Radical Muslims throughout the world, including the European nations have started a new propaganda with the notorious goal of instigating Muslims to wage jihad against Jews, Christians and “non-Muslims” and establish Caliphate. Muslims, especially those migrants are projecting Ramadan and the “month of Islamic conquest” and encouraging their fellow “brethren” to continue jihad against “enemies of Allah” and establish Caliphate in the “lands of infidels”.
On April 12, 2022, in an article on the website of Qatar and Turkey-backed International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), titled “The Islamic Conquest Of Al-Andalus Was Part Of Victories Attained During Ramadan”, Ali Al-Salabi, a prominent Libyan Salafi cleric and an IUMS member, emphasized that major Islamic conquests took place during the month of Ramadan, including the conquest of Al-Andalus (Spain). In his article, he described the Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula as a “natural outcome of the strategy that the Muslims followed during their conquests: to secure their borders to promote their religion and to continue to wage jihad beyond these borders to spread the religion of Islam – which necessarily meant the advancement of Islam as long as there was a driving force”.
Muslims are distributing following information through pamphlets and online propaganda with the goal of attracting fellow Muslims towards jihadist madness and spreading religious hatred.
Here are some references from the ongoing propaganda:
“Ramadan is known as the month of conquests that changed the course of Islam and advanced it tremendously, such as the Battle of Badr and the conquest of Mecca. The Battle of Badr was an official declaration of the establishment of the new state of Islam. The conquest of Mecca a few years later, however, was the major victory for the Islamic state against those who had waged wars against it for 20 years – the people of Mecca and their allies. After the conquest of Mecca, people converted to Islam en masse. Also, among the Muslim victories which took place during the month of Ramadan was the Battle of Guadalete, after which Muslims took over Al-Andalus and a chapter of oppression and tyranny ended, and a new chapter of advancement and civilization started”. (The History of Al-Andalus, pp. 43, 44).
The Islamic conquest of Al-Andalus
“Islam’s conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) was a natural outcome of the strategy that the Muslims followed during their conquests: to secure their borders to promote their religion and to continue to wage jihad beyond these borders to spread the religion of Islam – which necessarily meant the advancement of Islam as long as there was a driving force. In addition, after Musa Ibn Nusayr and his companions cemented that message of Islam in the greater Maghreb with their efforts, the natural next step was the conquest of Al-Andalus.
“Musa completed the efforts of his predecessors – the soldiers, preachers, commanders, and armies – in strengthening Islam in North Africa. He focused on stabilizing Islam in people’s hearts and actively taught and educated them about the principles of Islam. His efforts were successful, as the Berbers in North Africa were among the groups most loyal to Islam, in inviting people to convert to Islam and in waging jihad to spread its teachings. The majority of the soldiers in Tariq ibn Ziyad’s army, which was deployed to the Iberian Peninsula, were Muslim Berbers who were zealous about Islam, admirers of it, and willing to sacrifice themselves for it. They were not in it to take spoils or to gain recognition. This was the objective of all the Islamic conquests, and reading about them and learning about their nature would be sufficient for a rejection of allegations and refutation of false claims seeking to show, whether directly or indirectly, that these conquests were for the purpose of obtaining spoils of war. There is no evidence backing that claim, which is a mere illusion with no scientific or historical backing. (The History of Al-Andalus, p. 45).
“It would be reasonable to say that the idea of conquering the Iberian Peninsula was an exclusively Islamic idea. In fact, it has been narrated that it was an ancient idea dating back to the time of the Rightly Guided Caliph Othman Bin Affan, and that [commander] Uqba Ibn Nafi Al-Fihri had considered crossing the strait to Spain if that would have been possible. In the past, Muslims carried out activity on the eastern shores of Spain and on the nearby islands of Majorca, Minorca, and Ibiza. According to the [Muslim historian] Al-Dhahabi, in the year 89 of the Islamic calendar [commander] Musa ibn Nusayr equipped his son Abdollah militarily, and he took over Majorca and Minorca. As for contacting Julian, the governor of the city of Ceuta, or other Spanish governors, it appears that this was during the time when Musa ibn Nusayr was considering executing the plan of conquest.
“How did he contact the Spanish side – Julian, the followers of the ousted king, and others? There are differing accounts about whether it took place by mail or in person, and where. If the communication actually took place and it was at that level, then the contact between the Spanish side and Musa, and their support during the conquest operation, might have contributed to facilitating or accelerating the conquest. But the initiation of the attacks and the management and implementation of the operation were done by the Muslims, who advanced powerfully and quickly with the conquest, while relying on Allah to achieve the objective of leading people to guidance.
