Making Sense of Jihad

Jihad Recipe Book is Inevitable

The Pest has a new magazine out.  Yes, I'm saying it's the Pest.  Aaron and Rusty both say so, and that's all the convincing I need.  That, and reading the thing.  Hegghammer does a good job clearing some hysterical hype about it.

My first impression: its producers apparently sought to create the Salafist-jihadi answer to the yoga lifestyle magazines you find at a Whole Foods checkout. 

If you're interested in seeing what all the hype is about, you can find a copy over at -- where else? -- archive <dot> org:

http://www.archive.org/details/INSPIRE_472
http://ia360700.us.archive.org/0/items/INSPIRE_472/

The uploader ID, maher_yassine@yahoo.com, is very active on archive.org  [hint: search "maher_yassine" in archive.org].  He/she has shared a ton of material connected to or distributed through the Al Mojahden Electronic Network.  I have no idea what, if any, connection exists between the uploader ID and The Pest and his network of miscreants, but my guess is that there is one.

I think it's safe to say now that the Pest and his American compatriot, Azzam al-Skippy, have applied the knowledge of American suburban pop culture to good effect in support of their cause.  Integrating pop culture into religious practice isn't the summit of theological achievements, however.  There are plenty of rinky dink store front churches that can do it effectively, and religious workers take courses on effective communications all the time.  It's much harder to weave theological clarity into the contemporary American idiom. 

They're not there yet.

Update (Sunday morning): Minor edits made.

Hear Her Roar

From a-Sharq al-Awsat:

However al-Suwailem pointed out that the problem that Haylah al Qassir has found herself in, with regards to the Saudi authorities accusing her of helping finance Al Qaeda in Yemen, is that she has Islamized her crimes, and she believes that all security officers are her "enemy" due to her husband dying at the hands of Saudi security apparatus in Riyadh in 2004.

Asharq Al-Awsat is also in possession of information that indicates that Haylah al Qassir was a highly effective and integrated member of Al Qaeda, and that she hosted a celebration in her home in honor of Abdullah al-Asiri, the Al Qaeda operative who carried out a failed suicide attack on Saudi Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef in 2009. This failed assassination attempt shocked the country, however Haylah al Qassir held a party in honor of al-Asiri, calling him a martyr.

Sheikh al-Suwailem also said that Haylah al Qassir attempted to portray everything that she had done for Al Qaeda as being part of jihad and defending religion, and that she spoke of Asma Bin Abu Bakr, and the Prophet's daughter Aisha. Al-Suwailem belives that Haylah al Qassir was supporting Al Qaeda "in revenge" for the death of her husband at the hands of the Saudi Arabian forces.

Happy Independence Day, Folks!

Celebrating the end of the war in Brooklyn, 1945.

The Thin Veneer

This recent photo essay at Foreign Policy reminded me -- once again -- that civilization is mostly a chimera.  Librarians probably understand this better than many.  In times of conflict, places like libraries and museums are generally the first to go.  They grasp desperately onto civilization's thin veneer.

 

Source: Foreign Policy

A Little Something for My Soccer-Loving Readers

A special note to my French readers: Dude, poor you.

Alternatively, there's this kid...whose fast balls resembl graceful white butterflies that slam into the catcher's mitt at 100 MPH. 

Out and About

Would like to say, "I'm back," but I'm not.  As a matter of fact I am in the middle of the ride of my life this week.  I won't be posting again for a few more weeks.

 

Source: flickr

Have a great holiday weekend, folks.

Imam of a Million Faces

I interrupt my MIA status in order to agree with Barbarossa @ Jawa Report.  Mainstream media outlets like the NYT and the Washington Post fawned over Anwar al-Awlaki following September 11th: 

What's interesting is that in all of the reporting by the Washington Post on Awlaki that I examined, not once did the Post acknowledge they had previously promoted the Al-Qaeda cleric in that Ramadan chat. Take for instance this Washington Post article in February 2008, "Imam From VA Mosque Now Thought to Have Aided Al-Qaeda".  Not once in the article does reporter Susan Schmidt reveal that Awlaki had been their go-to "moderate" back in 2001.  No mention of their post-9/11 promotion of Awlaki.

This goes for the NYT as well. In yesterday's article there is conveniently no mention that they too promoted Awlaki as "a new generation of Muslim leader capable of merging East and West" back in an October 19, 2001 article entitled, "Influential American Muslims Temper Their Tone…"

The question I would like to see answered is one of motivation.  There's no question now that Awlaki has always been a Salafist-jihadi.  Why would he step forward and play moderate with the country's establishment media, even when he clearly held Salafi-jihadi opinions?  "Taqiyya" is too pat an answer.  He was clearly applying some tactic toward some end, but it's not clear to me what end he was seeking.

Jihad Vault, Part III

As part three of my occasional series highlighting the spiritual character of the Salafist-jihadist writing, I would like to introduce you to Yousef al-Uyyeri's, "The Path to the Land of Battle."  It's only 12 pages in its At-Tibyan translation (excerpted), and a comparatively breezy read compared to other studies in the Salafist-jihadi literature.  Nevertheless it offers a good snapshot of one of the key reasons why young men (and women) are drawn to the movement.

So let the Youth of this Ummah know: That the truthful and sincere ones who have preceded them (to the Lands of the Jihad), they verily made serious attempts and spent and sacrificed to the maximum of their humanly capability – and then they entered the land of the Jihad… but after what? They entered only after they exhausted everything, after they had gone through stages of fear and anxiety, and after they were expelled, and many hardships… But they were truly sincere to Allah, so thus they arrived at their intended destinations.

