citizens or laws discriminating against non-Muslims. Nevertheless, with or without markers, there is positive discrimination in favor of pious Muslims and against the others. Turkish law enforcement is embarrassingly pro-pious Sunni Muslim.

Turkey, nominally, is not a Sharia state. But it is becoming one on a de facto basis. In January, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government issued a decree stipulating that law enforcement officials, including security officials, police and coast guard officers, could lose their jobs if they marry a “known adulterer.” The legislation reads that law enforcement officials cannot “intentionally marry a person who is known to be impure, or to stay in a marriage, or continue to live with such a person.” The offense is punishable by up to 24 months’ suspension from work. In addition, the decree covers stricter rules against drinking, gambling, the vague and emphatic “going to places that would ruin your reputation,” as well as “excessive spending,” all while off duty.

In January, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government issued a decree stipulating that law enforcement officials could lose their jobs if they marry “a person who is known to be impure.” (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Pool/Getty Images)

What do those new offenses have in common? Adultery, impurity, drinking, gambling and excessive spending? They are all sins mentioned in the holy book of Islam. This is not only problematic from the viewpoint of modern state and public administration, but also from a technical point of view. When the offense is defined in such vague and holy scriptural language, judgment will inevitably become arbitrary. Who is a “known adulterer,” for instance? Who is a person “known to be impure?” How will the Turkish state define “purity” or “a pure person?” How would an officer know beforehand that a place he goes for the first time will “ruin his reputation?” And what percentage of one’s salary will mean “excessive spending?”

Last year a Turkish man stood trial for seriously injuring [with the intention to kill, according to the indictment] his ex-wife by stabbing her with a screwdriver. The court sentenced the man to an aggravated life sentence. The judges then gave the defendant a shocking reduction: Just 11 years in jail instead of life. Why the generosity? Because the court found out that the victim had the habit of going out with her “divorced lady friends and drank alcohol”. In other words, the Turkish court ruled that the woman had half-deserved to be murdered because of that.

In April, an apparently conservative Turk addressed Selina Dogan, a Turkish-Armenian opposition MP, with the words: “You are all whores … You are the servants of Byzantium.” Dogan sued the man for hate-speech and insult. A Turkish court admitted that the content shared in social media indeed was insulting but acquitted the defendant. Dogan said: “This [ruling] is a free pass for hate speech”.

More recently, Nurettin Yildiz, a columnist for the Islamist Milli Gazete, declared that in Islam it was permissible for children at the age of six to get married. Normally one would expect psychiatric examination for the man or prosecution for pedophilia. But Turkish justice can sometimes be generously tolerant to freedom of speech — as long as the content is Islamist. A prosecutor, citing freedom of expression, dropped charges against Yildiz. Meanwhile, a secular news site, Odatv, outraged by Yildiz’s statement, placed the man in the news with the headline: “Religious Fanatics Perverting.” This time, the prosecution was not as generous as in the case of Yildiz. A prosecutor is now demanding up to 28 months in jail for Baris Terkoglu, editor of Odatv, for insulting Yildiz. Defending the marriage of six-year-olds is fine, but calling that a perversion is an offense punishable by jail.

One important difference between a modern state and a religion-based state is that the former punishes offenses harmful to the public interest while the latter tends to punish the “sin”. Turkey, once a semi-modern state, is now drifting fast into the Sharia order — without the name Sharia.

Should the U.S. Build an “ISIS Wall”? by Raymond Ibrahim

  • “If you really want to protect Americans from ISIS, you secure the southern border. It’s that simple.” — Rep. Duncan Hunter.

  • The Department of Homeland Security denied Hunter’s claims, called them “categorically false” and added that “no credible intelligence to suggest terrorist organizations are actively plotting to cross the southwest border.” Days later, however, it was confirmed that “4 ISIS Terrorists” were arrested crossing the border into Texas.
  • Under Obama’s presidency alone, 2.5 million illegals have crossed the border. And those are just the ones we know about. How many of these are ISIS operatives, sympathizers or facilitators?
  • Securing the U.S.-Mexico border — with an electronic fence, which has worked so effectively in Israel — is more urgent than we think.

Of all the reasons a majority of Americans support the plan of businessman and U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump to “build a wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border, perhaps the most critical is to avoid letting terrorists into the country. Drugs enter, the victims of traffickers enter, but the most imminent danger comes from operatives of the Islamic State (ISIS) and like-minded groups that are trying to use this porous border as a way to smuggle weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) into the United States and launch terror attacks that could make 9/11 seem like a morning in May.

