Muhammad's passing creates enduring rift

Persian art symbol of Muhammad's ascension to heaven

In 632, Muhammad's sudden death after a brief illness launched a profound disagreement, creating a schism in Islam which still remains unresolved. After Muhammad's death, Islam split into two major factions, Sunni and Shia, over who should assume leadership of Islam.

The Shia, about 15% of all Muslims today, believe that Muhammad's leadership of Islam should fall to his cousin and son-in-law, Ali ibn Abi Talib.

The Sunni, about 85% of all Muslims today, believe that Muhammad's leadership of Islam should fall to Abu Bakr, who also served as Muhammad's lieutenant in his campaigns of conquest to bring infidels unto submission to Allah through Islam.

The Caliphate

Muhammad's successors gradually expanded Islamic rule through an affiliation of Islamic kingdoms and sultanates called the Caliphate ("successors of Muhammad").

The Caliphate in 750 AD

At its zenith, the Caliphate had spread well beyond the Arabian Peninsula. It stretched to the west as far as Spain, south across Morocco and all of N. Africa, all of Saudi Arabia, extending throughout the Middle East and into what is today India. This region was several times the size of the Byzantine Empire (north of the Mediterranean), of the same period.

The Caliphate dominated for 300 years until its power began to wane around the year 940 and finally ended March 3, 1924, with the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate (Empire).

Note: Today some Muslims, such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, believe it is their duty to work to restore the Caliphate's domination of the world, fulfilling Allah's will that Islam, the true religion, supplant all the corrupt religions that developed since the time of Abraham.

The fulfillment of that global destiny, as dictated by Islamic teachings, is why Usama Bin Laden insists that the United States and other nations convert to Islam.

What is 'militant Islam' and what do they want?

A pattern of constant socio-political and spiritual conquest has shaped the Middle East for thousands of years and this past century has been no exception.



After the Allied Powers prevailed in World War II, the United Nations approved the 1947 UN Partition Plan in an attempt to quell anti-Semitic violence and persecution and reconcile Arab and Jewish populations. Rather than establish those solutions, the plan fostered the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and subsequent wars and skirmishes in the region.

In the years since, Palestinians have been offered various agreements, but seem steadfast in a strategy of holding out for the elimination of Israel as a state and recovering the territory for themselves.

Since about 1986, Islamic forces refusing to recognize the state of Israel and opposing Israel's strongest supporters (Great Britain and the United States) have adopted a guerilla warfare tactic that has expanded to global dimensions.

So here is the basis of the enduring conflict between Jews and Muslims:

Q: To whom did God or Allah grant occupation of the Holy Land?

Even as members of the Islamic faith have brutalized and terrorized each other (Shia versus Sunni) they have also targeted infidel (non-Muslim) nations and their peoples for the sake of land (Israel) and political power (Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Somalia, etc.).

The Mangement of Savagery

Cover of "The Management of Savagery"


If there is any doubt about militant Islam's intentions toward Western culture, especially American culture, we recommend a review of "The Management of Savagery." This chilling account of militant Islam's goals and strategies was written as a "strategic study" by an al-Qaida operative, Abu Bakr Naji, and translated from Arabic to English by William McCants.

"The Management of Savagery" (268 pages) can be downloaded from the Web site of the West Point U.S. Military Academy: "Combating Terrorism Center"

Excerpt:
The Path for Establishing an Islamic State
- Stages of the priority group (of states):
The stage of the power of "vexation and exhaustion," then the stage of "the administration of savagery," then the stage of "the power of establishment" – establishing the state.

Telling acts by key players in militant Islam

The Caliphate has represented Islamic domination of the known world in eras past. Today, while Usama Bin Laden used to call for the removal of western infidels from Islamic territory, he now calls for the conversion of the United States to Islam.


Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made disturbing references to the destruction of Zion (Israel), restoring the Caliphate, denial of the Holocaust, and predicting the imminent appearance of the 12^th Imam.

Some explanation:

Zion, originally a hill in Israel (Mt. Zion), has come to refer to Israel, Jerusalem, or the Jewish people. Zionists consider Israel to be the Promised Land, given by God to His Chosen People. Muslims believe Allah granted the same land to them through conquests after Muhammad established Islam as the ultimate evolution of religion.

