WAHHABISM AT THE DOORSTEPS OF EUROPE
Topics:
- Wahhabism versus Islamic community?
- Recruiting tactics in BIH
- Recruitment of BOSNIAK Diaspora
- BOSNIAK’S youth increasingly choose to study in Muslim countries rather than EUROPEAN countries
- Sandžak region, not only the gateway for BALKANS organized crime syndicates, but also for spreading Wahhbism to Europe?
By Juan Carlos Antúnez
After the reported closure of the AIO, Muhamed Porča, has appointed himself as the leader of the emergent Islamic Youth in Europe, an organization or movement that has appeared as a parallel of the AIO that insists on being point of reference for all the Bosniaks which no one should digress. In BIH Porča is using Selam organization to take the control over those Salafis that are not maintaining contacts with the BIH Islamic Community. These Salafi communities, such as those in the area of Bihać, Maoca and Bocinja, have decided to isolate themselves from official mesdžids and tears apart of the BIH Islamic community , embracing the concept of hijra, or emigration, to be a part of the jahilia, the corruption, the dark period before Muhammad spread their message.
Safet Kuduzović is considered to be one of the Missionary Salafi / Wahhabi leaders in BIH. Kuduzović is a graduate of the Islamic University in JORDAN, with a Masters degree, and a former Imam of the BOSNIAN Salafi Kewser Džemat (Muslim religious congregation) in Linz, AUSTRIA. Kuduzović is a well-known and active figure in BOSNIAN Salafi circles. It is possible he currently resides in BIH. Kuduzović actively cooperates with the Studio-din portal (www.studio-din.com), Salafi / Wahhabi missionary portal, and advices it on its political and religious direction.
In its 1 June 2007 edition, ‘SAFF’ magazine reported that after the death of Jusuf Barčić, a majority of members of his group had chosen Nusret Imamović to be their new leader. ‘Saff’ reported that Imamović was well known as a religious leader and primary school teacher in the village of Gornja Maoca. For more background information see:
Nusret Imamović is a prominent Salafi / Wahhabi cleric originating from Kalesija. Imamović’s reporting started in 2002, when Barčić was imprisoned, Imamović had taken over the leadership over his network.
Major media attention has been drawn to an important inter-ethnic incident that occurred on 15 July 2006, in the Bukvik settlement near Brčko, when some 10 persons, known to belong to a Wahhabi group, clashed with three Bosnian Serbs. One Bosnian Serb, Mihajlo Kisić, was seriously injured and allegedly gunshots were fired too. The Brčko District (BD) Police started an investigation, and six Salafis / Wahhabis were detained by the Tuzla Police. BD Police increased the security around the detention centre as it was close to Gornja Maoca. A few days after the incident, the local police detained Imamović. He is known to have contacts with Nedžad Balkan, who was arrested together with Imamović, after the Bukvik incident. Imamović is close to Vienna-based Wahhabi cleric, Muhamed Porča. Imamović is one of the few Bosnian Salafis / Wahhabis who has publicly refused any kind of collaboration with the BIH Islamic Community. He is linked to the ‘Selam’ organization.
WAHHABISM VERSUS ISLAMIC COMMUNITY?
A mainstream Islamic biweekly ‘Preporod’, published by the Islamic Community of BIH, in its 15 March 2007 issue featured an editorial by the Editor in Chief, Aziz Kadribegović, entitled ‘Destruction of the Islamic Community as a Long Term Goal’, in which the author claimed that Bosnian Salafists were contemplating a new strategy for their mid-term activity. Kadribegović wrote that ‘Preporod’ had learned that one of the Salafi authorities in the Diaspora, a JORDANIAN student with a Masters degree mentioned as ‘S.K’ (probably Safet Kuduzović), having grasped the seriousness of the situation in which his companions could find themselves, and having realized that ‘the sand that until yesterday appeared as mortar has started to crumbled’, had held a meeting with a group of ‘the most mature Salafi / Wahhabi Da’ias or missionaries’. At this meeting, he presented them with the basic elements of a new strategy for the Salafi / Wahhabi movement, which the editorial called ‘the Organization’.
According to ‘Preporod’, the leader of the meeting stressed that:
‘The Organization’s activity in the EU countries must remain a strategic interest, because the BIH Islamic Community was weaker abroad than in BIH, which created a manoeuvring space for the Organization’.
