Her Jihad
NYT with a profile of a jihadi propagandist gaming the system in Belgium.
BRUSSELS — On the street, Malika El Aroud is anonymous in an Islamic black veil covering all but her eyes.
In her living room, Ms. El Aroud, a 48-year-old Belgian, wears the ordinary look of middle age: a plain black T-shirt and pants and curly brown hair. The only adornment is a pair of powder-blue slippers monogrammed in gold with the letters SEXY.
But it is on the Internet where Ms. El Aroud has distinguished herself. Writing in French under the name “Oum Obeyda,” she has transformed herself into one of the most prominent Internet jihadists in Europe.
She calls herself a female holy warrior for Al Qaeda. She insists that she does not disseminate instructions on bomb-making and has no intention of taking up arms herself. Rather, she bullies Muslim men to go and fight and rallies women to join the cause.
“It’s not my role to set off bombs — that’s ridiculous,” she said in a rare interview. “I have a weapon. It’s to write. It’s to speak out. That’s my jihad. You can do many things with words. Writing is also a bomb.”
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The changing role of women in the movement is particularly apparent in Western countries, where Muslim women have been educated to demand their rights and Muslim men are more accustomed to treating them as equals.
Ms. El Aroud reflects that trend. “Normally in Islam the men are stronger than the women, but I prove that it is important to fear God — and no one else,” she said. “It is important that I am a woman. There are men who don’t want to speak out because they are afraid of getting into trouble. Even when I get into trouble, I speak out.”
After all, she said, she knows the rules. “I write in a legal way,” she said. “I know what I’m doing. I’m Belgian. I know the system.”
That system often has been lenient toward her. She was detained last December with 13 others in what the authorities suspected was a plot to free a convicted terrorist from prison and to launch an attack in Brussels. But Belgian law required that they be released within 24 hours, because no charges were brought and searches failed to turn up weapons, explosives or incriminating documents.
Now, even as Ms. El Aroud remains under constant surveillance, she is back home rallying militants on her main Internet forum and collecting more than $1,100 a month in government unemployment benefits.
“Her jihad is not to lead an operation but to inspire other people to wage jihad,” said Glenn Audenaert, the director of Belgium’s federal police force, in an interview. “She enjoys the protection that Belgium offers. At the same time, she is a potential threat.”
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Her latest tangle with the law hints at a deeper involvement of women in terrorist activities. When she was detained last December in connection with the suspected plot to free Nizar Trabelsi, a convicted terrorist and a onetime professional soccer player, and to attack a target in Brussels, Ms. El Aroud was one of three women taken in for questioning.
Although the identities of those detained were not released, the Belgian authorities and others familiar with the case said that among those detained were Mr. Trabelsi’s wife and Fatima Aberkan, 47, a friend of Ms. El Aroud and a mother of seven.
“Malika is a source of inspiration for women because she is telling women to stop sleeping and open their eyes,” Ms. Aberkan said.
Ms. El Aroud operates from her three-room apartment that sits above a clothing shop in a working-class Brussels neighborhood where she spends her time communicating with supporters, mainly on her own forum, Minbar-SOS.
Although Ms. El Aroud insists that she is not breaking the law, she knows that the police are watching. And if the authorities find way to put her in prison, she said: “That would be great. They would make me a living martyr.”
This is what happens when you treat war as a police problem. It didn’t work like that during the Good War.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:21 am on Wednesday, May 28, 2008
7 Responses to “Her Jihad”
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May 28th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Yeah, but there is hope that the marks are beginning to wise up.
May 28th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
… collecting more than $1,100 a month in government unemployment benefits.
Jihadist leaders in Britain brag of the same thing.
In fact, bankrupting the “host” western country through milking its financial “support” system is one of the recommended ways of effecting jihad.
Taking advantage of the “bend over and spread ‘em” proclivities of western culture.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Why arrest and jail her when she’s such a useful source of intel?
On the other hand, I enjoy pointing to Europe as an example of what might happen to us if the Left takes power. They’re badly in need of some serious welfare reform over there.
May 28th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Robert, the term taqiyya has to be factored into the equation. A terrorist who denounces terrorism? What lead to this abrupt about face? A desire to muddy the waters? A desire to give something to the so-called pacifists to grab on to? Maybe we can lull the shmucks until it’s too late?
Deception covers a lot of area.
May 29th, 2008 at 8:01 am
I’m about 2/3 of the way through the piece in The New Yorker linked by Robert.
The history of Zawahiri’s falling out with Fadl and Fadl’s fury at how Zawahiri perverted his (Fadl’s) book makes for fascinating reading. Although Zawahiri’s absolute commitment to violence and his (far inferior to Fadl’s) skills as a surgeon.
It all fits with the image I have of the insane Ayman al Zawahiri.
Also discussed at length is how imprisoned members of the Islamist group in Egypt turned from a belief in violent jihad.
The author of the article, Lawrence Wright (The Looming Tower), is highly credible.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
I don’t understand the problem here. Cut off her welfare benefits and see how long this lazy, ungrateful bitch can keep up her anti-western crap.
May 30th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
RebeccaH, Belgium is a suicide pact masquerading as a country. Most of Europe is the same way. Also Scandinavia, witness the increase in rapes in Sweden by *Yoots* who think that they’re at war with the host country.