Ahmadinejad undoubtedly advocates the end of Israel as a state. On or about October 26, 2005 Ahmadinejad spoke in Tehran at a state-sponsored conference entitled, "The World Without Zion," saying, "The Islamic umma (community) will not allow its historic enemy to live in its heartland." He spoke passionately about an "historic war between the oppressor and the world of Islam." The term "oppressor" is used by the Iranian clerical government to refer to the United States.



On or about December 15, 2005, Ahmadinejad said, "They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions and the prophets," the Iranian President declared in a speech carried live on state television. "If somebody in their country questions God, nobody says anything," he said. "But if somebody denies the myth of the massacre of Jews, the Zionist loudspeakers and the governments in the pay of Zionism will start to scream."

Though Shia and Sunni Muslims disagree about the proper succession of Muhammad's leadership, both believe in the Mahdi, who will, in accordance with Allah's word, bring global justice and peace by establishing Islam throughout the world.

The Shia believe this ultimate resolution will be presided over by the 12^th Imam, the true and final successor to Muhammad whom Allah has concealed for unknown reasons but will ultimately be revealed as the Mahdi - the ultimate saviour of humankind. Ahmadinejad reportedly has told his cabinet he believes the 12^th Imam could be revealed as soon as the year 2008. Today the Iranian government is spending millions on the construction of a special mosque and other supportive structures in Tehran to prepare for the coming of the Mahdi.

Ahmadinejad seems to believe it is his duty to work to restore global Islamic dominion, which militant Islamists say scripture dictates will occur after Islam is victorious in a final confrontation with infidels. Ahmadinejad demonstrates a lust for conflict paired with a faith that Allah will protect him, considering that Iranian insurgents and materials are regularly passed into Iraq while substantial Iranian support is given to Hizbollah in Lebanon and Syria. Some observers have suggested that Ahmadinejad may see himself as an emerging Islamic prophet, or perhaps even the 12^th Imam.

What is the threat of militant Islam?

In the days of conquest that saw the advent of regimes like the Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire, violent conflicts between adversaries were limited to contests fought in real time against visible foes.

The United States military has been traditionally developed around fighting one or a few sovereign nations deploying uniformed armies on known battlefields, usually to defend a specific territory. The technology of war was changed dramatically since that era.

International terror attacks are markedly reduced since 2001, but far from eliminated

Militant Islam represents a serious threat to American culture and public safety in that they have adopted a strategy of using guerilla tactics (remotely detonated explosives) and martyrdom to kill the largest possible groups of people.

Modern anti-terrorism strategies and rules of engagement can only limit - not defeat - militant Islamic terrorism.

Globalization of terrorism

Unlike Irish terrorism of the 1980's or similar nationalist movements of decades past, Islamic terrorism has spread beyond the borders of the Islamic states to nearly every continent.

Global communications technology has scattered much of the control of militant Islamic forces away from Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, and splintered the movement into many cells that are sympathetic to Bin Laden but operate autonomously. Militant Islamic forces covertly operate in America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and much of Indonesia.

Madrasas

"Madrasas" are schools for Islamic children.

Some madrasas are run by militant groups who incorporate hatred ideology against all western culture, but particularly that of America, nurturing a steadily increasing pool of willing militant Islamic martyrs, which represents a very long-term threat to global peace and stability.

Foes often indistinguishable from friends

Ramadan Shallah

Enemies used to be distinguisahble by their uniforms.

The man in this photo is not a member of any local PTA. Ramadan Shallah is one of the original founding members of the "Palestinian Islamic Jihad." See alternate photos of him and other major militant Islamic terrorists at the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists listing: http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/fugitives.htm

Despite that many moderate Muslims and American politicians claim that militant Islam represents a small minority of the Islamic community, there seems to be overwhelming public support in Islamic states for militant Islam. Consider how relatively easy it is to see news footage of militant Muslims dancing in dusty streets, chanting, "Death to America," brandishing automatic weapons. These demonstrations typically celebrate some recent act of violence, such as the destruction of the World Trade Center or the headless, burning corpse of a construction worker whose sin against Islam was working for an American company to improve Iraq's infrastructure.

Meanwhile, there is rarely any public demonstrations by any Muslims supporting peaceful coexistence with non-Muslims. Even in the United States it is almost unheard of to see any public demonstrations by Muslims who condemn militant Islamic terrorism, despite a fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, against terrorism and extremism issued by the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) and endorsed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and more than 120 U.S. Muslim groups, leaders and institutions.

