open Democracy News Analysis - The militant Islamist call and its echo, Johnny Ryan - Comments

Kamalp on "The militant Islamist call and its echo"

Kamalp — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 20:25:50 +0100

You say that the desideratum is to lead "the next generation of would-be militants [away] from embracing violence, and channelling their energies and ideas into democratic routes of political and religious persuasion". Firstly, you assume that the democratic route is non-violent. This would have been risible had it not been so tragic. Israel and America are democracies: non-violent? The history of democracy is a long history of violence and slavery. Why should any sane Muslim youth adopt non-violence when dealing with western democracy? He would be shooting himself in the foot! Secondly, the Koran and tradition has it that jihad is legitimate: in fact, what is aberrant is the fact that, after the first hundred years, the holy wars ceased. They would never have revived but for the "pacific" virtues of western democracy. To read up on democracy and violence, try this article: http://unlikelystories.org/sayeed0207.shtml Reflections on Democracy and Violence (Article)

Mark1 on "The militant Islamist call and its echo"

Mark1 — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 12:50:54 +0100

It seems that al-Qaeda might be using the internet to also pass clandestine information as well. Check it: Garling Gauge

ILJAY on "The militant Islamist call and its echo"

ILJAY — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:06:18 +0100

The second aspect is the improvement of the Islamic education of Muslim young people living in diasporas in Europe who might otherwise find themselves both divorced from their culture of origin and detached from the European cultures into which they have been born. What is there to be attached to? The European multicultural state is a shining example of self-deprecating nothingness. European cultural elites are the ones leading the efforts to dismantle whatever is left of the so-called European culture and values that like it or not gave so much to the world we live in. Muslims can't be blamed for not willing to swap a confident Islamic identity for this piss-weak, Godless, purposeless European one. Who wants to be a part of the culture that has no confidence in itself?

Omair Ahmad on "The militant Islamist call and its echo"

Omair Ahmad — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 03:29:49 +0100

"The Muslim attitude towards legitimate war was summed up by Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, in his book Jihad"... I sincerely hope that the above quote was the result of some editing error or the other since most of the rest of the article seems well-researched. Hassan Al-Banna was very late in the day, and whereas he was definitely an ideologue, to say he had the authority to sum up the Muslim attitude towards legitimate war is to give him a status far beyond the reality. There is an enormous body of work on legitimate war in Islam, much of which parallels Just War theory including critical issues such as Just Cause, Legitimate Leadership (typically the head of a state, for example Mohammed did not declare a guerilla war before becoming the head of Yathrib), etc. It didn't all just disappear just because people like al Banna or Azzam turned up. Best, Omair

The militant Islamist call and its echo, Johnny Ryan

Grace Davies — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:33:37 +0100

On the internet, in gymnasiums, bookshops and video-clubs, recruitment propaganda is viewed by and debated among prospective Islamist militants. This wide-ranging material contains four recurrent themes; understanding them is the first step to forming an effective counter-narrative to dissuade the next generation of would-be militants from embracing violence, and channelling their energies and ideas into democratic routes of political and religious persuasion.

Johnny Ryan is a senior researcher at the Institute of European Affairs, a policy think-tank in Dublin, with offices in Brussels.

He is the author of Countering Militant Islamist Radicalisation on the Internet: A User Driven Strategy to Recover the Web (Institute of European Affairs, 2007). His blog is here

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