Islamic Extremism in Indonesia
As I read this article on Aljazeera.net I am steeling myself for more terrorism in Indonesia. I would highly recommend that you read the interview that Al Jazerra posted with Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, founder and head of the Pesantren al-Mukmin of Ngruki, based in the Indonesian city of Surakarta, is widely known in Southeast Asia and around the world. I think that it will open your eyes.
I have lifted the most important quotes from Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir verbatim. I think that you may find them as troubling as I have.
Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir
"There is not a single Muslim leader today who has the courage and commitment to defend Islam and Muslims, they are all in awe of the United States and other Western powers, and are indebted to them. This is what we call "Wahn". Our Prophet warned that this would be the case in the future, that the Muslim ummat [Muslim family of believers] would be great in numbers, but weak in spirit - until they are trampled upon again and again."
"The Arab leaders and other Muslim leaders in Asia all suffer from this disease called "wahn", this weakness brought about by wealth and privilege, and thus they have become soft. That is why they cannot stand up to the kafirs [non-believers also called infidels] and they cannot be firm in their statements and policies. Their love for the world and all their worldly possesions means that they only think of themselves."
"...the weakness does not come from the millions of Muslims in the world. They do not mind being radical, they have no fear to speak out and to protest and to jihad. But the weakness comes from these Westernised co-opted Muslim leaders who just want to look good in the eyes of the West and Western media."
"Today the Western powers and media want to domesticate us like sheep, to keep us tame and domesticated. But why are animals domesticated? So that they can be slaughtered in the end!"
"The only model to follow is pure Islam. Because Islam in its original form was tough and hard, not weak and pliable. Islam is fixed, stable, ordered and disciplined, and so are Muslims."
"If we return to the real practice of true Islam we would be much stronger and that is when the kafirs will fear us. That is why we need to uphold the Shariah [the legal framework within which public and some private aspects of life are regulated] and return to real Islam. But the West is trying to weaken Islam from outside and inside. They attack our people and invade our countries from outside, and they weaken us from within with ideas like secularism, liberalism and democracy. This is all designed to contaminate our pure Islam."
"Islam is perfect, there is nothing to be added or changed. We have shown that Islam can rule the world perfectly for 14 centuries, and during this time of Muslim power we did not borrow ideas like democracy from others, so why do we need to learn democracy from them now? As long as Muslims were confident they could not be defeated, but now we are just puppets."
"This is why we are calling for the upholding of the Shariah here in Indonesia. We demand an Islamic state, and not some form of Islamisation of society. We want the state to be Islamic, with Islamic leaders who have the courage and will to implement the Shariah in total. There is no other way."
"So we want an Islamic state where Islamic law is not just in the books but enforced, and enforced with determination. There is no space and no room for democratic consultation. The Shariah is set and fixed, so why do we need to discuss it anymore? Just implement it!"
"Indonesians must understand that there is no Islamic state without the enforcement of Islamic laws. Otherwise it is just talk and nothing else."
"As for Malaysia, you may be economically better off but your leaders are weak. Badawi may come from a family of ulama [community of legal Muslim scholars] but his faith is weak and so is his spirit. How can Malaysia sign a free trade agreement with America and Japan? Are these not kafir [non-believing] countries? And America today is an enemy of Muslim states and the supporter of Israel. In Islam that makes America a kafir harbi (enemy) state, and we Muslims are obliged to cut off all ties, diplomatic and economic with such an enemy state."
"Anwar (Ibrahim) is also someone who does not understand Islam well. How can he talk about dialogue with America and the West? What dialogue? With murderers of Muslims? Anwar is mistaken about his views on Westerners and Jews. The Jews are cunning and cannot be trusted, as it states in the Qur'an."
"How can we dialogue for peace in the Arab world as long as Israel exists? Israel cannot dream of having peaceful borders because Israel has no right to exist, no right to be there. That is the land of Palestine, for the Palestinians. How can any Muslim leader say that Israel has the right to safe borders? It should not be there in the first place!"
"In Islam there is only one way, the Islamic way. Dialogue with the kafirs [enemies of the Islamic state and non-believers] is useless unless we Muslims are already living in Islamic states and not secular democracies. When you want dialogue with Muslims, Muslims need to be in power in their own countries first, on their terms. If the (Muslim) government does not impose Shariah, it has to be replaced. As long as the government does not go against Islam, we can still tolerate it. But once it goes against Shariah, we must oppose it."
