Archive for July, 2016

July 27th, 2016 Related News

77% of Danish Muslims say Koran must be followed fully

(JYLLANDS-POSTEN) By Martin Johansen (Google translation)

Muslims in Denmark have begun to pay more attention to their religion and religious practices.

It shows a poll among Danish Muslims conducted by Wilke for Jyllands-Posten, and it is comparable to a similar done almost 10 years ago in 2006.

Back then it was 37 per cent, Who daily prayed five times or more. Now it’s exactly half, 50 per cent. Similarly, mean an increasing proportion – 77 per cent. – The Koran’s instructions must be followed fully against 62 per cent. in 2006. Finally, there are also some who believe that Muslim girls from adolescence should cover themselves with headscarves.

Religion Sociologist Brian Arly Jacobsen, University of Copenhagen, found the development surprising.

“It seems that Danish Muslims have become more religious in all dimensions, both in terms of faith and practice. Generally, we would expect that the opposite would happen, and that they would eventually come to resemble the rest of the Danes, who are not particularly religious activity, “says Brian Arly Jacobsen, who sees the creation of 20-30 new mosques over the past 10 years as a possible explanation for the development.

In the poll it is the younger Muslims who emerges as the most religious.

Imam Fatih Alev believe that a tough rhetoric toward Islam and Muslims has been a catalyst for that especially many young Muslims have become more aware of their faith. He sees a danger in that few mosques as his has Danish-speaking imams. Many of the young people talk and do not understand the language of their parents’ home countries.

“It means that young people do not feel drawn to mosques and rather than risk falling into the clutches of these radicalized groups arch Danish in their communication to the young,” he says. “I ask myself, of course, not up and pray in front judge ‘

To Islam critic and chairman of the Free Press Society Katrine Winkel Holm, the figures are a sign that strong Islamist forces are “unfolding at full speed. ”

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July 20th, 2016 News You Can Use, Related News

It’s not the bombs, it’s not the guns, it’s not the trucks: It’s Islam

(COUNTER JIHAD) — In the wake of the Nice terror attack, former US Special Forces Master Sergeant Jim Hanson told journalists that the use of the truck proved that we can’t stop this kind of terrorism by focusing on the method of killing. “It’s not guns, it’s not bombs, it’s not trucks,” he said, but rather, “the ideology of sharia and jihad that motivates them to kill.”

This week has borne him out on that point.

Most famously, an Afghan refugee — allegedly 17, but he arrived unaccompanied and without records — undertook to hack German train passengers with an axe. The German government, following the lead of Angela Merkel and defending her refugee policy, refused to refer to this attack as terrorism. The German media followed suit:

German media have been describing the event as an “attack,” not a “terror attack.” And the event seems even less like an orchestrated act of Islamist terror since there have been indications that the young man may have turned into a radical Islamist within only a few days after hearing about the death of a good friend back in Afghanistan.

But whatever the terminology may be: Many people see something systematic in the series of large and small attacks carried out without exception by Muslims. Many are afraid their own lives are at risk – and that’s the very point of terrorism.

As noted in the article, the young man clearly thought of himself as an actor in service to the Islamic State (ISIS). He not only filmed a video explaining his intentions and loyalties, he sent it to them so that they could claim him after the fact as one of their own. They likewise recognized his claim to be a citizen of their caliphate, and did indeed accept the legitimacy of his claim that he had the right to act on their behalf as a “soldier of the caliphate.”

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July 15th, 2016 Related News

ISIS has up to 42 million supporters in the Arab world

(THE CLARION PROJECT) — by Ralph Mauro

An analysis of four polls surveying Arab public opinion towards the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) reveals that the group has a bare minimum of 8.5 million strong supporters and that’s a conservative estimate. If you include those who feel somewhat positively towards the Islamic State, the number rises to at least 42 million.

The estimate is based on a March 2015 poll by the Iraq-based Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Society Studies; a November 2014 poll by Zogby Research Services; another November 2014 poll by the Doha-based Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and an October 2014 poll by the Fikra Forum commissioned by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The following is a breakdown of the support for the Islamic State in 11 Arab countries:

Iraq

The November 2014 poll by the Doha-based Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies found that 2% of Iraqis view the Islamic State positively and another 4% view it positively to some extent. The March 2015 poll found that 5% do not consider the Islamic State to be a terrorist group.

With a population of 32,586,000 according to the CIA World Factbook, that means the Islamic State has between 651,720 and 1,955,160 supporters in Iraq.

Syria

Seventeen percent of Syrians said that they completely support the Islamic State’s goals and activities in the March 2015 poll. That statistic grows to 27% when you account for Syrians who do not consider the Islamic State to be a terrorist group.

The November 2014 poll interviewed 900 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey and found that 4% are positive towards the Islamic State and another 9% are somewhat positive. This should raise serious concerns for countries that are accepting refugees from the civil war.

With a population of 17,952,000, that means the Islamic State has between 3,051,840 and 4,847,040 supporters in Syria.

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July 1st, 2016 Related News

The Islamic State’s prolific ‘martyrdom’ machine

(THE LONG WAR JOURNAL) — By Thomas Joscelyn

The Islamic State claims to have executed 489 “martyrdom operations” in Iraq, Syria and Libya during the first five months of 2016. The figure comes from monthly data published by Amaq News Agency, a propaganda arm of the so-called caliphate that releases infographics summarizing the group’s suicide attacks.

Amaq’s most recent infographic (seen on the right) indicates that the jihadists executed 119 “martyrdom operations” in the month of May alone. If Amaq’s figures are accurate, then the Islamic State is launching suicide attacks at a historically high rate.

Earlier this month, for example, the State Department reported that there were 726 “suicide attacks” executed by all perpetrators around the globe in 2015. Therefore, all terrorist groups, including the Islamic State, carried out an average of 61 suicide bombings per month in 2015. The Islamic State nearly doubled that rate in May and has exceeded it by more than 20 attacks each month this year, according to Amaq’s infographics.

The data referenced by Foggy Bottom is compiled by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), which maintains an “unclassified event database compiled from information in open-source reports of terrorist attacks.”

According to START’s data, 2015 witnessed a record number of suicide bombings. But 2016 is currently on pace to eclipse that high-water mark.

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