Can Jihadi Islam Take Root In US, Like Britain?

Separatism, fundamentalist belief can foster intolerance. Virtually all organizations that become terroristic meet these criteria. In a social system where new ideas are rejected because they are new, leaders have undue influence on the young and naive. Salafi Islam as practiced in DC, could foster further trouble, not because it is advocating terror, but because it creates an insular society with rigid beliefs allowing leaders to lead astray. Fundamentalism of any faith is potentially dangerous, particularly in a pluralistic society where diversity and new ideas drive the community to innovation and creativity. The more isolated, the less they participate in the benefits, the more likely resentment and disparity rules, the more threat they could become. Such is what happened in Britain and France.
WaPo

Dar-us-Salaam [is] one of the Washington [DC] area's most conservative Muslim congregations. Many of its members believe that, in order to be true to their faith, they should live apart from secular society as much as possible. The congregation's Web site describes how it hopes one day to become a self-contained Islamic community.


The kind of Islam practiced at Dar-us-Salaam, known as Salafism, once had a significant foothold among area Muslims, in large part because of an aggressive missionary effort by the government of Saudi Arabia. Salafism and its strict Saudi version, known as Wahhabism, struck a chord with many Muslim immigrants who took a dim view of the United States' sexually saturated pop culture and who were ambivalent about participating in a secular political system. It was also attractive to young Muslims searching for a more "authentic" Islam than what their Westernized immigrant parents offered.


But the discovery that 15 of the 19 Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers were Saudi and that their violent al-Qaeda ideology was rooted in Wahhabism had a particularly deep impact on Salafis, whose theology and practices were suddenly suspect. The attacks "shook the foundations of anyone affiliated with Wahhabism or Salafism," said Chris Khalil Moore, 31, of Annandale, a convert who became immersed in Wahhabism while studying in Saudi Arabia before abandoning that approach to Islam. "Because they were fingered, pointed at, as being the ideology that helped foster the mentality of those hijackers," he said, "I think a lot of people got scared." One of the area's most prominent Salafi preachers, Ali al-Timimi, is in prison, convicted on charges that he incited young Muslims to wage war against the United States. Dar al-Arqam Islamic Center in Falls Church, where he preached, is now closed. The Saudi government's proselytizing campaign has also been rolled up. Its preachers were sent home, and a Saudi-run institute in Fairfax that taught a strict Salafi outlook no longer has any students.


Moderate Muslims have become more vocal in warning about the dangers of separatism and fundamentalism while policing rhetoric that could be construed as radical or extremist. In particular, they increasingly take exception to the sharp divide between Muslims and non-Muslims drawn by some Salafis, saying it can encourage intolerance and violence.


[...]Khan believes that Islamic schools are imperative because Muslim children "now are not equipped to deal with mainstream America without compromising their Islamic values." Usually, he says, "a big mixture happens between mainstream America and mainstream Islam, and . . . in most cases . . . Islam loses." He stresses how Muslims are different from non-Muslims, whom he calls "unbelievers." Citing the mistreatment of Muslims, he says, "we must come together so we can ward off all these attacks." Khan adds that by an Islamic community, he means "we begin to buy houses and begin to live right around the [mosque] so we meet each other" during the five daily prayer sessions.


In the hostile environment cited by Khan, Dar-us-Salaam offers a comforting alternative. The congregation has a "real community feel, so a lot of young people are attracted," said Irfaan Nooruddin, 25, of Silver Spring, a financial analyst who is not a member but sometimes prays there. "I don't agree with their Salafi [outlook] at all. But I do respect the fact that they're people who are attempting to understand the religion." Mostafiz Chowdhury said he chose Al-Huda, the congregation's school, because he wants to provide his children with an "Islamic upbringing" and protect them from public-school ills such as drugs and "having free sex."


Ultimately, if American Muslims continue to feel embattled, Salafism itself could become more attractive. When moderate Muslim groups that promote integration feel they are under scrutiny or discredited by the government, said Najam Haider, an adjunct professor of Islamic studies at Georgetown University, "Muslims turn societally inward, and that turning inward gives Salafism more influence because Salafis aren't saying we need to integrate."


What they offer, Haider added, is an alternative: "Muslim identity that is separate from America, grounded in Islamic history, a very demarcated community of Muslims. Those are very separate from American values in a lot of ways." MORE