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August 01, 2007
Change of Heart
by Tina Grazier
There’s a great deal of talk about changing the hearts and minds of people in the Middle East as a part of winning the greater war on terror but rarely do we hear about progress in this area in terms of the extreme religious views that fuel terrorist acts. Last weekend I read about a man of historical importance whose change of heart might have a very significant impact in this area. At the very least it will cause a great deal of controversy and debate.
His name is Sayid Imam al-Sharif. He was founder and first emir of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization whose supporters assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981. He later teamed up with Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan in the war against the Soviet occupation and has worked with Ayman al-Zawahiri. He was kidnapped in Yemen after 9/11, interrogated, and extradited to Egypt where he was given a life sentence. This man was the author of the Salafi jihadists' "bible" - Foundations of Preparation for Holy War. Now, from his prison cell in Egypt, he cited the Qur’an in renouncing the act of killing on the basis of nationality and skin color and the targeting of women and children. “Armed operations were wrong, counterproductive and must cease,” he declared sternly.
Zawahiri dismissed this announcement as propaganda but experts in Egypt and the west say that the change in Sharif is both genuine and significant. The following are a sampling of opinions and thought noted in the story by Ian Black that can be found in last Friday’s Guardian:
…Muntasir al-Zayyat, a lawyer jailed for Islamic Jihad membership in the 1980s…"When the book comes out there will be a furious reaction from Zawahiri and the global jihadi movement. It is clear that Sayid Imam will call a halt to killing operations in Egypt and abroad."
Diaa Rashwan, of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, says: "I have no doubt that this is genuine. It will be a real shock and cause a lot of confusion. Jihadis will see hundreds of their former brothers criticising their most fundamental ideas. That's why Zawahiri is so bothered by it."
"If you want to rob these people of their cover you have to take away their legitimacy," says Ashraf Mohsin, an Egyptian diplomat dealing with counter-terrorism. "The way to deprive them of their ability to recruit is to attack the message. If you take Islam out of the message all that is left is criminality."
No one is predicting that the book will stop suicide bombings in Iraq or Afghanistan, but interest is so intense that several Arabic newspapers are competing to buy the 100-page work, entitled: Advice Regarding the Conduct of Jihadist Action in Egypt and the World.
"Now this is a global phenomenon," says Rashwan, suggesting that an effort that emerged from Egypt's own security needs could provide lessons for others waging the battle for Muslim hearts and minds - as relevant in Luton and Lyon as in Casablanca and Kabul.
"Security measures alone cannot defeat terrorism," argues Fouad Allam, a former state security general - the guards outside his Cairo home testimony to decades spent hunting down armed Islamists. "Terrorism has to be fought with a broader strategy in which the political issues that fuel extremism are dealt with so that these sort of 'revisions' will have some effect."
Egypt's counter-radicalisation programmes are the most extensive of any Arab country, but jihadists are also rehabilitated in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Jordan.
Posted by Post Scripts at August 1, 2007 12:20 AM
Comments
Considering the sort of rehabilitation that goes on in Mideast prisons, does a proclamation of a "change of heart" really surprise anyone?
I doubt the book will mean much to anyone in the terrorist business, but we can always hope!
Posted by: Jack at August 1, 2007 12:34 PM
I doubt the book will mean much to anyone in the terrorist business.
I agree when it comes to the Zawahiri's of the movement. What it may do is discourage young people from joining up by undermining the radical religious positions used to justify violence and murder. As the Egyptian diplomat said, "If you take Islam out of the message all that is left is criminality."
The original article was much more in depth regarding the "rehab" experience but apparently these men have been permitted to study, discuss and debate with each other as part of their rehabilitation. Together they have determined that their former views were wrong.
It does add another wrinkle to the fabric and it will be interesting to know what "advice" these former jihadists will now give to others.
Posted by: Tina at August 1, 2007 04:06 PM