Jailhouse Islam

(June 19, 2002 12:08 p.m. EDT) - The mail brings a letter from a self-identified African-American prison inmate (several of the same type have arrived since Sept. 11). He predicts Islam will take over the world and America's days are numbered.

This man is one of many converts to radical Islam under a program indirectly funded by Saudi Arabian money through the National Islamic Prison Foundation, which underwrites a "prison outreach" program. This program is likely to be discussed at the fifth annual Islam in American Prisons Conference, scheduled for July 5-7 at the Holiday Inn O'Hare International in Rosemont, Ill.

One of the co-sponsors of the gathering is the Islamic Society of North America, which has ties to other Muslim groups in the U.S., some of which are up to no good. Let us hope that under the new Justice Department guidelines, the FBI will be attending and taking notes.

Prison Fellowship Chairman Charles Colson, who heads a Christian ministry to prisoners, believes radical Islamic clerics, trained in Saudi Arabia, are converting large numbers of African-American inmates not only to their religion, but to their political objectives, including virulent anti-Americanism. Colson thinks such inmates could serve the radicals as terrorists once they are released, murdering their own countrymen in a kind of "payback" for perceived injustices done to them by white America.

Last Oct. 20, The New York Times quoted Faheem Shuaibe, imam at a large, predominately black mosque in Oakland, Calif., as saying that more than 200 African-American imams have been trained so far in Saudi Arabia. Shuaibe told the newspaper:

"There was a very deliberate recruitment process by the Saudis, trying to find black Muslims who had a real potential for Islamic learning and also for submission to their agenda. They taught Islam with the intent to expand their influence. A principal target was to stop the indigenous Muslim leadership in America from tinkering with their religion."

According to the Times story, the brand of Islam being taught and exported was the most extreme sect, known as Wahhabism.

"These are bad guys," says Colson, who contrasts his Christian ministry, which uses volunteers to visit inmates, with the "extreme agenda" of the Wahhabbi Muslims, who do not utilize volunteers, but rely on imams. Colson says he has been in 600 prisons (counting the one in which he served time for Watergate crimes). He calls some of the anger of black inmates "legitimate" because of sentence disparity and the anger they feel at themselves. These angry men are being shaped by radical clerics in a way that will threaten America's interests when they get out.

There are 2 million people in American prisons. Most are men and only 30 percent are white. "If only 5 percent of the African-American population is disaffected," says Colson, "that is an enormous pool from which the radicals can draw."

Inmates of whatever faith, or of no faith, are entitled to visits by lay or professional ministers. But Supreme Court rulings grant the prison system the right to determine who might undermine order and who best preserves it. Wardens in state prisons and officials in the Federal Bureau of Prisons should issue new guidelines and bar radical Islamists.

While the government is at it, a serious investigation should be conducted into the proliferation of Islamic front groups in this country. Influential American political activists are rumored to be taking money from Islamic states and seeking to shape U.S. foreign and domestic policies that may not be in the best interests of their own country. They should also be the focus of journalistic concern.

This is war, after all. German spies were hunted down and exposed during the Second World War, as were spies and other threats to American freedoms during the Cold War. We should be doing the same with this greater contemporary threat.

These angry men are being shaped by radical clerics in a way that will threaten America's interests when they get out.

While this is annoying, I see it as more of a tempest in a teapot. These angry men already threatened America’s interests, and they did so poorly which resulted in their capture and conviction.

I had the displeasure of getting to know more than a few prison converts to the religion of peace, and there are two traits that are universally held by these types:

1. An intellect well below normal. While not being able to read the religion’s holy text due to it’s foreign language would be a predicament for many, this type wouldn’t be able to decipher it unless it was published by Marvel Comics.

2. As evidenced by the wholesale failure to live within the rules of society, the much stricter rules of islam are wholly impossible to follow for this bunch. Often the first break with the teachings are at the “Welcome Home Hakeem Barbecue” when “them ribs just be smellin’ too good” and swine is dined upon.
There’s plenty of ways to p*ss whitey off, which is the real goal. One can wear a kufi hat and change their name without really following the teachings of islam. Cheating welfare, impregnating a white woman, littering, being a parasite, blaring rap music, or holding up a convenience store are all much easier ways of “stickin’ it to the man” than more involved and befuddlingly complicated terrorist activities.

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

While I'll grant you that it's unlikely that the Islam-in-prisons phenomenon will unearth an evil genius with sincerely deep Islamic convictions, there is value for the Wahhabis in creating a support base among these prison blacks, from which to mount attacks on this country directed by leaders now outside it.

What, after all, makes the Palestinian terror organizations so hard to eliminate? Not the organizations themselves, but their considerable support base among "non-terrorist" Palestinians, many of whom probably can't count above ten without removing their shoes. You don't have to be clever, or particularly devout, to provide food, clothing and concealment to the really bad guys... or to die in reprisals, thus stoking the fires of rage among your people and eliciting a still higher level of support for the "freedom fighters" who claim to be killing in your name.

