Extremism on the WWW

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Extremism on the WWW
By Aftab Ahmad Malik Visiting Fellow
CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF ETHNICITY AND CULTURE
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Topics

• Filling the gap The Internets Challenge to
  Authority
• Defining Extremism
• Extremism is Not New
• The Root of Muslim Extremism
• Extremist Traits
• Extremist websites identified
• Who do they represent?
• What commonalities do they share, if any?
• What attracts young Muslims to their sites?
• The Internet as the ideal Medium

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Filling the Gap The Internets Challenge to
Authority

• A growing gap in communication between the old
  and the young
• Young Muslims search for quick and immediate
  answers
• No need is there to travel to seek out or consult
  learned scholars when an individual can go
  directly and effortlessly to the World Wide-Web
• Ignore the complexities and nuances of Islamic
  scholarship
• such nuances vanish as a simple and comforting
  worldview is constructed for Muslims
• While the vast majority of Muslims condemn
  extremism, many do have grave concerns over the
  war on terrorism and it is here that confusion
  amongst the present generation of Muslims sets
  in
• who speaks for Islam and by what authority?
• The Internet has compounded this problem as
  ill-informed opinions appear to be fatwas written
  by scholarly authorities.
• In an attempt to project authority, most of the
  websites use the term fatwa to indicate some
  authenticity to their claim. A fatwa is a
  juristic legal opinion that is not binding. The
  key word here is juristic. One needs to be a
  qualified expert (a Mufti) and grounded in all
  the necessary requisite sciences to be able to
  present one.

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Defining Extremism

• Utilise the word carefully and as a Muslim
  looking at the state of the Muslim world from
  within his tradition.
• The Prophet Muhammad said Beware of extremism
  in the religion, and the Quran in many
  instances warns
• Commit not transgression therein, lest My anger
  should justly descend upon you, and
• Do not exceed the bounds in your religion.
• Islamic terms often used to describe an imbalance
  in the believer are
• al-taassub (being zealous or a zealot in
  religion) 
• al-ghuluw (excessiveness, extremism)
• al-tashdid (exceedingly restrictive) and
• al-tatarruf (moving to the farthest point).
• All these terms basically signifying a tendency
  that is away from what is deemed moderate and
  balanced, whether in belief or by action, and so,
  it is this understanding that I apply to the
  words extremism and extremist.

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• Extremism is not New

Are men to arbitrate in the affairs of Allah?
There can be no arbitration except by Allah.
"The prerogative of command rests with none but
Allah. He declares the truth and He is the best
of judges" (Quran 657)
Urwa ibn Udaiyya objecting to the pact that was
agreed between Ali and Muawiyyah at the Battle
of Siffin who then seceded from the party of Ali
along with 12,000 others.
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• The Root of Muslim Extremism
• The prerogative of command rests with none but
  Allah. He declares the truth and He is the best
  of judges"
• This statement read in its proper Kharijite
  context, is only we (with our swords) have the
  prerogative of command.
• The Hadith of Hurqus ibn Zuhair (Distribution of
  booty after the battle of Hunain
• Rebuking the Prophet seem to know better than
  the Prophet Muhammad
• Hurqus confronted Ali and said, "O son of Abi
  Talib, I fight you not except for the sake of
  Allah, and for my reward in the afterlife." Ali
  retorted, "Your kind, Hurqus, is the kind that
  God Almighty refers to in the Quran where He
  states, 'Say Shall We tell you of those who lose
  most in respect of their deeds? Those whose
  efforts have been wasted in this life, while they
  imagined that they were acquiring good by their
  works' (18 103). Amongst these - and I swear by
  this in the name of the Lord of the Kaba - are
  you Hurqus!"
• "There will come a time when a group of people
  will leave our ranks. They will recite the Quran
  with fervour and passion but its spirit will not
  go beyond their throats. They will leave our
  ranks in the manner of an arrow when it shoots
  from its bow."
• Abdullah ibn Wahb al-Rasibi was one of the
  Khawarij leaders. al-Rasibi was known for his
  fervour in reciting the Quran and was also
  nicknamed Dhu al-Thafanat (the one whose kneecaps
  appeared like two humps of a camel because of the
  intense and extended nature of his prostration in
  prayer)
• Numerous factions occurred within the Kharajite
  ranks, which created other sub-factions. These
  factions and sub-factions merely differed in the
  extent of their extremism (kufr Vs shirk)

