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User:Geo Swan/working/Religious conversion and terrorism (fixed)

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Religious converts have been thought to have a special zeal, that frequanlty exceeds those born in that faith. A number of well known cases in recent past have involved terrorsts who are converts.[1] For example, Rajah Solaiman Revolutionary Movement (RSRM) is a movement of converts to Islam in Philippines that seek to establsh a theocratic Islamic state across the Philippines [2][3][4] A study by the Washington-based Nixon Center that examined the backgrounds of 373 terrorists in Europe and the U.S. found 35 of them (9%) were converts to Islam [5][6][7][8]

Convert terrorists and Police

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Simon Montlake, a Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor writes[9]:

Investigators say that Islamic converts can evade ethnic profiling by police, opening up a new front for groups like Abu Sayyaf that are being squeezed by US-aided military offensives in the south. "This tactical alliance [between southern insurgents and Islamic converts] will emerge to challenge the government in new ways," warns Rodolfo Mendoza, a senior police official who tracks Islamic militants.

The Asia Times reports[4]

The deadly mix of JI and Abu Sayyaf has lately been enriched by yet another explosive ingredient - the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM), a radical wing of the Filipino Balik Islam, as those who have abandoned Catholicism to "return" to Islam are known.

"The [Abu Sayyaf] and JI are working increasingly with the RSM, militant converts to Islam based in Manila and northern Luzon, who are a vehicle for more experienced terrorist groups to move into the country's urban heartland," reported the well-respected think-tank International Crisis Group in its December report "Philippines Terrorism: The Role of Militant Islamic Converts".

Notable converts who are alleged to have moved on to terrorism

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Some of the prominent converts include:

name cause terrorist act notes
Dhiren Barot Muslim extremist bomber
  • Confessed to plotting to bomb financial targets.[10][11][12]
Adam Gadahn Salafism propaganda
David Hicks Muslim extremist "aid"
  • Pleaded guilty to providing aid to al Qaeda.
Muriel Degauque Muslim extremist suicide bomber
  • Injured a police offider with the bomb with which she killed herself.[15]
Richard Reid Muslim extremist failed bomber
  • The "shoe bomber"
Bob Denard
Aukai Collins
some of the The Portland Seven
Daniel Maldonado Muslim extremist terrorism
  • Daniel Maldonado was charged with committing terrorist acts in Somalia.[16][17]
John Walker Lindh
  • Confessed after the use of "extended interrogation techniques" — the only proof that he planned to engage in terrorism.
Eden Natan-Zada radical Judaism killer
"The parents and neighbours of the gunman told how within two years Eden Natan-Zada turned from a bright and studious Israeli schoolboy into an ultrareligious zealot implacably opposed to Ariel Sharon’s plan to evacuate Jews from Gaza."
  • Follower of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane.[18]
  • Israeli Prime Minister called him a "terrorist".[19]
Walid Shoebat former terrorist
Ahmad Santos
Derrick Shareef[23]
Willie Brigitte
Germaine Lindsay
James Charles Kopp right to life Assassination
Michael F. Griffin right to life Assassination
  • Shot and killed David Gunn, a doctor who performed abortions.[27]
  • Allegedly yelled "You won't kill any more babies!" when he made his shot.


Olivier Roy, a Paris-based authority on Islamic radicalism, believes that the common factor among violent Islamists — converts and non-converts — is that all are "born again." He writes:

"They broke with the religion of their parents to fervently embrace a new one, or a more fundamentalist stream of Islam, such as Saudi Arabian-based Wahhabism. He describes converts turning to jihad as following the well-established path of European rebels embracing an extremist cause.
"The people going to Al Qaeda today, a good part of them would have gone to the extreme left 30 years ago," said Roy, research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

Harvard sociologist Marc Sageman, author of "Understanding Terror Networks", disagrees [5]

"If you look at the history of converts, they usually converted because their friends became Muslims, and when the group radicalized they radicalized along with the group," said Sageman, who studied the profile of 172 known terrorists.

In NE India, terrorism has been linked to religious conversion.[28].

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The (Fanatical) Zeal of the Convert".
  2. ^ Peter Chalk (April 20 2006). "Christian Converts and Islamic Terrorism in the Philippines". Jamestown Foundation. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Philippines Terrorism: The Role of the Militant Islamic Converts, UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency" (PDF).more
  4. ^ a b Fabio Scarpello (January 18, 2006). "Jihadi threat looms over Philippine peace hopes". Asia Times. Retrieved 2007-09-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b Sandro Contenta (October 16, 2006). "He embraced Islam, then terrorism". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2007-08-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Robert S. Leiken (October 1 2006). "Terror Suspect Database,". The Nixon Center. Retrieved 2007-08-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Robert S. Leiken (September 18, 2006). "The Quantitative Analysis of Terrorism and Immigration: An Initial Exploration, Terrorism and Political Violence". The Nixon Center. Retrieved 2007-08-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "The (Fanatical) Zeal of the Convert". Balitang Sentenaryo. 1998. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  9. ^ a b Simon Montlake. "In Philippines, watchful eye on converts". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
  10. ^ Isikoff, Michael and Mark Hosenball (August 20, 2004). "Bin Laden's Mystery Man". Newsweek.
  11. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6121084.stm Muslim convert who plotted terror, BBC 7 November 2006
  12. ^ "Muslim convert who plotted terror". BBC. Tuesday, November 7 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "Al-Qaida's al-Zawahri, American issue video, Suspect wanted by FBI 'invites' Westerners to convert to Islam". MSNBC. September 2 2006. Retrieved 2007-08-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ William LaJeunesse (October 29 2004). "Officials Believe 'Azzam' Is Gadahn". s=[[Fox News|]]. Retrieved 2007-08-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ "Belgian 'suicide bomber' is named". BBC. Friday, December 2, 2005. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Text "http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4488642.stm Belgian woman bomber identified" ignored (help)
  16. ^ Charles A. Radin (February 17, 2007). "From N.H. to Somalia: Recalling a suspect's zeal". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2007-04-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Robert S. Mueller III (March 28, 2007). "Robert S. Mueller, III at National Defense University". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 2007-04-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ a b Stephen Farrell (August 5 2005). "Israeli killer was recruited to terror over the internet". The Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ "Israeli bus killer lynched by mob". BBC News. August 4 2005,. Retrieved 2007-09-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  20. ^ Johnna Villaviray (Monday, November 17, 2003). "When Christians embrace Islam". The Manila Times. Retrieved 2007-04-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ Douglas Bakshian (October 26 2005). "Philippine Authorities Arrest Islamic Militant Leader". Voice of America. Retrieved 2007-09-97. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  22. ^ "Philippines arrests key militants". BBC. Wednesday, October 26 2005. Retrieved 2007-09-97. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  23. ^ "Mall a terror target: Feds: Muslim convert charged with plotting". Chicago Sun-Times. December 9, 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ "Murder of New York abortion doctor denounced as 'terrorism'". CNN. October 24, 1998. Retrieved April 9, 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ "Doctor Murdered as Anti-Abortion Violence and Terrorism Continue". National Organizatio of Women. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  26. ^ Eyal Press (January 22, 2006). "My Father's Abortion War". New York Times. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ William Booth (Thursday, March 11, 1993). "Doctor Killed During Abortion Protest". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-04-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ Akhil Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram (March 10, 2006). "Christian Conversions and Terrorism in North-East India". Shree Multimedia Vision. Retrieved 2007-08-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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Category:Religious conversion Category:Religion and violence

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