Just last week, “One of the American men accused in Minnesota of trying to join the Islamic State group wanted to open up routes from Syria to the U.S. through Mexico… Guled Ali Omar told the ISIS members about the route so that it could be used to send members to America to carry out terrorist attacks, prosecutors alleged in a document.”

ISIS, however, did not need to be “told” by Ali “about the route.” Nearly a year earlier, ISIS explored options on how it could smuggle a WMD “into the U.S. through Mexico by using existing trafficking networks in Latin America.”

The Islamic State’s magazine Dabiq last May (issue #9) published the following scenario:

Let me throw a hypothetical operation onto the table. The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilāyah [province] in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region. … The weapon is then transported over land until it makes it to Libya, where the mujāhidīn [jihadis] move it south to Nigeria. Drug shipments from Columbia bound for Europe pass through West Africa, so moving other types of contraband from East to West is just as possible. The nuke and accompanying mujāhidīn arrive on the shorelines of South America and are transported through the porous borders of Central America before arriving in Mexico and up to the border with the United States. From there it’s just a quick hop through a smuggling tunnel and hey presto, they’re mingling with another 12 million ‘illegal’ aliens in America with a nuclear bomb in the trunk of their car.

The ISIS publication added that if not a nuke, “a few thousand tons of ammonium nitrate explosive,” which is easily manufactured, could be smuggled.

Such thinking is hardly new. Back in 2009, a Kuwaiti cleric explained how easy it would be to murder countless Americans by crossing through the Mexican border:

Four pounds of anthrax — in a suitcase this big — carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the U.S. are guaranteed to kill 330,000 Americans within a single hour if it is properly spread in population centers there. What a horrifying idea; 9/11 will be small change in comparison. Am I right? There is no need for airplanes, conspiracies, timings and so on. One person, with the courage to carry 4 pounds of anthrax, will go to the White House lawn, and will spread this ‘confetti’ all over them, and then we’ll do these cries of joy. It will turn into a real celebration.

Plans aside, ISIS and other Islamic terrorists are based in and coming from Mexico. The evidence is piling up. In August 2014, Judicial Watch reported that ISIS was “operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle borne improvised explosive devices.” Months later in April 2015, ISIS was exposed operating in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua — eight miles from the U.S.

In October 2014, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif) said, “I know that at least 10 ISIS fighters have been caught coming across the Mexican border in Texas.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) emphatically denied Hunter’s claims, called them “categorically false” and added that “no credible intelligence to suggest terrorist organizations are actively plotting to cross the southwest border.” Days later, however, it was confirmed that “4 ISIS Terrorists” were arrested crossing the border into Texas.

On September 20, 2015, “U.S. Border Patrol nabbed two Pakistani men with ties to terrorism at the U.S.-Mexico border. … Both men … took advantage of smuggling networks or other routes increasingly used by Central American illegal immigrants to sneak into the U.S.”

This is uncomfortably reminiscent of the scenario outlined in the ISIS magazine: after naming Pakistan as the nation from which to acquire nukes — the two men arrested for “ties to terrorism” were from Pakistan — the Dabiq excerpt explained: “The nuke and accompanying mujāhidīn… are transported through the porous borders of Central America before arriving in Mexico and up to the border with the United States. From there it’s just a quick hop through a smuggling tunnel.”

On December 2, 2015, “A Middle Eastern woman was caught surveilling a U.S. port of entry on the Mexican border holding a sketchbook with Arabic writing and drawings of the facility and its security system.” Around the same time, “five young Middle Eastern men were apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol in Amado, an Arizona town situated about 30 miles from the Mexican border. Two of the men were carrying stainless steel cylinders in backpacks…”

These arrests clearly indicate that Islamic terrorists are crossing the border into the U.S. For every illegal person caught, how many are not? One estimate says that at best only half of those illegally crossing the border are ever apprehended. Under Obama’s presidency alone, 2.5 million illegals have crossed the border. And those are just the ones we know about. How many of these are ISIS operatives, sympathizers or facilitators? Border guards cannot even be “especially alert” for terrorists: many easily blend in with native Mexicans.

Three facts are undisputed: 1) ISIS and other terrorist groups see Mexico as a launching pad for terrorist acts in the U.S.; 2) ISIS and other terrorist groups have bases of operations in Mexico; 3) Members of ISIS and other terrorist groups have been caught trying to enter through the border.

In other words, it is just a matter of time. As Rep. Duncan Hunter once put it:

If you really want to protect Americans from ISIS, you secure the southern border. It’s that simple. ISIS doesn’t have a navy, they don’t have an air force, they don’t have nuclear weapons. The only way that ISIS is going to harm Americans is by coming in through the southern border — which they already have.

