THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XI, Issue # 109, April 21, 2009
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE FALLACY OF GRIEVANCE-BASED TERRORISM:
From Barbary Wars to Somali Pirates, the "Water Jihad" Has a Long Lineage
By Raymond Ibrahim
THE "WATER JIHAD," OR "MONEY JIHAD": THE RELATION OF ISLAMIC PIRACY TO ISLAMIC JIHADISM -- WHAT
ISLAMIC HISTORY & DOCTRINE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP -- MORAL RELATIVISM IN CONTEMPORARY
WESTERN LIBERAL THOUGHT & ITS DEBILITATING CONSEQUENCES -- INABILITY OF WESTERN STRATEGIC LEADERS TO
OBJECTIVELY EXAMINE THE CENTURIES-OLD ROOTS OF ISLAMIC JIHADISM & DEVELOP A STRATEGY THAT WILL LEAD TO
DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLDWIDE ISLAMIST MOVEMENT & TO A LASTING SOLUTION TO THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ISLAM
& THE WEST
FULL STORY:
During the recent Somali pirate standoff with U.S. forces, when American sea captain Richard Phillips was being held
hostage, Fox News analyst Charles Krauthammer confidently concluded:
". . . the good news is that these [pirates] are not jihadists.
If it's a jihadist holding a hostage, there is going to be a lot
of death. These guys are interested not in martyrdom but
in money."
In fact, the only good news is that Richard Phillips has been rescued. The bad news is that what appears to have been
a bunch of lawless, plunder-seeking Somalis "yo-hoing" on the high seas may well in fact be related to the jihad — as
attested to by both Islamic history and doctrine.
Indeed, the first jihad a newborn U.S.A. encountered was of a pirate nature: the Barbary Wars off the coast of North
Africa (beginning 1801, exactly 200 years before September 11, 2001). Writing in the Middle East Quarterly a year
before Somali piracy made headlines, U.S. sea captain Melvin E. Lee — who knows in theory what Captain Phillips may
have learned in practice — writes:
"What Americans and Europeans saw as piracy, Barbary
leaders justified as legitimate jihad. [President Thomas]
Jefferson related a conversation he had in Paris with
Ambassador Abdrahaman of Tripoli, who told him that
all Christians are sinners in the context of the Koran
and that it was a Muslim's 'right and duty to make war
upon them wherever they could be found, and to enslave
as many as they could take as prisoners."
Captain Lee goes on to reflect:
"One of the greatest challenges facing strategic leaders
today is objectively examining the centuries-old roots of
Islamic jihadism and developing a strategy that will lead to
a lasting solution to the Western conflict with it. … This
inability to grasp the root of Islamic jihadism is the result
of a moral relativism prominent in modern Western liberal
thought."
This last point is especially poignant. While U.S. leadership is capable of mouthing history, so too is it in the habit
of distorting the past through such "moral relativism." Hillary Clinton, for example, in a press conference about the
Somali kidnapping crisis, put an interesting spin on the Barbary Wars when she said — in between fits of hysterical
and inexplicable laughter — that America and Morocco worked "together to end piracy off the coast of Morocco all
those years ago, and, uh, we're going to work together to end, uh, this kind of, uh, criminal activity anywhere on the
high seas."
Historical anecdotes aside, it needs to be acknowledged that, doctrinally speaking, the jihad has various
manifestations; that it is not limited to bearded, "Allah Akbar"-screaming mujahidin fighting in Afghanistan and
lurking in caves. Along with jihad al-lissan and jihad al-qalam (jihad of the tongue and pen, respectively, i.e.,
propaganda jihad), one of the most important forms of jihad is known as jihad al-mal — or "money jihad."
The money jihad is fulfilled whenever a Muslim financially supports the more familiar violent jihad. The Koran
itself declares:
"Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with
your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is
best for you if you but knew" (9:41).
