Following the zakat from Arabia to Egypt
We know what the radical, pro-caliphate Muslim Brotherhood is, but how is it funded? Terror finance experts Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen have written that, “Mostly Saudi and Gulf sources fund its activities.”
From the Historical Dictionary of Terrorism:
Muslim Brotherhood: The Ikhwan al Muslimin is a nonstate Islamic fundamentalist group that seeks to replace existing secular governments in the Muslim world with Islamic regimes under which religious and political affiars would both be governed by the Shari’ah, that is, the traditional canon of Islamic laws. The name is applied to several territorial organizations, e.g., the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, and so on, that are formally independent of one another through all are historically derived from the original Ikhwan founded in Egypt by Hassan al Banna (1906-1949) in 1928…
The entry goes on to explain the historical development of the Brotherhood and its involvement in terrorist activities such as the assassination of Anwar Sadat.
More on the funding of the Muslim Brotherhood in the days to come. For now, here’s a picture of Muslim Brothers firing on Sadat in a reviewing stand to kill him in Cairo in 1981. Sadat’s crime under Islam was negotiating with Israel. Quite peaceful, wouldn’t you say?
Sadat's murder by Ikhwan
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Last month the Family Research Council hosted Joy Brighton (of www.stopshariahnow.org, a site which also appears on SFW’s blogroll) to speak about sharia finance. Ms. Brighton’s remarks run one hour long, but it’s time well spent. (Her comments specifically on sharia financial products begin around 18 minutes 45 seconds into her presentation.)
Never mind that the Koran commands Muslims to “Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah!” (9:41). The real inspiration behind terrorist financing isn’t Islamic law and jihad…it’s a stalled Israeli peace process! At least according to Bill Clinton.
Clinton, who lives in a mental fantasy land of his own invention, declared on ABC’s “This Week” program on Apr. 18 that “half” of terrorist funding comes from angst over the “Palestinian” issue. Furthermore, Clinton argues that if Pres. Obama announced a peace plan of his own, that would mean a “whole different story” for terrorist financing:
TAPPER: You’ve come closer than any president in recent history in brokering a mid-east peace plan. President Obama is in a situation right now where he is getting a lot of conflicting advice. Do you think it’s time for President Obama to put a peace plan on the table?
CLINTON: Well, first of all, I’m reluctant to give him public advice. I talk to the president and the secretary of state and Mr. Emanuel and others privately. But let me answer you this way because I don’t want to do anything to foreclose their options. The argument against doing that is that the current Israeli government with its current coalition almost certainly would reject it.
And the argument is that that makes us look weak. I think it’s the — it may be — they may decide it’s more important to have clarity. And to do something that will be an action forcing event to put them back to the table.
And if he decides to do it, I will support it. And I think if he decides to do it, he should acknowledge that they may come up with a deal that’s slightly different than the one he proposes. But we need to do something to deprive both sides of any excuse not to engage in serious negotiations.
Look at the ramifications of this. Half of the energy coming out of all this organization and money-raising for terror comes out of the allegations around the unresolved Palestinian issue. If there were a Palestinian state working in partnership, with the policies Mr. Fayyad’s following on the West Bank, it would be a whole different world.
All the Arabs would identify with Israel.
In yet another example of “moderate” Muslims defending the jizya (this time in detail), an Apr. 8 blog post over at Wisdom to ISLAM poses the question, “Does Jizya verse 9:29 of Quran invite Muslims to violence?: commentary on Islamic Jizya state tax.”
Their post is a lengthy defense of the jizya, and the author asks readers and critics of the jizya to “be patient enough and read this article to the end.”
Unfortunately, reading the blog post to the end does not make the jizya any easier to swallow. The blogger is a little less glib than most jizya supporters, and thankfully he doesn’t trot out the old lie about jizya being less than the zakat. Instead, WisdomtoISLAM provides eight primary explanations to defend jizya. But each explanation is either utterly fictitious or problematic… here’s why. (Direct quotes from WisdomtoISLAM’s post appear below in red italics.)
“1. Jizya (Jizah) is not unique in Islam, its equivalent exists even in Bible.”
Wrong. Their “evidence” for jizya in the Bible is Deuteronomy 20:10-15, which says that if going into battle, the Hebrews should first offer their enemies peace, if the enemies agree they shall forced into labor for the Hebrews, and if they resist the Hebrews should besiege them.
