Stop Tolerating Intolerance (updated)

By Zeyno Baran

Blair is right in his decision to ban the radical Islamist groups Hizb ut-Tahrir and al-Muhajiroun. For far too long, the West has allowed fanaticism to grow and thrive by accepting the active presence of radical Islamist groups within its Muslim communities. Examples of this dangerous tolerance of intolerance are many; yet perhaps none are better than that of Omar Bakri Muhammad, the �spiritual leader� of al-Muhajiroun. (UPDATE: London Times reports that Bakri has fled to Lebanon.)

Born to a wealthy Syrian family in 1958, Bakri was recruited at an early age by the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. After participating in a failed coup against President Hafez Assad, he was expelled from Syria. Bakri then fled to Lebanon, where he became a member of the radical Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT). He moved to Saudi Arabia during the Syrian invasion of Lebanon in 1979, and made his final journey to the UK, where he received asylum in 1985 after being exiled by the Saudi government.

HT thrived in Britain�s open environment, establishing its worldwide propaganda centre in London not long before Bakri�s arrival. However, disenchantment with HT�s tactics led Bakri to split from the group, and to establish the more radical al-Muhajiroun. Abandoning even the pretence of non-violence maintained by HT, Bakri began to play a vital role in inciting and organizing violent actions as part of the jihadist struggle.

Bakri has claimed to be �the eyes of Osama bin Laden� and reports indicate that the two have communicated at least as far back as 1998. That year, bin Laden sent a fax to Bakri from Afghanistan, urging him to �Bring down their airliners. Prevent the safe passage of their ships. Occupy their embassies. Force the closure of their companies and banks.� On July 15, 1999, Bakri published a letter he had written to bin Laden on an al-Muhajiroun website, which called upon the al-Qaeda commander to act against the West. In response to pressure from the US government, the letter was removed from the site, but it was later read aloud in mosques in North London, Bradford, Sheffield and Leicester.

Even after September 11, Bakri spared no effort in celebrating the efforts of al-Qaeda. Arguing that the desire for world domination has made the United States �the head of Satan,� Bakri described the September 11 attacks as �a great achievement by the mujaheddin against the evil superpower.� Bakri�s followers annually celebrate September 11. At the first anniversary they held a conference in London entitled, �A Towering Day in History,� where speeches were made on �the positive outcomes of September 11� and the �US conspiracy against Islam and Muslims�. Al-Muhajiroun was not allowed to hold meetings at the second and third anniversaries, but its members nonetheless hailed �The Magnificent 19� perpetrators of the attacks on their website.

Not content to work only with al-Qaeda, Bakri offered his services to a variety of radical groups. In October 2000 Bakri proudly announced that al-Muhajiroun collects funds, recruits militiamen and �takes care of propaganda requirements in Europe� for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He also stated that �Clinton is a target of the jihad, and American forces are a target of the jihad wherever they are�.

In addition to his work on behalf of others, Bakri has personally recruited, in his words, �hundreds of Britons to fight for Islamic causes,� dispatching jihadists to fight in such hotspots as Kashmir, Chechnya, and Afghanistan. In an interview, Bakri candidly revealed his tactics: �We find young men in university campuses or mosques, invite them for a meal and discuss the situation for on-going attacks being suffered by Muslims in Chechnya, Palestine or Kashmir. We make them understand their duty to support the jihad struggle verbally, financially and, if they can, physically in order to liberate their homeland.� In 2000, Bakri estimated �that between 1,800 and 2,000 go abroad for military training every year. They either go for national service in Pakistan or to �private camps� in South Africa, Nigeria or Afghanistan where they learn of weapons and explosives.�

More recently, in April 2003, British citizens Asif Muhammad Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif were sent by Hamas to carry out suicide bombings at a Tel Aviv seafront bar. There, Hanif blew himself up, killing three Israelis and wounding a dozen more. The explosives-filled vest worn by Sharif failed to detonate, and the would-be suicide bomber fled the scene. It should not at all be surprising that both Hanif and Sharif were students of Bakri.

While many in the UK have until now believed they would buy safety by allowing groups like al-Muhajiroun to operate, it was only a matter of time before followers of such groups struck the homeland. Bakri has never excluded Britain from the scope of his inflammatory rhetoric. Echoing his previous comments about President Clinton, Bakri stated that he �would like to see Prime Minister Tony Blair dead or deposed and an Islamic flag hanging outside 10 Downing Street.� In 2004, Bakri advised, �Muslims living abroad are not under any covenant with the kufir in the West, so it is acceptable for them to attack the non-Muslims in the West.�

Freedom of speech is an essential civil liberty, but this liberty cannot be given to people like Bakri who abuse it to sow discord between Muslims and non-Muslims, distort the image of Islam, and strive to bring about a clash of civilizations.

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