I'd like to see this watched closely.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com

You don't have to be clever, or particularly devout, to provide food, clothing and concealment to the really bad guys... or to die in reprisals, thus stoking the fires of rage among your people and eliciting a still higher level of support for the "freedom fighters" who claim to be killing in your name.

You make a very good point in your last line here. I suppose if the main goal of the Wahabis is to recruit future recipients of collateral damage, this may work.

It doesn’t really speak much to one’s worth when even those who active seek you out view you as little more than masonry or cannon fodder…

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

Don't be too sure about a prisoner's innate intelligence. It's easy to confuse lack of education (thanks to the NEA and the idiots running the public schools) with intelligence. Most of these guys have never been TAUGHT to read -- inner city schools are an absolute joke.

And as for being able to follow Islam's strict tenets, think Marines. You turn a bunch of lazy young guys into disciplined soldiers by appealing to their sense of solidarity and masculinity. When have most prisoners, literally over 90% from fatherless homes, been exposed to strong images of male leadership, other than movie violence? If the Wahhabbis start talking about "real men do this, real men do that" in an atmosphere that praises working hard to achieve Islam's goals as masculine, I would think this would be very motivating to a lot of these guys. What else does "politically correct" US society have to offer them, from the female liberal social workers they interact with to the Hollywood TV and movies that tell them they are poor victims and belittle masculine virute.

You don't need every prisoner in the US to create a lot of trouble, 19 were more than enough on 9-11. If this was done well with an eye to the pathologies that bring young, fatherless ignorant men into the prison system Islam could be very, very dangerous.

I do see your point, but let’s discuss It's easy to confuse lack of education (thanks to the NEA and the idiots running the public schools) with intelligence.

Very true and commonly done. However the example I’ll use is that time and again it wasn’t just the butchered, tortured sentence structure these guys would employ (which suggests a lack of education). I was routinely appalled by the lack of a complete thought being expressed, the difficulty they’d have in making an inference or even following a conversation. This second trait was what led me to the conclusion that not only were they uneducated, they were idiots too.

You turn a bunch of lazy young guys into disciplined soldiers by appealing to their sense of solidarity and masculinity.

Another good point. However, I was surprised that the constant thread wasn’t (as you, or I would probably try to convince a follower) “A MAN prays to mecca” but continuing references to how “Christianity is the slave master’s religion” or “Barry was my slave name, I’m called Whawamabili now!” and “I kneel before my master allah” etc. It actually seemed very demeaning.

Maybe the bunch that I’d worked with were unusual, but they really impressed me far more as laughable losers than any real threat beyond being the chronic felons that got them thrown in the slam in the first place.

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

This is a situation that clearly bears watching--and monitoring--by domestic law enforcement. True, most of these prisoners aren't Einsteins, but they are potentially useful for Al Qaeda. Many would love to exact a measure of revenge against "the man," and might willingly sign on for a variety of jobs with Al Qaeda.

On a more cynical level, Al Qaeda could certainly "use" prison convertees for a variety of tasks. Consider Jose Padilla. He has all the makings of a patsy, someone recruited by Al Qaeda for the specific purpose of getting caught, while other operatives sneak into the country. Unless bin Laden and the boys are getting desperate, I don't see them entrusting a dirty bomb op to a former gangbanger and high-school dropout from Chicago. Black Muslims recruited in American jails could be used for similar purposes, traveling freely around the country to reconniter potential targets, or provide low-level logistical support. If they're caught, Al Qaeda won't lose much.

What I'm more concerned about is Al Qaeda using these prisoners as a pipeline into America's street gangs. Most of these converts came from that very culture, and still have strong ties to their old outfits. Those gangs could provide a ready source of guns, explosives, stolen vehicles and other items useful in terrorist ops.

Yes, I was. I noted that both Padilla and Richard Reid were recruited in prison. Richard Reid may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but he almost brought a plane down.

This is a very real danger. The Islamacists don't just need smart science types to do their work. They also need plenty of go-fers, smugglers, and general dupes for their day-to-day activities.

This recruitment is taking place in the places where one can find people naturally predisposed to flouting society..the prisons. These are people who won't hesitate to pass counterfeit money, procure illegal weapons, smuggle items across borders,etc.

I believe another place they are recruiting is in the ghettos. And the college campuses as well.

Profiling is a good tool, but profiling by itself will not protect us. Smart terrorists are busy getting plenty of help from non-Arabs, as this article shows.

Moslems like to boast "Islam is the fastest growing religeon". They don't mention they recruit heavily in prisons.

Yes, the Padilla converting to Islam in prison in the 1990's argument bears weight here. Who better to wade through for recruits than those who are already "disenfranchised" by the American Justice system?

Mrs K

What else does "politically correct" US society have to offer them, from the female liberal social workers they interact with to the Hollywood TV and movies that tell them they are poor victims and belittle masculine virute.

Excellent analysis. I think the sense of victim hood, however, would be encouraged and nurtured rather than minimized or belittled as effete. An almost overwhelming sense of being a "victim" seems to be a nearly universal characteristic of terrorists, whether they are Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists or whatever. In fact I tend to believe that extreme victim consciousness is probably the single most distinctive feature of the terrorist psychology. If so it would make prisons prime recruiting grounds.

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