However, Deuteronomy 20:17 limits the enemies in this chapter of the Bible to the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—specific groups of enemies at specific moments in time. Although apologists for the Koran say that the jizya was meant to apply to certain clans in Arabia, nothing in the actual text of the Koran limits the jizya to a specific group. The jizya applies against all the “unbelieving” People of the Book—Jews and Christians.
It should also be noted that Deuteronomy does not say anything about conversions to Judaism or perpetual poll taxes against non-Jews. Moreover, the jizya is currently imposed around the world by Muslims against Catholics in the Philippines, against Sikhs in Pakistan, against Christians in Iraq, and against Jews in Yemen. Nowhere in the world is there any Deuteronomy-based tax being imposed by Jews or Christians against Muslims.
“2. Not paying Jizya (Jizyah) is the condition for using force.”
Agreed! That’s the problem. If non-Muslims living within Muslim territory don’t pay the jizya, Muslims are enjoined to fight them. The Koran and Hadith offer no exemptions, no waivers, no forbearance from the jizya for non-Muslims trapped in the Islamic world.
“3. Verse 9:29 of Quran does not ask Muslims to do forceful conversions.”
Right—that comes from other parts of Islamic law! The Sahih Muslim, one of the most venerated texts of all Islam contains this passage:
When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them… If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them. (Book 19, Number 4294.)
That passage is where Muslims got the idea to convert non-Muslims to Islam, force them to pay the jizya, or fight and ultimately kill them. Opponents of jizya and dhimmitude do not base their criticism solely on Koran 9:29.
“4. Quran never commands killing disbelievers just because they disbeliever.”
Actually, that’s exactly what the Koran commands in 9:5 (just a few lines over from the one we’re looking at) which says, “slay the Pagans wherever ye find them.”
Canada’s spy agency is embarking down the path of investigating “traditional crimes” such as theft and money laundering behind the financing of Islamic terrorism. From the Canadian Press on Apr. 14:
OTTAWA — Canada’s spy agency says it increasingly follows the money in the fight against terrorism.
In its annual public report released Wednesday, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service says piecing together the financial trail has become an essential step in tackling extremism. CSIS notes certain terrorist networks manage their financial operations much like multinational corporations, complete with bank accounts in different countries.
Some make global investments to launder illicit funds.
The spy service says most terrorist networks commit traditional crimes including theft, forgery and kidnapping to fund their agendas.
CSIS works with the federal anti-money laundering agency, the Canada Revenue Agency, the RCMP and international partners to try to trace funds.
“Financial intelligence is growing in importance as an element of all these investigations as a number of countries attempt to piece together the fragments of terrorism’s elusive trail,” CSIS director Dick Fadden says in the report – his first as chief.
CSIS’s foreign role has continued to grow, including support of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan and work to help locate and free Canadians kidnapped abroad by terrorist groups, the report adds.
The greatest international terrorist threat to Canada and its interests in 2008-09 continued to emanate from al-Qaida and its affiliates in places like North Africa, CSIS says.
It would be far more productive to investigate zakat, ushr, hawala, fida’, and khums, because those traditional Islamic concepts are what provide the majority of funding for jihad around the world today.
When describing financial matters in the Islamic world, we here in the West use many euphemisms like using “charity” for zakat, or “extortion” for jizya.
When Muslims forcibly capture non-Muslims in the world today, and demand conversion to Islam or money as a condition of release, we have taken to calling those events “abductions,” “kidnappings” or “hostage-taking,” and the money demanded is a “ransom.”
Those terms are reasonably accurate descriptions of what happens to non-Muslim minorities or Western travelers in Muslim controlled parts of the world today, and I’ve used those phrases many times myself.
However, the farther one steps back, the more inadequate the term “ransom” becomes to describe what the jihadists are doing. Random House defines ransom as “the redemption of a prisoner, slave, or captured person, of captured goods, etc., for a price” (emphasis mine). In the world of the jihadists, redemption is not only “for a price,” but for Allah.
Verse 4 of Sura 47 of the Koran reads, “When ye encounter the infidels, strike off their heads till ye have made a great slaughter among them, and of the rest make fast the fetters. And afterwards let there either be free dismissals or ransomings, till the war hath laid down its burdens.”