And it is for this reason that Allah has mentioned that the ‘path’ to the Jihad, is also a Jihad in and of itself. And that is why Allah has attached such great and enormous rewards to it, and He counted the one who leaves to go to the Jihad, as a ‘Mujahid’ even before he reaches the land of the Jihad – and if he dies in that path, he dies as a Shahid. All of this virtue and reward has come as incitement for the men of this Ummah to take part in the Jihad. And the Mujahid – what does he want from his Jihad? Indeed, he wants one of the two best things – either victory, or martyrdom. And if he attains either of the two, then he has been successful. And for this reason, Allah (Most Glorious is He) and His Messenger (salutations and peace be upon him) have clarified that the one who goes out for Jihad, then verily he will attain one of the two best things….

In a January 2008 expert report submitted in the federal case against Marwan Amawi, et al (click here and here for more on the outcome of the case), Evan Kohlmann quotes from "Path":

In his book “The Path to the Land of Battle”, Yousef al-Ayyiri encourages Muslims around the world to join in Al-Qaida’s cause, whether directly or indirectly—because, in his words, “The Virtue of Whosover Falls Down in the Path of Allah, and Dies, Then He is One of Them... Then he is one of them: Meaning, he is of the Mujahidin.” Al-Ayyiri goes on to implore his readers to “try hard, and walk to the path of the Jihad. Those who reached (the land of) the Jihad—they were not ‘supernatural’ people; rather, they were humans, Muslims. They merely tried sincerely to reach the lands, and Allah facilitated it for them—after they wore out their eyes and ears in search for this Path... And how many paths there are to Jihad! ...it is absolutely impossible for a sincere slave of Allah to miss all these pathways to the Jihad... If only one million (1,000,000) Muslims attempted to arrive at the lands of the Jihad, then 100,000 of them would have definitely reached—and they would have been sufficient for the Mujahidin to continue in the lands of the Jihad.”

What's clear here is that al-Qaida's leaders (like al-Uyyeri) make no distinction between the "internal" jihad of personal inner struggle - so often mentioned by MB front group talking heads on TV -- and the external jihad against designated enemies.

A copy is still hosted at -- where else? -- archive org.  It's one of dozens of at-Tibyan publications available at this directory,

http://ia311035.us.archive.org/2/items/guidebooks/

It is directly linked at the now-defunct, but still live, at-Tibyan blog,

http://www.tibyan.co.cc/2009/09/path-to-land-of-battle.html

Le Cesspit

I interrupt my MIA status to give you this warning -- dailymotion.com is a cesspool of French language Salafist-jihadi media.  Enter cautiously, because if you follow one link -- like this one: http://www.dailymotion.com/khattab007 -- and you may be finding more hours later. Like these:

http://www.dailymotion.com/Cavalierdusud

http://www.dailymotion.com/wazeer-alerhab

http://www.dailymotion.com/Moujahidine-Du-Rif

http://www.dailymotion.com/la-soeur-a-avicen

http://www.dailymotion.com/sayfelislam

http://www.dailymotion.com/talibjan02

http://www.dailymotion.com/talibjan1

http://www.dailymotion.com/jazairstan

http://www.dailymotion.com/ALJZAHARA

http://www.dailymotion.com/resistancia_7

http://www.dailymotion.com/MUQAWEEM59

http://www.dailymotion.com/Frere_Mouslim

http://www.dailymotion.com/Ansar_Al_Muslimine

My guess is that French authorities are well aware of the activity on dailymotion, but it's probably time for those in the know on this side of the Atlantic to start paying more attention to the French Salafist-Jihadi cultural "scene," including a fair helping of weird Eurotrash media: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcy9ia_akhi-fi-llah-version-originale_webcam

Too Sad and Too Funny to Check

Apparently, FBI's IT problems weren't just SAIC's problem:

Dissatisfied with the programs Lockheed has delivered so far, the FBI issued a partial stop-work order on March 3 so that problems could be addressed.

In tests of parts of the new system under development, 82 percent of users reported it made their tasks much harder to complete than under existing practices.

One user said it took more than four minutes to attach a picture to a file and the process could not be stopped once started. Additionally, 91 percent of testers reported that messages to other FBI employees failed to go through. 

Another Year, Another Plot

The Saudi's have apparently thwarted another attack  --6th year in a row--  targeting their energy infrastructure.  I'll tweet links as I find them.  

The God Thing, Revisited

Over at the Agenda, the brand spanking new blog of the brand spanking new Current Intelligence magazine, I discuss a recent report from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.  

I've also discussed the "capabilities gap" in posts here at MSJ.

The God Thing

Cue the Ominous Music

What Rosenzweig Says

Clueless or Condescending?

Another Look

I -Heart- Jawas

Congratulations to the folks at JawaReport and the YouTube Smackdown Corps for their tireless work in tracking some rather nasty jihobbyist -- JihadJane and her basket of evil YouTube eggs.   I’m scarred for life.  In one simple collage of images, the Jawa folks, redefine “hard blonde” for a generation of CT analysts.  And they’re about to do it again with their coverage of one of LaRose’s evil eggs, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez. 

Congratulations, Rusty, Howie, Stable Hand, and all the others.  Love, ya.  I'm doing a Snoopy Dance just for you.

 

 

Current Intelligence gets an Upgrade

Mike, my ever-so patient boss over at Current Intelligence, has been slaving away with site and content improvements.  Complex Terrain Lab has now become the Current Intelligence Magazine.

Go there.

M.I.A

Sorry for the lack of posting, but life has caught up with me for a while.  Back to regular blogging when I have some regular time to commit to it.