He told meeting participants that the strong ‘Organization’ outside BIH could:
‘Financially assist ‘the brothers’ in BIH, and act as a powerful platform for a more aggressive approach in BIH’.
RECRUITING TACTICS IN BIH
The editorial also commented that the leader highlighted the importance of a new generation of missionaries graduating from Middle Eastern Islamic universities, who would be returning to BIH shortly. ‘These missionaries are better educated than the BIH Islamic Community missionaries, more eloquent, and, most importantly, fully committed to their work and ideas. In time, they will overwhelm the BIH Islamic Community and take full control of the Muslims in BIH’.
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| Saudi funded Mosque in Sarajevo |
At the meeting, the importance of avoiding future incidents was also highlighted. As ‘Preporod’ wrote, he advised that ‘brothers’ at all times ‘give the impression that they are normal citizens in BIH and in the EU countries in which they reside’. ‘With this goal in sight, we must bury immediately the hatchet with the Rijaset, BIH Islamic Community executive office, and the representatives in BIH and abroad’. Jusuf Barčić was not mentioned at the meeting, which led Kadribegović to conclude that Barčić was probably ‘a lone shooter’ and not a member of ‘the Organization’. However, ‘some brothers from Sandžak’ were mentioned in this context at the meeting. According to the editorial, it was proposed that those ‘who cannot be controlled’ first be ‘isolated’ by ‘the Organization’ and, if this did not work out, then to ‘denounce them’ openly in Islamic papers such as ‘Saff’ (an Islamic youth magazine reflecting of Salafist, favouring some sort of cooperation with BIH Islamic Community) and ‘Al Asr’ (Islamic Salafi / Wahhabi bi-monthly, published by the BOSNIAN Salafi ‘Hidžra’ Džemat (BOSNIAN version of the Arabic word Jama'at) in HOLLAND, more theological in nature).
As for the group’s attitude towards Muslims sentenced on terrorism charges, the participants of the meeting have reportedly agreed that ‘brothers’ should be advised ‘not to embark on similar undertakings’ in the future, in view of the stiff sentences envisioned for these acts. However, the meeting decided against a public distancing from individuals charged with terrorism. Terrorism verdicts ‘should be ignored’ and ‘there should be no public reaction to them’.
RECRUITMENT OF BOSNIAK DIASPORA
Assumptions taken in the previous chapters of this paper support the above information and give credibility to the ‘Preporod’ article. Salafi / Wahhabi future strategy may be summarized as:
- Recruitment of Bosniak Diaspora. This recruitment is especially easy and profitable for ‘the Organization’ because:
A. the BIH Islamic Community is weaker abroad.
B. the BOSNIAN ‘converted’ Muslims are a healthy financial source.
C. Converted Muslims abroad are able to spread Salafism / Wahhabism in their close circle when they come back to BIH.
- Well trained Salafi / Wahhabi scholars will argue with those who are less prepared within the BIH Islamic Community. In 2003, there were about a hundred BOSNIAN students of Islam in different Middle East countries. Although many of them would easily find their place in the BIH Islamic Community upon return to the country, some of these students could adopt Salafi / Wahhabi ideas.
BOSNIAK’S YOUTH INCREASINGLY CHOOSE TO STUDY IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES RATHER THAN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
In 2010 the number of BOSNIAK students studying in different Middle Eastern and Far East Muslim countries has increased significantly. In the not too distant past, BOSNIAK families used to send their children to study in EUROPE. As the EU visa regime became more restrictive and the economic situation for many BOSNIAK families deteriorated, they increasingly opted to send their children to Muslim countries, such as MALAYSIA, TURKEY, JORDAN, EGYPT and of course SAUDI ARABIA for studies, since these countries willingly provide scholarship as well as sponsorship programs for BOSNIAK students. Furthermore SAUDI ARABIA and also IRAN and TURKEY deliberately target BOSNIA’S education system by providing special loans for education projects etc.
- Silent creation of a parallel Islamic religious structure, without publicly facing the official one but with the final goal of defeating it.
- Not to be directly linked to any kind of terrorist activity.