Just as before 9/11 — when U.S. leadership had received ample warnings of a spectacular terrorist attack targeting the U.S. — this problem may well be ignored until a spectacular attack occurs: San Bernardino was apparently too small, it did not count. Then, it will be more of the usual from the comatose media and many politicians: “shock,” handwringing, and appeals against “Islamophobia.”

Securing the U.S.-Mexico border — with an electronic fence, which has worked so effectively in Israel — is more urgent than we think.

The Israeli-built border fence between Israel and Egypt, completed in December 2013, put a complete stop to illegal infiltration from Egypt into Israel. Before the fence was built, many terrorists, traffickers, and drug smugglers crossed the border each year. (Image source: Idobi/Wikimedia Commons)

Sharia in Denmark by Judith Bergman

  • Documentary filmmakers in Denmark conducted an undercover investigation, with hidden cameras, into claims that imams are working towards keeping parallel societies for Muslims within Denmark.

  • Abu Bilal, imam of the Grimhøj mosque, told Fatma that her husband is entitled to take another wife. Fatma is not allowed to deny her husband his “sexual rights,” even when he is violent.
  • The imam of the Hamad Bin Khalifa mosque gave Fatma the same answers she had received in all the other mosques: She must not take a job without her husband’s permission, and even if her husband continues to beat her, she must not contact the police.
  • Umm Abdullah told Fatma that she should only meet with Danish people in order to tell them about Islam. This is necessary, she said, to save the Danes from hell, and the only reason Muslims should interact with Danes.

The issue of parallel Muslim societies has sparked renewed debate in Denmark after a three-part television documentary, “The Mosques Behind the Veil” was aired at the beginning of March on Danish TV2.

The documentary consists of an undercover investigation into claims that Muslim imams are working towards keeping parallel societies for Muslims within Denmark.

The filmmakers had two young Muslims — brought from outside Denmark — go undercover in Gellerupparken, an area best described as a predominantly Muslim ghetto in Aarhus, Denmark’s second city. For three months, the two lived as a fictitious couple, Fatma and Muhammed, while visiting eight different mosques in Aarhus, Odense and Copenhagen — the three largest cities in Denmark — with hidden cameras. The goal was to hear what imams say behind closed doors about Danish law and authorities, gender equality and general contact with Danish society, such as Muslim women participating in the Danish job market. There are approximately 140 mosques in all of Denmark.

The film is similar in concept to the British BBC Panorama documentary, “Secrets of Britain’s Sharia Councils,” which aired in April 2013. The BBC went undercover to document the discrimination practiced in British sharia councils against Muslim women. (The existence of British sharia councils were no secret to the British; the Danish film, it turned out, documented a Danish sharia council for the first time).

For the purpose of the documentary, Fatma was given a personal cover story — based on real-life dilemmas — for which she would seek advice from the different imams: Her husband is violent, and she does not wish to have sex with him. She cannot get pregnant and his family has found a second wife for him. She consulted with a Danish girlfriend about the violence, which has left her bruised, and the girlfriend told her to go to the police.

What do the imams think she should do?

The series begins in the Grimhøj mosque. The mosque has been in the Danish headlines for years, especially since police statistics in 2013 showed that 22 out of the 27 Muslims from Aarhus who left to fight with Islamic State in Syria had frequented it. The head of the mosque, Oussama El Saadi, has, in fact, said that he hopes the Islamic State will win and that there will be an Islamic world government. The imam of the same mosque, Abu Bilal, was sentenced last year in Germany for inciting hatred against both Jews and non-Jews, and fined €10,000.

Abu Bilal, imam of the Grimhøj mosque in Denmark, was fined €10,000 last year in Germany, after being found guilty of inciting hatred against both Jews and non-Jews. (Image source: MEMRI video screenshot)

Fatma, during her visits to the mosque, learned from imam Abu Bilal that married women who commit infidelity should be stoned to death, and that Muslims who leave Islam may be killed. He makes no reservations about these teachings. She also learned that young children who refuse to pray should be beaten (a woman asks the imam specifically, how she should conduct those beatings). Fatma was also informed that a woman may not take a job without her husband’s permission.

Abu Bilal further says that her husband is entitled to take another wife. Fatma is not allowed to deny her husband his “sexual rights,” even when he is violent. When she asks the imam if she should involve the police, the answer is an emphatic “no.”

Officially, the spokesman of the Grimhøj mosque, along with spokesmen from three of the eight mosques, professes that the mosque respects Danish law. But behind closed doors — on hidden camera — he advocates polygamy and beating children. He also instructs Fatma to go back to her abusive spouse and to let him commit what amounts to rape.

