Capitalist
Jeffersonian Liberal
- May 22, 2010
- 835
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We all know that Islam is a "Religion of Peace".
Islam is a religion of peace and love, but it is also misunderstood not only by outsiders but by many Muslims.
We need to focus like a laser beam on the Muslim Misunderstanders".
Islam is a religion of peace and love, but it is also misunderstood not only by outsiders but by many Muslims.
We need to focus like a laser beam on the Muslim Misunderstanders".
SKOPJE, Macedonia (WaPo) An online music video praising Osama bin Laden has driven home a troubling new reality: A radical brand of Islam embraced by al-Qaida and the Taliban is gaining a foothold in the Balkans.
Oh Osama, annihilate the American army. Oh Osama, raise the Muslims honor, a group of Macedonian men sing in Albanian, in video posted on YouTube last year and picked up by Macedonian media this August. In September 2001 you conquered a power. We all pray for you.
Although most of Macedonias ethnic Albanian minority are Muslims, they have generally been secular. But experts are now seeing an increasing radicalization in pockets of the countrys Islamic community, particularly after armed groups from the ethnic Albanian minority, which forms a quarter of the population of 2.1 million, fought a brief war against Macedonian government forces in 2001.
Its a trend seen across the Balkans and has raised concerns that the region, which includes new European Union member Bulgaria, could become a breeding ground for terrorists with easy access to Western Europe. Many fear that radicalized European Muslims with EU passports could slip across borders and blend into society.
At the center of the issue is the Wahhabi sect, an austere brand of Islam most prevalent in Saudi Arabia and practiced by bin Laden and the Taliban.
Wahhabism in Macedonia, the Balkans and in Europe has become more aggressive in the last 10 years, said Jakub Selimovski, head of religious education in Macedonias Islamic community. He said Wahhabis were establishing a permanent presence in Macedonia where none existed before, and that they are in Bosnia, here, Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia and lately they have appeared in Bulgaria.
It is the first time a high-ranking official in the former Yugoslav republics Islamic community has agreed to speak openly about the presence and threat of radical Islam.
In Bulgaria, nearly one-sixth of the population of 7.6 million are Muslims who adhere to conventional Sunni beliefs. Ethnic peace has been maintained in the last 20 years. As elsewhere in the Balkans, however, Wahhabi incursions have led to a struggle for control of religion and Islamic community-owned property.
Large amounts of money, allegedly from Muslim organizations abroad, have been spent in Bulgaria since the mid-1990s for more than 150 new mosques and so called teaching centers to spread Wahhabism.
According to Bulgarias former chief mufti, Nedim Gendzhev, some Muslim organizations were aiming to create a fundamentalist triangle formed by Bosnia, Macedonia and Bulgarias Western Rhodope mountains. Local newspaper reports say radical Islam is being preached in different cities and villages in southern and northeastern Bulgaria.
Rest here>>>
Oh Osama, annihilate the American army. Oh Osama, raise the Muslims honor, a group of Macedonian men sing in Albanian, in video posted on YouTube last year and picked up by Macedonian media this August. In September 2001 you conquered a power. We all pray for you.
Although most of Macedonias ethnic Albanian minority are Muslims, they have generally been secular. But experts are now seeing an increasing radicalization in pockets of the countrys Islamic community, particularly after armed groups from the ethnic Albanian minority, which forms a quarter of the population of 2.1 million, fought a brief war against Macedonian government forces in 2001.
Its a trend seen across the Balkans and has raised concerns that the region, which includes new European Union member Bulgaria, could become a breeding ground for terrorists with easy access to Western Europe. Many fear that radicalized European Muslims with EU passports could slip across borders and blend into society.
At the center of the issue is the Wahhabi sect, an austere brand of Islam most prevalent in Saudi Arabia and practiced by bin Laden and the Taliban.
Wahhabism in Macedonia, the Balkans and in Europe has become more aggressive in the last 10 years, said Jakub Selimovski, head of religious education in Macedonias Islamic community. He said Wahhabis were establishing a permanent presence in Macedonia where none existed before, and that they are in Bosnia, here, Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia and lately they have appeared in Bulgaria.
It is the first time a high-ranking official in the former Yugoslav republics Islamic community has agreed to speak openly about the presence and threat of radical Islam.
In Bulgaria, nearly one-sixth of the population of 7.6 million are Muslims who adhere to conventional Sunni beliefs. Ethnic peace has been maintained in the last 20 years. As elsewhere in the Balkans, however, Wahhabi incursions have led to a struggle for control of religion and Islamic community-owned property.
Large amounts of money, allegedly from Muslim organizations abroad, have been spent in Bulgaria since the mid-1990s for more than 150 new mosques and so called teaching centers to spread Wahhabism.
According to Bulgarias former chief mufti, Nedim Gendzhev, some Muslim organizations were aiming to create a fundamentalist triangle formed by Bosnia, Macedonia and Bulgarias Western Rhodope mountains. Local newspaper reports say radical Islam is being preached in different cities and villages in southern and northeastern Bulgaria.
Rest here>>>