Rapidly growing numbers

The largest Muslim population in the world is in Indonesia, with 88% of census respondents describing themselves as Muslim. Most are said to be moderate and peaceful, but militant Islamic groups in Indonesia persistently attempt to overthrow the government.

According to the European Social Survey of 2003, Europe's Muslim population has tripled in the past 30 years, fueled by immigration from North Africa, Turkey, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The largest Muslim population in western Europe is in France, where Muslims face high unemployment and often live in poor suburbs.

In 2005, the accidental death of two Muslim teenagers triggered weeks of rioting by young North African Muslim immigrants. The violence spread from a Paris suburb across the French countryside. Recent census figures show that 10% of the French population may be Muslim as of this writing.

Attacks growing in number and violence

Global terror attacks by militant Islamic forces have grown exponentially in recent years. Even if you don't count the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy by a Jordanian Arab-Palestinian on June 5, 1968 as a militant Islamic attack, consider these other militant Islamic terrorist attacks on Americans listed here, just one per decade, as examples:

November 4, 1979, in Tehran, Iran -
Fifty-two American citizens were taken hostage when militant Islamic students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and kept hostage for 444 days until the day of Ronald Reagan's Presidential inauguration.

October 23, 1983, in Beirut, Lebanon -
A truck loaded with a bomb crashed into the lobby of the U.S. Marines headquarters in Beirut, killing 241 soldiers and wounding 81. The attack was carried out by Hizballah with the help of Syrian intelligence and financed by Iran.

February 26, 1993, New York, USA -
The World Trade Center in New York City was badly damaged when a car bomb planted by Islamic terrorists exploded in an underground garage. The bomb left 6 people dead and 1,000 injured. The men carrying out the attack were followers of Umar Abd al-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric who preached in the New York City area.

October 12, 2000: In Aden, Yemen -
A small dingy carrying explosives rammed the destroyer U.S.S. Cole, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39 others. Several supporters of Usama Bin Laden were convicted. Some escaped jail in Yemeni on February 3, 2006 and remained at large as of this writing.

Limited Choices

Militant Islam obviously embraces the traditions and goals of global socio-political and spiritual conquest that were common for centuries before and after Muhammad's time. It has successfully exported this cult of conquest to threaten all points on the globe. Meanwhile, other participants in the ancient campaigns of conquest, such as the Catholic church, have abandoned such violent pursuits of empire building. Similar modern adventures such as those of the Axis Powers in World War II, have been defeated.

In the ancient times of conquest, combatants engaged each other immediately and in the open, even if assailants approached by stealth. Today, technology enables individuals or small groups to kill in much greater numbers, either by martyrdom or by secretly placing and remotely detonating lethal devices.

The "War on Terror"

Unfortunately, President Bush's "War on Terror" (not "Islamic terrorists") is a doomed enterprise because it is an impossibly poor choice of enemies. Waging war against concepts and inanimate objects is ridiculous. One cannot feasibly win a campaign against a combat tactic, defeat a social condition (President Johnson's "War on Poverty") or prevail against controlled substances (President Nixon's "War on Drugs").

In all cases outside the platitudes of rhetoric, every struggle against an opponent is a human struggle.


As Walt Kelly propheticaly pointed out, "We have met the enemy as he is us."
(Walt Kelly's Pogo Papers, et al; 1952, 1970)

The combination of modern war technology in the hands of stealth fighters and limited rules of engagement against terrorist tactics make it impossible to completely defeat rapidly-growing numbers of terrorists. At best, any limited counter-terrorism tactic is relegated to a stalemate of endless defensive or suppressive maneuvers that merely contain the threat while awaiting the unlikely event that terrorists will abandon their plans.

The unthinkable or the unlikely?

If humanity is to continue to evolve away from the politics of conquest and secure the peaceful practice and protection of all religions, what must be done?

A long view of history suggests that one of these things must happen to defeat militant Islamic terrorism's campaign for global socio-political and spiritual domination:

1. Overwhelming military defeat, regardless of traditional religious sanctuary or contemporary rules of engagement.
   
   As a desperate approach, some have advocated "fighting fire with fire" - a return to ancient rules of engagement, starting with World War II-style blanket attacks. In this strategy, one militant Islamic-controlled mosque, hatred-teaching educational facility, or terrorist training camp after another is destroyed by missiles in response to each and every further Islamic terrorist attack.
   
