Austin Bay Blog

On February 22 Glenn and Helen Reynolds featured Jim Dunnigan and me in another “Instapundit podcast.” In the course of the interview I could not remember the name of the peculiarly dangerous Salafist/Al Qaeda-ist faction that grew from the Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the podcast, Jim and I were asked about Europe’s integration problems vis a vis its Muslim communities. We discussed European cultural obstacles, the European “nation state” as glossing a traditional definition of “nation” (a tribe) and ethnicity issues.

However, Salafist and other radical jihadist organizations operating in Europe and throughout the world intentionally raise the barriers to Muslim integration. The aim isn’t solely “taking Europe.” The strategic aim includes using Europe as a base to take control of predominantly Muslim states in the Middle East.

The insidious group whose name I couldn’t recall when Glenn rolled the tape is TAKFIR WAL-HIJRA.

Takfir translates as “exodus” or :”excommunication.” A “hijra” is a flight to a place.

Takfir wal-Hirja was founded in 1971 by Shukri Mustafa, a follower of Muslim Brotherhood radical leader and Salafist “theoretician” Sayyad Qutb. Qutb was put to death by Egypt’s Nasser in 1966.

Bruce Livesey in an article he wrote entitled “The Salafist Movement” (NOTE: I do not have a link to this article, but PBS’s Frontline once had it on its Frontline page) sums the Takfir strategy quite well:

“Mustafa believed that most Arab societies were corrupt and decadent. He argued that true Islamists had to leave their countries –or go on a “hijra”—to gather their forces before returning home and ridding their country of corrupt leaders and “infidel” practice.”

Livesey also adds:

“A central tenet of Takfir ideology has alarming implications for police engaged in counterterrorism work, namely, that believers may devitate from strict Muslim practices in order to blend in and avoid detection while plotting attacks. Followers are allowed to shave their beards, drink alcohol, visit topless bars and commit crimes against Westerners—all under the cloak of subterfuge. They are the mothers and fathers of sleeping cells,” says Fandy. [NOTE: Fandy is Dr Mamoun Fandy, whom Livesey quoted extensively in the article]…”The hijra idea gets to the bottom of a lot of things. It gets at the question of: are Muslims in Europe, in Canada and America everywhere, are these people citizens or sojourners? Are they in a hijra or are the citizens of Islam? In my mind, from the research I have done and the experiences I have had, it seems to be that most Muslims think in the back of their heads they are sojourners, they are not citizens. And this is really where the black box opens up.”

Takfir and similar groups reinforce isolation, with the intent of gaining and maintaining political control. I made that point in the podcast. Takfir has melded with Al Qaeda, and did so some two decades ago.

Now, once again, how did US policy create these terrorists? Nasser was a Soviet ally.

The challenge of live shows: you don’t know what’s coming. The beauty of the Internet: I can provide the background post-podcast.

I used the Livesey article as background for a panel discussion I participated in last October, in Orlando. My quick search didn’t produce a link. If a reader finds a link, please include it in a comment or email.

UPDATE: Answers.com has information on Takfir. Answers says Takfir was founded in the 1960s. I’d go with Livesey’s 1971 date.

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