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Extremist traits

• They transfer the Quranic verses meant to refer
  to those of no faith to refer to Muslims.
• "What I most fear in my community is a man who
  interprets verses of the Qur'an out of context."
• "They recite Quran and consider it in their
  favor but it is against them."
• Three principles that set them apart from
  mainstream Muslims
• That all perpetrators of major sins were
  permanently destined for hell (Exception are the
  Ibadites).
• The declaration of either kufr or shirk upon
  those who differ with them.
• It is obligatory to overthrow an oppressive ruler
  by force.

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Extremist Websites Identified

• In all the websites examined, three underlying
  intellectual orientations were apparent
• Salafi
• Political and
• Jihadi
• The salafi approach itself falls into moderate
  and extreme factions, which often are at
  loggerheads with one another
• traditional Vs classical Vs neo-/takfiri
  Salafi Next Generation
• Political discourses on Islam focus on the need
  to re-instate the Caliphate and the prohibition
  and condemnation of those being involved in any
  democratic process
• The Jihadist discourse criticises the former two
  orientations for their lack of attention to the
  necessity of jihad.
• National Vs Global Jihadists
• From reviewing their websites, these three
  orientations share a number of commonalities and
  over-lapping concerns

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Extremist Websites Identified

• They all claimed to hold the belief of the
  salaf (salafee aqeeda sic)
• Condemnation and/or excommunication of fellow
  Muslims and movements/groups that follow
  something other than their methodology. In
  particular, their contempt and rejection of any
  mystical aspect of Islam with particular
  condemnation of Sufism.
• Espousal of the medieval Muslim view that the
  world is categorized in two domains The domain
  of War (dar al-Islam) and the domain of Peace
  (dar al-Islam)
• A narrow definition of innovation effectively
  allowing them to categorise many Muslim scholars,
  activities, celebrations, habits, customs and
  ideas as taking a Muslim outside the pail of
  Islam.
• The reduction of issues into black and white and
  ignoring the feasibility that there may be a
  scholarly difference over any given issue
• Most equate the war on terrorism with a war
  against Islam and make no distinction between the
  governments that sanction war and the civilians
  that are opposed to it
• The extensive use of emotional blackmail. By
  highlighting Muslim suffering around the world as
  a crime perpetuated by Western governments, the
  surfer is urged to fulfil his or her religious
  duty to remove hardships on fellow Muslims

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What Attracts Young Muslims to their Sites?

• Discussing issues openly that are almost
  closed/prohibited from being addressed/discussed
  in mosques (even more so in Muslim countries)
• They appear to ask questions that many Muslims
  want asked about the war on terrorism
• Keeping messages simple and written in an
  accessible language to all
• Being almost always first to analyse current
  events and put forward their commentary and
  making quick use of e-mailing lists
• Having articles (and small books) that are easily
  downloadable and printed off as fliers that can
  be circulated on the streets and particularly,
  after the Friday Sermon
• Having the status of taboo websites provokes many
  to visit the website to find out exactly why they
  have been told not to go there
• They dont call for restraint their message is
  one of emergency Muslims are being killed and
  Islam itself is under siege. You have to do
  something or be complicit in the assault against
  Islam

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The Internet as the Ideal Medium

• The Internet itself is an ideal medium for the
  transportation of these ideas because it offers
• easy access
• little or no regulation, censorship, or other
  forms of government control
• anonymity of communication
• fast flow of information
• inexpensive development and maintenance of a web
  presence
• a multimedia environment (the ability to combine
  text, graphics, audio, and video and to allow
  users to download films, songs, books, posters,
  etc)