The Jihadist Genie Is Set Loose
Bin Laden is dead. American families who lost loved ones on that terrible day in September 2001 finally have some closure. This perpetrator of the most egregious assault on innocent lives in recent decades has finally met his rightful end.
That said, it would be enormously naïve to think that the threat of terrorism has vanished from our shores.
On the contrary, home-grown terror is alive and kicking. It is likely to raise its ugly head in the form of small, random attacks as part of Osama’s deadly legacy.
The now deceased icon of terror successfully fanned among his followers a visceral hatred of all things Western. His jihadists draw inspiration from the radical
writings of Abu Ala Maududi, Syed Qutb and Hasan Al Banna, who saw the world as a dichotomy between the world of Islam and the world of the “infidel.” Their books continue to be circulated in mosques, high schools and universities. The somber conclusion: Once the jihadist genie is let loose by radical forces in and outside the Muslim world, it is difficult, if not impossible to control.
Militant political Islam indeed sees itself at war with the West socially, economically, politically and culturally. Its manifestation in the form of terror cells is decentralized to the point of radicals sometimes taking matters entirely into their own hands to carry out a terrorist attack.
Feisal Shahzad, the New York car bomber apprehended by US authorities en route to Dubai last year wrote in an email to his friends in 2006 that jihad was his “way to fight back when rockets are fired…and Muslim blood flows”. In the same e-mail replete with verses of the Koran, Shahzad claimed that global jihad indeed conformed to the spirit of the Koran.
Feisal Shahzad would have supporters in Canada. We have our own share of terrorists and terrorist sympathizers. In fact, there is concern that Canada might have become a safe haven for murderous jihadists. In August 2010, two men from Ottawa and one person from London, Ontario were charged with attempted terror against Canadian targets.
These individuals had access to terrorist literature, videos and explosive devices. Also, let us not forget the Toronto eighteen who were planning on blowing up buildings in Ottawa and the Greater Toronto area in 2006.
Perhaps Osama is more of threat dead than alive, at least in the short run. Terrorist attacks in the form of reprisals are therefore a likely scenario now. Canada and the West must tighten security at airports, the US-Canada border, government compounds and public spaces.
Moderate Muslims must also step up to the challenge of the post Osama era. They must do their share of opposing terrorism by decrying it publicly. Thus far, they have been derelict in their duty to the point where terrorists have interpreted their silence to mean tacit approval for terrorist agenda.
They must organize themselves in public rallies to denounce terrorist violence in the name of Islam rather than denounce some frivolous cartoons of the prophet Mohammad. They must clearly define terror and repudiate it in terms that are unequivocal.
Often Muslim organizations have come forward to “condemn” terror after an attack, but such condemnations have invariably included references to “Western aggression” in Muslim lands. The two scenarios discussed in the same breadth act as justifications for terror and defeat the purpose of the condemnation.
Whatever the grievances, no act justifies the killing of innocent people. The sooner moderate Muslims acknowledge this, the better for all concerned as the curse of Islamist terror has brought nothing but disrepute to Islam and Muslims.
Farzana Hassan is an author, freelance writer, radio program host, and past president of the Muslim Canadian Congress