   Eventually, militant Islam would be forced to submit and make peace or, ultimately, face the destruction of the Grand Mosque in Mecca. It is thought that the extreme measures of the systematic and utter destruction of many or all of Islam's cherished symbols would be completely demoralizing and subduing to militant Muslims by virtue of the logic that, if Allah had allowed it to happen, it must be according to His will.
   
   More likely, well before the destruction of any major mosque, it would convince moderate Muslims to enjoin the struggle - perhaps on the side of counter-terrorism - perhaps not.
   
   OBVIOUSLY, THIS SOLUTION IS NOT DESIRED BY ANYONE WHO TRULY SEEKS PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE.
   
   
2. Repeated, compelling public condemnation of terrorism by peaceful Muslims and key non-Muslim influences.
   
   If it is true that militant Islam represents only a small minority of Muslims worldwide, the only peaceful way to effectively defeat militant Islam's goals for global socio-political and spiritual domination may be by securing the cooperation of peaceful, moderate Muslims. The Islamic comunity must be committed to ending this struggle and willing to wrest control of the Islamic faith away from terrorists by refusing to grant them safe harbor.

Note: For most of the time it took to compile this information, it was assumed that there were probably a third or even fourth viable option for defeating the offensive of militant Islamic global conquest. It is with regret that we admit, after a thorough examination of current and ancient Islamic history, that we do not recognize any other alternatives that offer a strong likelihood of success before militant Islamic forces foster some kind of cataclysmic event. For example, we see no historical evidence to suggest that militant Islam might respond favorably to attempts at dialogue with non-Muslims toward peaceful negotiation.

We ask readers of "Militant Islam 101" to post comments on this blog to identify any additional options for eliminating Islamic terrorism that have eluded our consideration.

You Can Wage Peace on Islam

"All politics is local."
~ Former U.S. House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill


"Think globally; act locally."
~ Author unknown

One course of action for individuals who are concerned about the designs of conquest on the part of militant Islam is to write to local mosques and ask for their participation and public condemnation of terrorist activities. The more letters local Islamic leaders receive, the more likely they are to contribute to efforts to stop militant Islamic terrorism.

To find the addresses of local mosques use a telephone directory or an Internet search.

NO mosques in your area? Click here:
EMAIL the Council on American-Islamic Relations

DISTRIBUTE free information to Muslims
Ask Islamic leaders to sponsor a public anti-terrorism rally:
FREE FLYER - "Wage Peace On Islam"

Sample letter to the Islamic community

Here is a sample letter some citizens are using to invite a dialogue with the Islamic community:

Dear Islamic Neighbors:

The region of our planet that is the birthplace of your faith is under siege by terrorists who insist that Americans convert to Islam or be slaughtered. These terrorists point to the Qur'an as the source of justification for their heinous actions.

Do most Muslims agree that it is God's will to make jihad to restore the Caliphate, force non-Muslims to convert to Islam, or slaughter thousands of innocent people by commandeering commercial aircraft or bombing public places? If not, where are the emphatic public demonstrations of law-abiding Muslims to condemn the fascists who subvert your faith?

If these bloodthirsty killers are NOT following Islamic tenets, is it not incumbent upon the peaceful followers of Muhammad to publicly distinguish themselves from terrorist groups and condemn the use of the Qur'an to justify terrorism?

Americans see crowds of people in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and elsewhere across the world publicly celebrating attacks like those of September 11, 2001 or dancing with glee as the burning, beheaded corpse of an American civilian dangles from a rope on a bridge.

If the Islamic community in America does not assertively, publicly, overwhelmingly condemn such perverse acts, how can non-Muslims distinguish Islamic fascists from peace-loving Muslim bretheren? How can terrorists know that they lack the support of their peaceable Muslim bretheren? Will we ever see massive public demonstrations in support of the fatwa against terror, announced in July of 2005?

As you may know, current military counter-terrrorism efforts and rules of engagement can only suppress, not defeat terrorism. To peacefully establish lasting religious tolerance and coexistance, militant Islamic terrorists must be defeated from within the Islamic community.

Please act now! Surely any news media would be very receptive to a request from your office for coverage of a public demonstration of what is in your minds and hearts.

Sincerely,