Joe Kaufman: America's Islamist Threat

"Milestone" author Sayyid Qutb

http://www.FrontPageMag.com

March 1, 2007

For decades, adherents of the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun) have threatened the existence of their respective governments, considering them to be secular, illegitimate and traitorous. As more and more of this brand of fundamentalist – and many times fanatic – Islam reaches our shores, will the same threat for us become reality?

State-run regimes have, time and time again, taken extreme measures against the Iquan. These measures include imprisonment, expulsion, execution, and in the case of the Syrian Hama massacre of 1982, mass murder. Life at home for Brothers has never been that brotherly. For this reason, many chose to temporarily forego the quest for regional domination, in hopes of finding acceptance elsewhere.

Beginning in the 1950s, Saudi Arabia happily opened its doors to these unwanted travelers. Unlike many Muslim nations, Saudi Arabia was/is ruled by a fundamentalist form of Islam known as Wahhabism. The Islamist movement of the Ikhwan, having a similar religious underpinning, allowed for mutual understanding and acceptance from the royal family. As such, the Brotherhood was the perfect vehicle to spread the Wahhabi philosophy to other parts of the world.

Europe and North America, while being the ideological opposite of Islam, were ironically the perfect match for the Brothers, as these continents offered Islamists something they did not have in their native lands – freedom of religion. Others would embrace more radical surroundings, such as those who went off to fight the Russians alongside Osama bin Laden and his mentor Abdullah Azzam, in Afghanistan during the 80s.

Within North America, Brotherhood organizations began to sprout. The same year the newly formed Baathist regime of Syria outlawed the Ikhwan, leaders of the Brotherhood found a new dwelling place in the state of Illinois. In January of 1963, the Muslim Students Association (MSA) was born. Today, MSA chapters number in the hundreds.

Out of the MSA came the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), two large umbrella organizations for radical mosques and Islamic centers throughout the U.S. and Canada – the latter being created to emulate Jamaat-e-Islami, the Brotherhood of Pakistan. As well, from the MSA came the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), the first ever Muslim financial trust (waqf) company, that holds the titles for the radical mosques and North American children’s schools. These organizations form the basis for a physical American Islamist infrastructure.

Other groups, like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the American Muslim Alliance (AMA), the American Muslim Council (AMC), and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) attempt to attach themselves to politicians and law enforcement personnel. Educational facilities, such as the International Institute for Islamic Thought (IIIT), and book companies, like Amana Publications, provide Islamist propaganda to the masses. And charities, such as Islamic Relief (IR) and Life for Relief and Development (LIFE) actively raise money through much of the above for Islamist causes overseas.

The groups work in tandem with one another to make sure goals are achieved, and all are charged to protect one another from harm – even if the wrongdoing is beyond reprehensible. Sami Al-Arian was a co-founder of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the organization’s North American leader. He was, at least in part, responsible for the brutal murders of over 100 innocent people, including two Americans. He now sits in a U.S. prison, a convicted terrorist. None of this has fazed the Islamist community, as many of the groups mentioned have called for fasting in solidarity with Al-Arian, who has gone on a hunger strike. As well, they have called for their Brother’s release.



Sami Al-Arian

Except for his children’s school, which was being used to funnel money to PIJ, Al-Arian’s operation in the U.S. was shut down by the government. Many other organizations connected to overseas terror have been shut down as well. However, this has only been a hinderance, as Islamism in America continues to grow, strengthened by the ideologies of the Brotherhood and the never-ending petrodollars they receive from their Wahhabist enablers in the Persian Gulf.

What is the Brotherhood doctrine with regard to America? It was spelled out in a book entitled Milestones, authored by Ikhwan leader Sayyid Qutb. In it, he writes, “Even the Western world realizes that Western civilization is unable to present any healthy values for the guidance of mankind… It is essential for mankind to have a new leadership… Islam is the only system which possesses these values and this way of life.” Or as Omar Ahmad, former National Chairman of CAIR, put it, “Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.”

Those adherents of the Muslim Brotherhood that are in America have a religious-based political mission. It is no different than that of Osama bin Laden or his second-in-charge, Brother Ayman al-Zawahiri. Only the tactics have changed. While Al-Qaeda looks to establish Islam in America overnight, those Brothers that live here practice patience. They know that the American public is ignorant to their desires, as they slowly bring themselves to power using our hard-earned dollars that we feed into our gas tanks, using our own Constitution against us. If we don’t wake up soon, their goals will be achieved.

Joe Kaufman is the Chairman of Americans Against Hate, the founder of CAIR Watch, and the spokesman for Terror-Free Oil Initiative.