The decision on whether to release or ransom the prisoner of war depends wholly on whatever will benefit Islam the most at the time. As Robert Spencer pointed out in his “Blogging the Qur’an” series:
The same verse goes on to call for the taking of prisoners and allowing for “either generosity or ransom” of prisoners of war. This has been enshrined in Islamic law: ‘Umdat al-Salik, a manual of Islamic jurisprudence certified by Al-Azhar University in Cairo (the most respected authority in Sunni Islam) as conforming “to the practice and faith of the orthodox Sunni community,” lays out four options for prisoners, in line with this verse: “When an adult male is taken captive, the caliph considers the interests … (of Islam and the Muslims) and decides between the prisoner’s death, slavery, release without paying anything, or ransoming himself in exchange for money or for a Muslim captive held by the enemy” (9.14).
The term “ransom,” which carries some religious connotations in English, nevertheless expresses a primarily financial or profit motive to the abduction. The jihadists are certainly trying to raise revenues by holding non-Muslims hostage, but they are basing their actions on what they perceive to be the needs of Islam.
Using the Arabic word in 47:4, fida’an (فداء), or simply fida’ (also meaning sacrifice or redemption), may be a more appropriate term than the sanitized, secular “ransom.”
But don’t expect the mainstream media to start using the word “fida’” anytime soon to describe the demands by jihadist captors around the world today. Fida’ is a money machine for jihad and a blood bath for non-Muslims. And it all comes from the Koran.
Despite (phony) “oversight” of its central bank over Saudi charities, despite cash courier “restrictions,” despite freezing assets of prominent terrorist financiers, despite an admonition by Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti about being careful about where you donate your zakat, and despite forming a financial intelligence unit of its own, money for terror just seems to keep leaking (and leaking and leaking) out of Arabia’s borders like water through a sieve.
This article from Zawya yesterday puts it a little more politely, but basically makes the same point:
Terrorism funding remains a concern
Tuesday, Apr 20, 2010
The trial in Indonesia of a Saudi man accused of financing a militant group that attacked two hotels in Jakarta last year highlights the challenges the Saudi government faces in closing loopholes used for terrorist financing.
Ali Abdullah is accused of giving Rp54m ($5,816) to a militant group and of raising money from Saudi Arabia to support terrorism. He has pleaded not guilty.
Analysts say financial reforms have disrupted funding from inside the country for al-Qaeda . In a crackdown after a series of attacks from 2003-06 , thousands of suspected militants were arrested, assets of suspected financiers were frozen and unauthorised charities closed.
While the measures have caused much potential financing for al-Qaeda to dry up, curbing funding for groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan remains a concern for the US administration. During a visit to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE earlier this year, Neal Wolin, deputy US treasury secretary, asked authorities to strengthen cross-border cash reporting to block terror funding, and urged Kuwait to pass a law against money laundering.
“We continue to be very much focused on identifying and trying to stop the flow of funds that support terrorism, much of which emanates from the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia,” said Mr Wolin.
With the US escalating the campaign in southern Afghanistan, efforts to curb financing to militants have become even more pressing.
After the attacks on September 11 2001, charities in the Gulf came under global scrutiny. The government formed a financial investigation unit that reports to Prince Mohamed bin Naif, the country’s counterterrorism chief. The unit works closely with the Financial Action Task Force, an international body, to ensure that Saudi Arabia complies with its recommendations.
The Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency, the Saudi central bank, has to approve transactions of more than $15,000. Saudi banks close inactive accounts and require their holders to verify their residency and identification periodically.
However, informal money transfer agents, known as hawala , continue to send unknown sums overseas.
The headline reads, “Saudi Arabia’s Senior Ulema Council Criminalizes Terrorism,” but that’s only half of the story. As you’ll see, the decision may have more to do with defending zakat than criminalizing terrorism. Hat tip to David Cafferty for sending in this Apr. 14 article from the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat:
The Kingdom’s Senior Ulema Council has resolved one of the most important and controversial dossiers by descriptively defining “terrorism” and criminalizing its financing. The Council considered its criminalization of terrorism applicable to all terrorist actions to which the countries of the world are subjected and not just Saudi Arabia.