ALTHOUGH ANY MISSIONARY ACTIVITY CANNOT BE SEEN AS A THREAT PER SE, THE RISK OF MISSIONARY ISLAM TO BIH SECURITY HAS TO BE ANALYZED FROM THREE PERSPECTIVES:
- To understand the meaning of this threat, it is necessary to pay attention to a concept very common amongst radical Islamic movements: The concept of ‘Takfir’ - the practice of declaring that an individual or a group, previously considered Muslims, are in fact Kafirs, or apostates. The sentence for apostasy under Sharia law, as traditionally interpreted, is execution. For this reason, orthodox Islamic law normally requires stringent evidence in support of such accusations. In many cases this requires an Islamic court of religious leaders to pronounce a Fatwa, or religious decree, of Taqfir on an individual or group. Also texts of scholars as Ibn Taymyyah and Abd Al Wahib recommended the ‘utmost restraint’ in Taqfir. However, certain extremist movements have been very ready to practice Taqfir, for which they have been condemned by mainstream Muslims. Modern groups, such as the Algerian GIA, take this practice to an extreme, and regard virtually all non-strictly orthodox Muslims as Kuffar, whose blood is legitimate to shed. Taqfir might have taken root in some ‘groups of young Muslims in BIH’. This position can be considered a threat, especially for the safety and security of Bosnian Muslims who do not agree with Salafi ideas and can be seen as ‘impious’ and be targeted by radical groups.
- Members of the Salafi / Wahhabi movement may change their approach to Islamism when its perceived that they are not going to attain their goal as a result of preaching and proselytizing, and so they may take a more radical and violent stance. The lack of a result by the Wahhabi mission and the religious attitude of the BOSNIAN Muslim mainstream, who wants to maintain the traditional local and moderate version of Islam, may hasten this process.
- Salafi / Wahhabi groups are used to spot talent by Jihadi groups that find highly motivated and religiously convinced youngster.
Jihadi Salafism / Wahhabism
Jihadism defends an armed struggle that has three main variants:
- Internal: a Jihad against nominally Muslim regimes which the Jihadis hold to be ‘sinful’ and thus legitimate targets for insurrection.
- Irredentist: the fight to redeem land considered to be a part of Dar Al Islam or Muslim territory, from non-Muslim rule or occupation.
- Global: the Jihad against the West, particularly the US and their associates.
The three different strands of Jihadism can, and are, used in various combinations by the same Jihadist group simultaneously, according to their objectives.
SANDŽAK REGION, NOT ONLY THE GATEWAY FOR BALKANS ORGANIZED CRIME SYNDICATES, BUT ALSO FOR SPREADING WAHHBISM TO EUROPE?
No jihadi leaders have been reported in bih, although Nedžad Balkan, labeled as the leader of a Sandžak Jihadi group, maintains contacts with religious leaders in BIH. For further background information see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand%C5%BEakas well as http://www.bmlv.gv.at/pdf_pool/publikationen/crime_omero.pdf(page 47), http://www.transconflict.com/about/where-we-work/the-balkans/sandzak/and http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2667210/postshttp://www.bmlv.gv.at/pdf_pool/publikationen/rel_exterm_vs_fried_beweg_05_radical_movements_moderate_balkan_islam_e_hecimovic_17.pdf
Nedžad Balkan, also known as Abu Muhammad, who was born in Vienna AUSTRIA, is a BIH citizen of Sandžak origin. He studied at the Islamic University in Medina, SAUDI ARABIA, but he left without graduating, reportedly disappointed with the SAUDI political regime. Upon his return, he stayed in AUSTRIA, where he preached at the ‘Al-Tawhid’ Mosque. He left the mosque due to disagreement with Muhamed Porča and other members of the congregation. Nedžad Balkan led the ‘Sahaba’ Mosque in Vienna’s 7th County. In 2005, Balkan was placed under observation of the AUSTRIAN Police, for condoning the London bombings and for making extremist statements for the AUSTRIAN press. According to ‘SAFF’ magazine, Balkan is considered to be the ‘highest religious authority’ of the Jihadi group Kelimetul-Haqq and of young extremists in Sandžak. www.kelimatulhaqq.co.nr, the website of the group Kelimetul-Haqq (Words of the Truth, Right Words) is the first openly Jihadi Bosniak website, actively promoting the concept of holy war and disseminating Jihadi videos and lectures.
However, its radical message appears to have little support outside its base in the Sandžak region. www.islamskadravska.com, whose content is hard-core Salafi. There are indications of ties with the Sandžak-based Jihadi group Kelimetul-Haqq. The website is also linked to www.abuhamzabrigade.tk and www.bugojnocity.tk. Both are Bugojno-based minor Salafi / Wahhabi web pages.
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