"When our governments engage with enemy kafir states, is that not going against Islamic principles? When you dialogue with countries that are anti-Islam and kill Muslims, how can you call yourself an Islamic state?"
"It is the duty for Muslims to oppose their governments when their leaders dialogue with our enemies. It says so in the Quran (Surah 60:9), that those who oppose Islam are our enemies and we must fight against them. So before we dialogue with kafirs, we need to go on jihad against our own hypocrite governments first that are apostates and against Islamic principles."
"The Quran has all the guidelines, rules, norms, laws and punishments we need. The enforcement of the Shariah is the sword we are talking about. Without enforcement of the Shariah the Quran is just words in a book. It is a text with no practical meaning. That is why the message has to be implemented realizedised with determination."
"Sadly over the centuries Islam grew weak and we forgot that the Prophet carried a spear when he spoke. The spear was replaced with a staff (tongkat) instead, as if Muslims were weak and needed a walking-stick to stand up! We need to go back to this original, strong, robust Islam. Like the Prophet we need to carry the spear (tombak) again. If the Prophet carried a spear, then for us today we can carry an M-16!"
"Muslim leaders today have fallen short of the Prophet's example. They mouth empty pious phrases about how they yearn for an Islamic state, but they don't have the guts or will to do it."
"There is not a single Islamic state in the world, not even in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are hypocrites and friends of the United States; their leaders are all corrupt and worldly. The closest we ever got to an Islamic state was the Taliban government in Afghanistan, but the Americans destroyed that, with their Western allies."
"They have left the path of true Islam, that is why they are divided into so many sects and streams of thought."
"Muslims need to realize what it means to be an Ummat. The Ummat is one family, and every Muslim is your brother. It doesn't matter what the colour, race, or country the other Muslim is from, he is still your brother, you must support him and help him when he needs your help."
"But the opposite is also true. Those who are kafirs [non-believers] are not your family. Even if your own parents are not Muslims, they are not your family. They are kafirs, outside Islam. You need not think of them as members of the Ummat. When we forget our ummat [Muslim community], then we become weak and divided. All our divisions come from the West, from Western ideas like nationalism and from their ideologies like democracy and secularism."
"Those who speak for Islam and Muslims can only be the ones whose ideas come solely from the Quran and Hadith. Not the liberals, who try to use reason and rationality to interpret the Quran. This has become fashionable now, but it is against Islam and is not allowed."
"There is no democracy in Islam, so do not try to interpret the Quran and turn Islam into a democracy to suit your needs."
"The principles of Islam cannot be altered and and there is no democracy in Islam or nonsense like 'democratic Islam'."
"Democracy is shirik (unbelief) and haram. Here we do not compromise. Those who claim to be Muslims and do not support Shariah one hundred per cent are all munafik and kafirs, they are out of Islam. No need to discuss with these people, they are not part of the ummat anymore. There is no need to listen to public opinion: kafirs, apostates, liberals, atheists - they are all non-believers."
"Islam's victory can only come through dawah and jihad, not through elections. That's why Islamic parties are on the wrong path, even the better ones like the Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) here (in Indonesia) and your PAS (in Malaysia). As long as democracy is their chosen path, the end result is haram. Nothing good can come from that which is haram, is that not the case? So if democracy is haram, then what kind of Islamic state can come from that? Certainly not a pure Islamic state. Elections are quite useless."
"The struggle for Islam can only come through crisis and confrontation. Islam is here to change the world, not to be changed by the world. So there is bound to be resistance, that is why the West fears us."
"Those who oppose us must be educated, that is why dawah [summons or call to conversion] is important, to show them that Islam is the only way. But if they still resist, and are willfully stubborn, or if they create obstacles for us, then they must be opposed. In particular all the Muslims who oppose us are apostates (murtad) and they in particular need to be dealt with firmly. We need not care for them, or feel sorry for them. They were the ones who chose to reject Shariah, to reject Islam, and so they chose to become apostates."
"This is the Islamic view of things. We must never compromise, relent, give up, submit to our kafir enemies. We must always keep to the Islamic path, jihad in the name of Shariah, and never be apologetic."
"Remember that jihad is what brought Islam to power and built our community. There can be no Islam without jihad."
Comments From The Watcher
This is scary rhetoric and deeply disturbing for Muslims who may be considered apostate by the Cleric and non-believers alike.