The council’s decision stipulates the “criminalization of the financing of terrorism” and it stressed its dangers, considering the financer “a partner” in crime, as the Shariaa texts make it clear. The Shariaa fatwa reached by the Senior Ulema Council is considered “important and unprecedented” as it criminalizes terrorism and refers to “fighting and criminalizing terrorism in all its forms and kinds, including its financing” according to the text of the decision that sources have reported to Asharq Al-Awsat.
The decision did not include a specific penalty for the financers of terrorism and left it to the judiciary to determine the penalty under Shariaa law.
The Senior Ulema Council’s decision included a definition of terrorism which was confined to descriptions, saying that these include “targeting public resources, spreading corruption, hijacking planes, and bombing buildings.” It stressed that the opinion it has concluded concerning the definition of terrorism and the criminalization of its action and financing does not concern Saudi Arabia alone but includes the Muslim countries and other countries of the world.
It becomes clear from the ulema’s decision that it excluded charity work from the responsibility for backing and financing terrorism while making individuals involved in exploiting charity work responsible. It exempted charitable work which targets the poor and the building of hospitals and schools on the basis that these are charitable functions under Islamic Shariaa.
Money Jihad 
MB Report exposes Ikhwan’s money madness
April 30, 2010Muslim Brotherhood's Seal
Continuing our focus this week on the Muslim Brotherhood and its financing, The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report has been providing solid coverage of the financial jihad of Ikhwan for several years. You can click on any of the hyperlinks below to read their full original articles, but I’m also providing my own adjoining summaries for those of you on time budgets. Take special note of the money laundering developments they’ve covered over this past week which expose the connection between a U.K. charity, Saudi Arabia, and the Muslim Brothers.
“Trade-based Money Laundering” Associated With Muslim Brotherhood. Yusuf Qaradawi, long-time spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, directs a worldwide network of Islamic charities known as “Union of Good.” One of the member charities is the Comite de Bienfaisance et de Secours aux Palestiniens (CBSP). The U.S. has designated the CBSP as a sponsor of terrorism that has laundered money to the Palestinian territories by delivering commodities under the guise of “aid.” Those commodities are resold locally and the proceeds are given to terrorists. Sept. 19, 2007.
Muslim American Society Raises Funds For Newest Of 25 Youth Centers. A California chapter of the MAS (which is part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood) accepted $122,000 in “pledges” to establish American madrassas to indoctrinate American youths with a Muslim Brotherhood message. Oct. 15, 2007.
Egypt Arrests Muslim Brotherhood Members In Plot To Aid Hamas. Two Egyptian Brothers paid 20,000 Egyptian pounds to buy a remote controlled airplane for Hamas to load with explosives for an attack against Israel. Apr. 29, 2008.
Muslim American Society Subject Of Egyptian Investigation Into Muslim Brotherhood Money Laundering. The Muslim American Society (again, a part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood) was identified by an Egyptian court as the beneficiary of money laundered from the Foreign Relations Committee of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. May 20, 2009.
BREAKING NEWS: Egypt Will Prosecute Muslim Brotherhood Members For Money Laundering; Saudi Also Charged. Egypt will prosecute five men, including one Saudi, for raising funds for the Muslim Brotherhood—an organization which is illegal in Egypt. The men reportedly raised £4 million through a U.K. Islamic charity, and two of the men laundered 2.8 million euros to Egypt. Apr. 22, 2010.
BREAKING NEWS: Members Of Accused Brotherhood Money Laundering Ring Said To Be International Organization Leaders. London resident Ibrahim Munir, secretary general of the Muslim Brotherhood International Organization, may be one of the men charged with illegally raising funds for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and laundering them to Egypt. Apr. 25, 2010.
Under Egyptian law, it is illegal for funds to be raised abroad for the Muslim Brotherhood. Clearly, heaps of zakat have been raised in Saudi Arabia and transferred to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood for years. It is therefore quite striking that this is the first time a Saudi has ever been prosecuted for breaking Egyptian laws against MB fundraising.
Kudos to the Global MB Report for staying on the case and adding layers to our understanding of Ikhwan’s financial tentacles.
Posted in Columns, essays, & opinion, News commentary | Tagged Egypt, Islam, money laundering, Muslim Brotherhood, Saudi Arabia, U.K., Yusuf al-Qaradawi | 1 Comment »