Fatma attended three other mosques in Aarhus, one of which publicly claims to be “moderate.” All of the clerics gave her the same answers. Some told her that violence is not allowed, but made it clear that there is nothing she can do. The imam at the Fredens mosque added that she might be able to obtain a divorce, if necessary, from their sharia council.

Muhammed, reporting what he experienced in the mosques, told TV2 news that he had been warned in the mosques against the Danes; informed that they were kuffar (unbelievers), and that he should avoid them and their social functions, such as birthday parties. One imam told the couple that they should “not melt into Danish society,” but simply surround themselves with other Muslims.

In Copenhagen, Fatma consulted the leader of the female section of the Islamisk Trossamfund mosque, Umm Abdullah. The claim at Islamisk Trossamfund is that it is in contact with several thousand Muslims every week, and thus among the biggest mosques in Denmark. Umm Abdullah tells Fatma that she must not go to birthday parties; there would be, she says, alcohol and mixed male and female company — and she should only meet with Danish people in order to tell them about Islam. This is necessary, says Umm Abdullah, to save the Danes from hell, and the only reason why Muslims should interact with Danes. When Fatma asks her about her personal problems, Umm Abdullah tells her that she must not contact the police about the violent husband. “Why should you become a laughing stock in front of the infidels?” she rhetorically asks.

Fatma also went to see the imam at the Hamad Bin Khalifa mosque in Copenhagen, better known in Denmark as “Stormoskeen” [“the big mosque”]. Named after the former emir of Qatar and fully sponsored by him, it opened in 2014. The organization behind the Hamad Bin Khalifa mosque, the Danish Islamic Council, has claimed that the people who operate the mosque have chosen a moderate interpretation of Islam that is compatible with Danish society.

On camera, the spokesman from the Hamad Bin Khalifa mosque confidently assured the journalists from TV2 News that the mosque thoroughly respects Danish laws. He even assured them that women enjoy even better rights than men.

When Fatma spoke to the imam of the Hamad Bin Khalifa mosque, however, and filmed it with a hidden camera, she was given the same answers she had received in all the other mosques: She must not take a job without her husband’s permission, and even if her husband continues to beat her, she must not contact the police. This most “moderate” of all the Danish mosques also advocated polygamy, and the right of the husband to his wife’s body, even when she might prefer to refuse him.

One of the questions Danes are asking themselves after viewing the documentary, is whether Danish Muslims actually listen to the imams and do what they say. According to a poll conducted in October 2015, 40% of all Danish Muslims believe that the law in Denmark should be based solely on the words of the Quran and 77% believe that the Quran should be followed to the word. Ten years ago, the figure was 62%. The poll showed that 50% of all Danish Muslims pray five times a day; ten years ago, the figure was 37%.

While the working assumption has been that with time, Muslims would become less, not more, religious, these numbers fly in the face of the wish that Muslims might be comfortably assimilated into Danish culture.

At the end of the documentary, Fatma and Mohammed visit the sharia council — which, since the documentary aired, has been dismantled, but others are believed to exist — at the Fredens mosque in Aarhus. Here, Fatma pleads over ten times for a divorce from her violent husband, but the council refuses, telling her to go back home and try again.

These were exactly the same responses as those given by the imams of the British sharia councils in the BBC Panorama documentary from 2013. Genuinely abused women pleaded in vain for divorce, and sometimes had to wait for ten years to obtain it. The answers they received from the imam were identical with the answers that Fatma heard from the eight different imams in Denmark: Go back to your violent spouse and try to work it out.

TV2 presented the secret recordings to all the mosques that had been investigated, but the mosques refused to comment on them.

Instead, 31 Danish mosques and Islamic organizations decided to react to the exposure of their goings-on by collectively condemning the way that TV2 had portrayed the Islamic organizations in the documentary. The organizations held the TV station responsible for the “way that it was destroying the integration that the organizations had worked on for the past 30 years in Denmark” and claimed that “Danish Muslims are an integral part of Danish society and play a positive role in integrating Muslims into Danish society.” They also reaffirmed that “Muslims have a right to seek advice about Islam, Islamic rules and Islamic sharia in Denmark.”

The ongoing public debate that has followed the broadcast, shows — unsurprisingly — that neither politicians, opinion makers nor so-called “experts” have any workable plans for how to deal with what the TV documentary revealed. Some have suggested that imams get a special university education or go through a licensing process. Others have suggested closing the Grimhøj mosque — an act that would doubtless be regarded as provocation, and one that would not solve anything in other, similar, mosques. Still other observers have suggested looking more closely at possibilities in the Danish constitution for dealing with the problem. One thing is clear: Denmark is as far away from solving this problem as the rest of Europe — and it is not going to get any easier.

Judith Bergman is a writer, columnist, lawyer and political analyst.

Translate »
Skip to toolbar