There is a common thread between the words of Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir and Osama Bin Laden. This thread is the strong call to live purely under the Shariah and to live in an Islamic state that practices the faith on the order of the Taliban.
Both Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir and Osama Bin Laden speak about Muslims who are not following the true faith are not of their concern and Osama Bin Laden goes a step further declaring them worthy of killing. For his part, Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir only mentions that these apostate Muslims must be dealt with severely.
Another common thread is the statement that a Muslim state does not need a democratic basis. All one needs to do is read the history of the Muslim Caliphate and the history of the Ottoman Empire to understand that extreme power on this level corrupts even the most holy with the most pure initial motives. History is rife with the caliphs taking liberties with slave children and adding slave Christian women to their harems against their will. Not sure about that, then you need to read the book The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy Wars and The Fate of Non-Muslims by Andrew Bostom.
This book has been exhaustively researched and documents the historical atrocities taken with slave populations, forced conversions, taking of children to raise them in Muslim slave battalions to fight for the Caliph, as well as enslavement and mass sale in slave markets of entire populations. Don't believe me? Ask Andrew Bostom about the history of the diminhi tax. This is a severe tax on Christians and Jews living in Muslim states that is made to be financially crushing to entice a conversion to Islam. How about having to wear the medallion on your clothes that identifies you as non Muslim in the street? How about the difference in legal standards for Muslims and non-Muslims when it comes to suing someone or trying to right a wrong in the legal system. In the Muslim state, the Muslim will always win.
The Cleric mentions that for 14 centuries Muslim rule was effective and clearly better than a democracy, but I beg to differ history does not state that in fact speaks otherwise as an extreme oppressive force that was horrific for non-Muslim populations.
As I read Andrew Bostom's book, I had a profound sense of inequality faced by non-Muslims living in the Muslim state during the Caliphate. Not only did non-Muslims not have rights, had to pay heavy taxes, but in many cases their children were forceably taken from them to be raised as Muslim converts. Many people were simply forced or sold into slavery and many women were simply snatched and used in demeaning ways by the conquerors not even taken as wives but rather forced concubines. Any way you look at it, it was not a rosy picture and one that I would not desire to be forced on anyone or on any population.
I find the picture and future world of Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir foreboding and destructive. I do not see "his world" as a step into the future but rather back to a previous destiny already carried out 14 centuries before that had to be overturned and destroyed as a force of evil.
I have lifted the most important quotes from Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir verbatim. I think that you may find them as troubling as I have.
Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir
"There is not a single Muslim leader today who has the courage and commitment to defend Islam and Muslims, they are all in awe of the United States and other Western powers, and are indebted to them. This is what we call "Wahn". Our Prophet warned that this would be the case in the future, that the Muslim ummat [Muslim family of believers] would be great in numbers, but weak in spirit - until they are trampled upon again and again."
"The Arab leaders and other Muslim leaders in Asia all suffer from this disease called "wahn", this weakness brought about by wealth and privilege, and thus they have become soft. That is why they cannot stand up to the kafirs [non-believers also called infidels] and they cannot be firm in their statements and policies. Their love for the world and all their worldly possesions means that they only think of themselves."
"...the weakness does not come from the millions of Muslims in the world. They do not mind being radical, they have no fear to speak out and to protest and to jihad. But the weakness comes from these Westernised co-opted Muslim leaders who just want to look good in the eyes of the West and Western media."
"Today the Western powers and media want to domesticate us like sheep, to keep us tame and domesticated. But why are animals domesticated? So that they can be slaughtered in the end!"
"The only model to follow is pure Islam. Because Islam in its original form was tough and hard, not weak and pliable. Islam is fixed, stable, ordered and disciplined, and so are Muslims."
"If we return to the real practice of true Islam we would be much stronger and that is when the kafirs will fear us. That is why we need to uphold the Shariah [the legal framework within which public and some private aspects of life are regulated] and return to real Islam. But the West is trying to weaken Islam from outside and inside. They attack our people and invade our countries from outside, and they weaken us from within with ideas like secularism, liberalism and democracy. This is all designed to contaminate our pure Islam."
"Islam is perfect, there is nothing to be added or changed. We have shown that Islam can rule the world perfectly for 14 centuries, and during this time of Muslim power we did not borrow ideas like democracy from others, so why do we need to learn democracy from them now? As long as Muslims were confident they could not be defeated, but now we are just puppets."