Several other verses (see 9:20, 9:60, 49:15, and 61:10-11) make the same assertion and, more importantly, in the same
order: striving with one's wealth almost always precedes striving with one's life, thereby prioritizing the former over the
latter, at least according to a number of jurists and mufasirin.
Muhammad himself, according to a canonical hadith (collected by al-Tirmidhi), said:
"He who equips a raider [i.e., mujahid] so he can wage
jihad in Allah's path … is himself a raider [i.e., achieves
the same status of mujahid]."
Moreover, the seafaring jihadist — or, in Western parlance, the "pirate" — is forgiven all sins upon setting foot in a
boat to wage war upon infidels; he receives double the reward of his terrestrial counterpart — which is saying much,
considering the martyred mujahid is, of all Muslims, guaranteed the highest celestial rewards (see Majid Khadduri's
magisterial War and Peace in the Law of Islam, p. 113).
There's more. Islamic law (Sharia), what mainland Somali Islamists have been successfully waging a jihad to implement,
has much to say about kidnapping, ransom demands, and slavery. U.S. leadership should keep this in mind, if and
when they consider the plight of the other 200 hostages in Somalia. According to Sharia, there are only four ways to
deal with infidel hostages: 1) execution, 2) enslavement, 3) exchange for Muslim prisoners, or 4) exchange for ransom.
Those hostages who have not been executed are therefore currently living as slaves to their Somali overlords.
This is clearly the case of Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout, for whom the Somalis are demanding $2.5 million in
ransom. Eight months ago, she was abducted, raped, and impregnated by Somali Islamists and is currently "owned"
by them — or, in the words of the Koran (e.g., 4:3), she is ma malakat aymankum, i.e., human "property"
conquered and possessed by jihadi force.
The term spoil (ghanima) is applied specifically to property acquired by force from non-Muslims. It includes, however,
not only property (movable and immovable) but also persons, whether in the capacity of asra (prisoners of war) or sabi
(women and children). If the slave were a woman, the master was permitted to have sexual connection with her as a
concubine (Khadduri, p. 119, 131).
Finally, for those readers who refuse to interpret modern-day events in light of "antiquated" history or arcane religious
doctrine, here's an August, 2008, Reuters report revealing that what top news analysts are now dismissing as a
bunch of random pirates scouring the coast of Somalia may well be directly related to the mainland, if not international,
jihad:
"An explosion of piracy this month off the coast of
Somalia is funding a growing insurgency onshore,
as the hijackers funnel hefty ransom payments to
Islamist rebels. … According to our information,
the money they make from piracy and ransoms
goes to support al-Shabaab activities onshore."
Al-Shabaab ("the youth"), of course, are the al-Qa'ida-affiliated Islamists currently taking over Somalia.
Thus, in the words of Krauthammer, whereas "these guys are interested not in martyrdom but in money," the facts
remain: whatever their "true" motivation, a portion of this money funds the greater jihad; and those "pirates" slain by
U.S. ("infidel") firearms are most likely being portrayed as martyrs by their companions.
Does this mean that all pirates who happen to be Muslim are funding the jihad and fervently seeking after
"martyrdom"? Of course not. But it is a reminder that what may appear to Americans as "um, criminal activities" (in
the memorable hilarities of Hillary) have a long pedigree and, within an Islamist context, may have method to their
madness.
From Muhammad's Seventh Century caravan raids, to the Muslim conquests, to the Barbary wars, to modern-day
Somali piracy — all of which were likely triggered by the desire for booty and plunder rather than religion per se — so
long as jihadi doctrines continue providing the base proclivities of man with a veneer of respectability, indeed, piety,
so long will such behavior be endemic to the lands, and waterways, of the jihad, irrespective of true motivation.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Raymond Ibrahim is the Associate Director of the Middle East Forum and the author of The Al Qa'ida Reader,
translations of religious texts and propaganda.
The foregoing article by Raymond Ibrahim was originally published in the Pajamas Media, April 17, 2009, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/2126/barbary-wars-somali-piracy-water-jihad)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
April 21, 2009
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