DXBtoDOH

Terrorism is a political act.

Islamic terrorism is both a political and religious act.

As long as one side keeps wanting to treat it as tragedy while the other side keeps treating it as politics the problem will continue to fester and persist. It's not a *****ing tragedy. It's *****ing terrorism.

Meow

It's as daft a thing as saying 'send them home." At least that's cheap as bus fares aren't much.

IKnowNothing

Tell me Meow, you know what is said in mosques here, I KNOW you do, so what should be done about the total HATRED of the West?

Come on, get off the fence, how do YOU think we stop the hatred? Give us some ideas as you try to be the all knowing here - with MAT.

Or are you just the lefty liberal who wrings her hands and does nothing?

Arnold S

White supremacist attack in Boston has left two dead - one vet and a recent college graduate. Those with Aryan leanings on here have done nothing to stop it and from past postings, I'm in no doubt they support it.

1 - Is it not time to banish the like of "I Know Nothing" to Stormfront. Freedom of speech is one thing but it shouldn't allow the unequivocal support of murder.

2 - What's the solution, long term for these people in society? These ranty righties are only ever one bad day away from waking up and doing a Thomas Mair.

Miss Ann Thrope

This is more rubbish: feeding on feel-good prejudice and doing absolutely nothing to address the real source of the problem. What is said in mosques here (and everywhere) is mostly prayers which are recitations from the Quran. Only the Juma'a prayer (Friday midday) is followed by a sermon. In the UAE, the subject of the sermon and the allowable themes arising are rigorously dictated by the government every week. It is the government alone that decides what is acceptable and unacceptable to say in the weekly sermon. There is a huge administrative infrastructure involved with ensuring this is carried through to the letter (check out the size, scale and reach of the federal and local Ministries of Islamic Affair/ Awqaf). The subject is generally on some point of religious observance which the government deems relevant. It sounds pretty medieval sometimes - after all, consider the source material - but the mosques here do not and simply could not get away with preaching hatred of the west.

You may have noticed that the UAE government (in particular the leader of that government) have a singular obsession with security. Islamic fundamentalism and, in particular, what is said in - and around - the mosques is the number one security priority. Any loose speech will be reported by the network of informants and undercover CID police that attend every mosque. How do you think they were able to arrest so many people so quickly just for being associated with the Ikhwan (Brotherhood), which is hardly Daesh? The Al Manara group, which was monitored for months before being rounded up, was associated with that mosque but all of the radical discussions took place in private meetings (of which the authorities had full transcripts).

Of course it's a different story in Saudi where the Faustian pact between the Al Sauds and the Wahhabist establishment has led to a very distorted education. Even worse is the situation in the Saudi funded madrassas in the poorer Muslim countries. But as compelling a prospect as it may seem that hate-spewing madrassas have given rise to Islamic terrorism, the evidence does not paint such a clear picture. Especially in Europe it is clearly not the case. Instead half-assed uncredentialed "religious" preachers online seem to be the ones bringing weak-minded outsiders under their sway.

carcajou

Instead half-assed uncredentialed "religious" preachers online seem to be the ones bringing weak-minded outsiders under their sway.[/QUOTE]



The term I have heard is "backyard prayer halls."

In the UAE, imams are government employees. As MAT notes, in the UAE there are eyes and ears everywhere - though some posters on this forum can get very complacent and forget that at times.

mission

why don't you tell us - i am intrigued to know
And wouldn't it be the highest level of hypocrisy IF hatred for the west was lectured in the mosques here, given there is such a large community of western expats out here, it just doesn't make sense - total horse sh*t

mission

Meow

Please do not claim that I agree with you in any way. Miss Ann has explained the monitoring that goes on here and the authorities acted before anything happened in respect of the Al Manara mosque.

As for 'total hatred of the West' that is scaremongering. Are you really trying to suggest that the majority of Muslims hate the West? We all know that is not the case. As ever a minority ruin it for others and given all your apparent hatred for Islam and the ME I really have no idea why you stay in this part of the world.

I have never claimed to be 'all knowing' and you are simply being rude and attempting to be inflammatory. Many times I have said I don't know the answer, no one does, but killing more people is not the answer. It never is.

scrubbedexpat141

Have you had your passport taken off you or something?

I can't understand why you still live here.....

IKnowNothing

Meow,

Think about a few years back and what you posted (not on here) about the Friday sermon and what was said.

I have a memory even if you choose to forget.

(and I never claimed you agree, or will ever agree with me on a lot of issues).

morpeth

The experience of the USA in dealing with extreme right wing groups may be instructive in how to deal with radical Islamic fundamentalists. In the 1990's there were a lot more terrorism and criminal activity by these groups- the government directed the FBI to deal with it and gave them the resources to do so. Some groups ended up having 30% of their members FBI informants, the government worked with the Southern Poverty Law Center and other groups ( often informally), increased monitoring of the groups etc etc. By the new century the thread declined considerably.

It may be a complex threat being faced today, but more resources for intelligence agencies and police certainly would be a step forward.

scrubbedexpat141

The Westboro Baptist Church is in America but probably not representative.

Meow

As I don't speak Arabic I very much doubt that I could have told anyone what was being said in the sermon. You need more than my few words to translate.

Miss Ann Thrope

My local mosque has an English language sermon every Friday. Some of the stuff is eye-watering but more in the old testament literalist type of way. However, it's resolutely (you might say religiously) apolitical. Regardless of how dull some of the points are (don't steal, be kind etc), they are invariably delivered in a shrill hysterical rant which does also give it quite a dissonant flavour.