"This is why we are calling for the upholding of the Shariah here in Indonesia. We demand an Islamic state, and not some form of Islamisation of society. We want the state to be Islamic, with Islamic leaders who have the courage and will to implement the Shariah in total. There is no other way."
"So we want an Islamic state where Islamic law is not just in the books but enforced, and enforced with determination. There is no space and no room for democratic consultation. The Shariah is set and fixed, so why do we need to discuss it anymore? Just implement it!"
"Indonesians must understand that there is no Islamic state without the enforcement of Islamic laws. Otherwise it is just talk and nothing else."
"As for Malaysia, you may be economically better off but your leaders are weak. Badawi may come from a family of ulama [community of legal Muslim scholars] but his faith is weak and so is his spirit. How can Malaysia sign a free trade agreement with America and Japan? Are these not kafir [non-believing] countries? And America today is an enemy of Muslim states and the supporter of Israel. In Islam that makes America a kafir harbi (enemy) state, and we Muslims are obliged to cut off all ties, diplomatic and economic with such an enemy state."
"Anwar (Ibrahim) is also someone who does not understand Islam well. How can he talk about dialogue with America and the West? What dialogue? With murderers of Muslims? Anwar is mistaken about his views on Westerners and Jews. The Jews are cunning and cannot be trusted, as it states in the Qur'an."
"How can we dialogue for peace in the Arab world as long as Israel exists? Israel cannot dream of having peaceful borders because Israel has no right to exist, no right to be there. That is the land of Palestine, for the Palestinians. How can any Muslim leader say that Israel has the right to safe borders? It should not be there in the first place!"
"In Islam there is only one way, the Islamic way. Dialogue with the kafirs [enemies of the Islamic state and non-believers] is useless unless we Muslims are already living in Islamic states and not secular democracies. When you want dialogue with Muslims, Muslims need to be in power in their own countries first, on their terms. If the (Muslim) government does not impose Shariah, it has to be replaced. As long as the government does not go against Islam, we can still tolerate it. But once it goes against Shariah, we must oppose it."
"When our governments engage with enemy kafir states, is that not going against Islamic principles? When you dialogue with countries that are anti-Islam and kill Muslims, how can you call yourself an Islamic state?"
"It is the duty for Muslims to oppose their governments when their leaders dialogue with our enemies. It says so in the Quran (Surah 60:9), that those who oppose Islam are our enemies and we must fight against them. So before we dialogue with kafirs, we need to go on jihad against our own hypocrite governments first that are apostates and against Islamic principles."
"The Quran has all the guidelines, rules, norms, laws and punishments we need. The enforcement of the Shariah is the sword we are talking about. Without enforcement of the Shariah the Quran is just words in a book. It is a text with no practical meaning. That is why the message has to be implemented realizedised with determination."
"Sadly over the centuries Islam grew weak and we forgot that the Prophet carried a spear when he spoke. The spear was replaced with a staff (tongkat) instead, as if Muslims were weak and needed a walking-stick to stand up! We need to go back to this original, strong, robust Islam. Like the Prophet we need to carry the spear (tombak) again. If the Prophet carried a spear, then for us today we can carry an M-16!"
"Muslim leaders today have fallen short of the Prophet's example. They mouth empty pious phrases about how they yearn for an Islamic state, but they don't have the guts or will to do it."
"There is not a single Islamic state in the world, not even in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are hypocrites and friends of the United States; their leaders are all corrupt and worldly. The closest we ever got to an Islamic state was the Taliban government in Afghanistan, but the Americans destroyed that, with their Western allies."
"They have left the path of true Islam, that is why they are divided into so many sects and streams of thought."
"Muslims need to realize what it means to be an Ummat. The Ummat is one family, and every Muslim is your brother. It doesn't matter what the colour, race, or country the other Muslim is from, he is still your brother, you must support him and help him when he needs your help."
"But the opposite is also true. Those who are kafirs [non-believers] are not your family. Even if your own parents are not Muslims, they are not your family. They are kafirs, outside Islam. You need not think of them as members of the Ummat. When we forget our ummat [Muslim community], then we become weak and divided. All our divisions come from the West, from Western ideas like nationalism and from their ideologies like democracy and secularism."
"Those who speak for Islam and Muslims can only be the ones whose ideas come solely from the Quran and Hadith. Not the liberals, who try to use reason and rationality to interpret the Quran. This has become fashionable now, but it is against Islam and is not allowed."
"There is no democracy in Islam, so do not try to interpret the Quran and turn Islam into a democracy to suit your needs."