“Musa had consulted Al-Walid Ibn Abd Al-Malik [the sixth Umayyad Caliph] before contacting Julian, or when Julian contacted him. At first, the Caliphate was hesitant to pursue that great plan, out of fear of endangering Muslims, but Musa managed to convince the Caliph and they agreed that the conquest would be launched after sending multiple brigades and exploration expeditions.
“Musa implemented Al-Walid’s orders and prepared an exploration expedition consisting of 500 soldiers, including 100 knights led by Tarif Ibn Malik, aka Abu Zur’ah, who was a Muslim Berber. The army managed to cross the strait from Ceuta in ships belonging to Julian or someone else, and [the troops] disembarked on or near Paloma Isla on the Spanish side. Later, this island become known as the island of Tarif. The exploration expedition sailed from Ceuta during Ramadan of the year 91 in the Islamic calendar (June 710), and Tarif roamed the city and its surrounding areas and surveyed the enemy’s positions. Then the expedition returned with reassuring and encouraging news about continuing the conquest operation. Tarif studied the region and sent groups to multiple areas, including Gibraltar, for the conquest operation, and the information gathered was valuable in setting up the plan of conquest and the march of Tariq’s army to Gibraltar.
“When Musa learned about the outcome of Tarif’s expedition, which further confirmed to him what had been reported to him about Al-Andalus, he sent Tariq ibn Ziyad with 7,000 Muslims, the majority of whom were Berber and freed slaves along with a small number of Arabs. And when Tariq needed additional fighters, he supplied him with 5,000, and Tariq’s army built ships to transport the soldiers to the land of Al-Andalus. In order to complete the embarkation, those in charge of the campaign made sure to keep the news about the campaign hidden from the people. Therefore, Julian brought the ships to Ceuta at night and they started transporting the soldiers consecutively. It seemed that transporting the soldiers took more than one night, and it was reported that the soldiers who had disembarked would hide during the day so people would not notice their presence. The ships were going back and forth from Ceuta to Al-Andalus, and the people of Al-Andalus thought they were regular traders’ ships, and when they learned about the campaign, the transport operation was completed peacefully in the month of Rajab in the Islamic year of 92. (Nafh At-Tib 1/226-227).
“Tariq marched with the soldiers to Mons Calpe, which was the mountain that was later named after him and become known as Gibraltar. It was also reported that when Al-Andalus fell under the control of the Caliph of Almohad, Caliphate Abd Al-Mu’min, and when he crossed to Gibraltar, he ordered the building of a city on the top of the mountain and named it the ‘mountain of conquest.’ But the name did not become famous, and Gibraltar remained the most common name. Tariq marched with the army towards the green island and took it over. At that time, Roderic was in the north of Al-Andalus, busy fighting the Basques. It was reported that he was fighting against the French. His deputy Teodomir informed him about the Islamic invasion, and he returned to stop it. On his way to fight the Muslims, he passed by the capital Toledo and reconciled with the family of Wittiza and invited them, along with the Goths, to join him in fighting a mutual enemy, and they did. It was reported that Roderic appointed the two sons of Wittiza to lead the right side and the left side of his army.
“When Tariq learned about the armies which Roderic had prepared, he wrote to Musa Ibn Nusayr informing him about their massive size and asking him for additional fighters, and he was supplied with 5,000 fighters. Describing Tariq’s army, Al-Maqqari [a Muslim historian] wrote, citing other historians, that they marched forward wearing chain mail and white turbans on their heads, holding Arabian bows and carrying swords and arrows. When Roderic saw them, he was terrified.
“Ibn Al-Athir [a Muslim historian] mentioned that when Tariq was sailing the sea, he took a nap and dreamed of the Prophet accompanied by his local and migrant companions carrying swords and bows. The Prophet then told him to march forth, be kind to Muslims, and fulfill their commitments. Tariq then saw the Prophet and his companions entering Al-Andalus in front of him. Then he awoke and delivered the glad tidings to his comrades, and was never in doubt about attaining victory.
“That conquest was attained because of the Muslim might and the solid ideology whose meaning has been engraved in the hearts of Muslims. The Muslims’ supremacy has always derived from their belief in their ideology, not from the poor state of the others’. Islam’s supremacy and advancement derived from its strong nature, its pure ideology, and its vigorous laws, because it is a revelation from Allah”.
Demand for banning food during Ramadan daytime
While radical Islam and jihadism is on rise in the Western countries, recently a controversial fatwa [edict] published on April 12, 2022 by Egypt’s privately-owned Arabic daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm that calls for a ban on serving food before iftar time [sun set] during the Islamic month of Ramadan to “infidels” has sent a shockwaves across the country.
