United British Emirates

posted at 8:35 pm on July 22, 2011 by J.E. Dyer
[ Islam ]   

Soeren Kern has a post at the Hudson Institute blog outlining the Islamic Emirates Project launched recently by a British group, Muslims Against Crusades, which hopes to turn 12 British cities into independent Islamic states.

According to the Muslims Against Crusades website:

There are now over 2.8 million Muslims living in the United Kingdom – which is a staggering 5% of the population – but in truth, it is more than just numbers, indeed the entire infrastructure of Britain is changing; Mosques, Islamic Schools, Shari’ah Courts and Muslim owned businesses, have now become an integral part of the British landscape.

In light of this glaring fact, Muslims Against Crusades have decided to launch “The Islamic Emirates Project,” that will see high profile campaigns launch in Muslim enclaves all over Britain, with the objective to gradually transform Muslim communities into Islamic Emirates operating under Shari’ah law.

Kern points out that usual suspect Anjem Choudary, former spokesman of Islam4UK, is a leading figure behind Muslims Against Crusades.  Choudary, of course, was planning to hold a Washington, D.C. rally for sharia in the US in March of 2011, but “postponed” the event at the last minute, due (according to him) to the media’s misrepresentations of his purposes.  One of the 12 prospective Islamic states would be the Tower Hamlets section of London, where a prominent mosque hosts events for the Islamic Forum of Europe (and gays run scared).

Calls for the establishment not just of sharia but of a caliphate (“khilafa”) are increasing in stridency and frequency around Europe, like this rally for a khilafa by Muslim youth in Britain in February.  Here is video of a demonstration in Amsterdam in May 2011.  Nominally assembled to support “democracy” in nations like Syria and Libya, the demonstrators wave the flags of the khilafa:  the white flag (al-liwaa) of the head of state, or caliph, and the black flag of war (ar-raya).  (The flags bear the same inscription in opposite colors:  the shahada, or statement of faith.)  More video here shows a demonstration in Copenhagen in 2008.  Cities in France, Spain, Belgium, Norway, and Sweden have seen such demonstrations as well.

Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation), which has been behind many of the rallies in Europe, has held Khilafa Conferences in the United States in each of the last three years.  A video from one of the lectures at the first one, in 2009, shows a speaker against the backdrop of an oversize al-liwaa flag.  (Note the speaker’s accent.)  The white al-liwaa is the flag used by the caliph; it is not a battle flag but a flag of state, representing the authority of the earthly sharia ruler.

If that video was too long, consider checking out this one from the 2011 Khilafa Conference USA (held in late June).  The first 4 minutes are a little difficult, as it’s hard to tell where the Arabic Quran recitations stop and English statements begin, but the lecturer’s commentary becomes much clearer – and quite chilling – after that.

The Khilafa Conferences in the US have been held in the Chicago area, so it is no surprise to see video of Muslims in downtown Chicago, in February 2011, demanding the establishment of a caliphate.  (The signs all bear the inscription “KHILAFA.”)  It is important to understand, however, that kinetic, bomb-throwing terrorism is not the aspiration or the modus operandi of Hizb ut-Tahrir or the various other khilafa movements (most of which are affiliates of Hizb ut-Tahrir).  The establishment of a sharia caliphate is their objective, and a good indicator of the method can be found in the manifesto of the Muslims Against Crusades group:  build up a critical mass of sharia institutions within Western societies, and then begin demanding self-rule.

The jihad of terror is still with us, but jihad by other means is gathering force.

J.E. Dyer’s articles have appeared at The Green Room, Commentary’s “contentions,” Patheos, The Weekly Standard online, and her own blog, The Optimistic Conservative.

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