"The principles of Islam cannot be altered and and there is no democracy in Islam or nonsense like 'democratic Islam'."
"Democracy is shirik (unbelief) and haram. Here we do not compromise. Those who claim to be Muslims and do not support Shariah one hundred per cent are all munafik and kafirs, they are out of Islam. No need to discuss with these people, they are not part of the ummat anymore. There is no need to listen to public opinion: kafirs, apostates, liberals, atheists - they are all non-believers."
"Islam's victory can only come through dawah and jihad, not through elections. That's why Islamic parties are on the wrong path, even the better ones like the Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) here (in Indonesia) and your PAS (in Malaysia). As long as democracy is their chosen path, the end result is haram. Nothing good can come from that which is haram, is that not the case? So if democracy is haram, then what kind of Islamic state can come from that? Certainly not a pure Islamic state. Elections are quite useless."
"The struggle for Islam can only come through crisis and confrontation. Islam is here to change the world, not to be changed by the world. So there is bound to be resistance, that is why the West fears us."
"Those who oppose us must be educated, that is why dawah [summons or call to conversion] is important, to show them that Islam is the only way. But if they still resist, and are willfully stubborn, or if they create obstacles for us, then they must be opposed. In particular all the Muslims who oppose us are apostates (murtad) and they in particular need to be dealt with firmly. We need not care for them, or feel sorry for them. They were the ones who chose to reject Shariah, to reject Islam, and so they chose to become apostates."
"This is the Islamic view of things. We must never compromise, relent, give up, submit to our kafir enemies. We must always keep to the Islamic path, jihad in the name of Shariah, and never be apologetic."
"Remember that jihad is what brought Islam to power and built our community. There can be no Islam without jihad."
Comments From The Watcher
This is scary rhetoric and deeply disturbing for Muslims who may be considered apostate by the Cleric and non-believers alike.
There is a common thread between the words of Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir and Osama Bin Laden. This thread is the strong call to live purely under the Shariah and to live in an Islamic state that practices the faith on the order of the Taliban.
Both Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir and Osama Bin Laden speak about Muslims who are not following the true faith are not of their concern and Osama Bin Laden goes a step further declaring them worthy of killing. For his part, Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir only mentions that these apostate Muslims must be dealt with severely.
"We have shown that Islam can rule the world perfectly for 14 centuries, and during this time of Muslim power we did not borrow ideas like democracy from others, so why do we need to learn democracy from them now?"
Another common thread is the statement that a Muslim state does not need a democratic basis. All one needs to do is read the history of the Muslim Caliphate and the history of the Ottoman Empire to understand that extreme power on this level corrupts even the most holy with the most pure initial motives. History is rife with the caliphs taking liberties with slave children and adding slave Christian women to their harems against their will. Not sure about that, then you need to read the book The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy Wars and The Fate of Non-Muslims by Andrew Bostom.
This book has been exhaustively researched and documents the historical atrocities taken with slave populations, forced conversions, taking of children to raise them in Muslim slave battalions to fight for the Caliph, as well as enslavement and mass sale in slave markets of entire populations. Don't believe me? Ask Andrew Bostom about the history of the diminhi tax. This is a severe tax on Christians and Jews living in Muslim states that is made to be financially crushing to entice a conversion to Islam. How about having to wear the medallion on your clothes that identifies you as non Muslim in the street? How about the difference in legal standards for Muslims and non-Muslims when it comes to suing someone or trying to right a wrong in the legal system. In the Muslim state, the Muslim will always win.
The Cleric mentions that for 14 centuries Muslim rule was effective and clearly better than a democracy, but I beg to differ history does not state that in fact speaks otherwise as an extreme oppressive force that was horrific for non-Muslim populations.
As I read Andrew Bostom's book, I had a profound sense of inequality faced by non-Muslims living in the Muslim state during the Caliphate. Not only did non-Muslims not have rights, had to pay heavy taxes, but in many cases their children were forceably taken from them to be raised as Muslim converts. Many people were simply forced or sold into slavery and many women were simply snatched and used in demeaning ways by the conquerors not even taken as wives but rather forced concubines. Any way you look at it, it was not a rosy picture and one that I would not desire to be forced on anyone or on any population.
I find the picture and future world of Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir foreboding and destructive. I do not see "his world" as a step into the future but rather back to a previous destiny already carried out 14 centuries before that had to be overturned and destroyed as a force of evil.