The fatwa was released by preacher Mohamed Saleh El-Munajjid, a Syrian national of Palestinian origin who lives in Saudi Arabia, the hotbed of Wahhabism, an extremist interpretation of Islam.
In Islam, a Muslim is allowed not to fast during Ramadan for several reasons, including if they are travelling long distances, during pregnancy, breastfeeding, chronic illnesses, menstruation and postpartum hemorrhage.
El-Munajid’s fatwa set off an uproar in Egypt where about 10% of its population follows Christianity, and many believe that the extremist preacher was referring to them as “infidel”.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Council for Media Regulation summoned Al-Masry Al-Youm’s legal advisor for questioning over the published fatwa. The council, an independent entity known for being loyal to the current regime, is tasked with monitoring local media performance.
Later in the day, the newspaper published an apology and a retraction on its website. In the statement, the Egyptian newspaper said: “Al-Masry Al-Youm institution owes its readers a sincere apology for the….bizarre fatwa run by one of the journalists…[newspapers] in a clear violation [of the paper’s editorial policy] without checking…The fatwa labelled whoever has a different religion as being an ‘infidel’, a description never used or approved by Al-Masry Al-Youm”.
The public outrage over the published fatwa comes after another controversy during the second week of April 2022 in which a Coptic Christian woman named Selvia Botros posted on her Facebook page about a negative experience she had with her children at a famous local Koshary restaurant in Cairo.
Botos wrote that the waiter reprimanded her after her child ate a small amount of food before iftar time, under the pretext that these were “the rules of the place”, even though they told him that they were not fasting.
“Is fasting an obligation even to us as Christians?”, she wrote.
Although fasting is not an obligation to any non-Muslims, radical Muslims around the world, including the Muslim migrants in the Western nations are already feeling enthusiastic in becoming louder with the demand of banning serving of food in any restaurant or food court during the daytime of Ramadan.
It may be mentioned here that, Muslim migrants in the Western nations consider non-Muslims as “infidels” and “enemies of Allah”. Gradually they are imposing sharia rule in most of the Western countries, including the United Kingdom as part of the dream of bringing those nations under the “flag of Islamic Caliphate”. Meaning, they are advancing with the dangerous agenda of spreading the poisonous seeds of Caliphate and Sharia in the Western nations. As there is no or very little awareness amongst the majority of the populace of these countries, imams in the mosques and Islamic centers are issuing sermons during Friday prayers calling upon the Muslims to wage jihad and cause maximum damage to “infidels”. In Britain, Muslims have been imposing Sharia rule in several parts in London, in particular thus forcing non-Muslim residents of complying with this Islamist practice. There also is massive rise in Sharia-compliance financial establishments and insurance companies. According to media reports, Sharia finance is gradually becoming major competitor and challenger to regular banking and insurance sectors.
Islamic State claims first-ever rocket attack in Uzbekistan
While there is disturbing information about alarming rise of radical Islam in the Western countries, terrorist group Islamic State is gradually gaining military and cyber strength, posing much bigger threats to global security and peace. Recently, Islamic State (ISIS) claimed first-ever rocket attack. According to information, on April 18, 2022, the Islamic State’s Khorasan Province (ISKP), comprising Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia, claimed responsibility for the firing of ten Katyusha rockets on Uzbek forces deployed in the city of Termez, just over the Afghan-Uzbek border.
The claim of responsibility was accompanied by a photo of a masked man standing in front of the rockets and an ISIS flag, and by a 30-second video showing the firing of the rockets from a launcher placed on the ground in a rural area.
The attack is one of the first operations claimed by ISIS under its “Raid of Revenge for the Two Sheikhs” campaign, announced by ISIS spokesman Abu ‘Umar Al-Muhajir in an April 17 audio message. As the name suggests, the campaign is in retaliation for the killing of ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Qurashi in Syria on February 3, 2022, and the alleged killing of ISIS spokesman Abu Hamzah Al-Qurashi, whose deaths were announced by ISIS on March 10.
The press secretary of Uzbek President Sherzod Asadov issued a statement in denial of the attack and noted that “according to the Uzbek Ministry of Defense and the Border Troops of Uzbekistan, there is no military activity on the Uzbek-Afghan border”. He added that “the situation is stable” and urged not to heed provocations.
The Islamic State has never officially claimed attacks on Uzbek territory. The only attack it claimed in the vicinity was on November 5, 2019, when 10 people were killed in an ISIS assault on a Tajik security checkpoint on the Uzbek-Tajik border following hour-long clashes with security forces. Shortly after claiming responsibility, ISIS released a short video of the masked operatives who had carried out the attack pledging allegiance to then newly-appointed ISIS caliph Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Qurashi, whose death the latest campaign aims to avenge.
