Introduction Revival Islamic Network Tanzeem-e-Islami
A North Carolina-based blogger has become a significant distributor of Jihadist propaganda in the United States. Samir Khan, known online as inashaAllhashaheed (Arabic for "God willing a martyr"), uses his blog, Revival, to distribute English translations of Al Qaeda materials, links to videos produced by terrorist groups and original commentary in support of jihad.
Revival, launched in December 2007, is the latest in a series of blogs created by Khan. One of the earlier incarnations of Revival, called inshaAllahshaheed, was shut down by Islamic Network, a blog hosting company, after Khan was the subject of an October 2007 newspaper account about terrorist sympathizers distributing Al Qaeda propaganda to U.S. audiences. Islamic Network currently hosts Revival.
Khan, 22, was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and moved to Queens, New York, with his family when he was seven. As a teenager, Khan become involved with Tanzeem-e-Islami, a radical anti-Semitic group based in Pakistan. The group currently operates in the U.S. under the name Islamic Organization of North America (IONA).
In 2004, Khan moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, with his parents, where he currently lives. At that time, Khan used a mainstream blog hosting service to create his inshaAllahshaheed blog, which mainly included materials about Tanzeem-e-Islami. He later created a new blog with the same name on Islamic Network, where he began posting materials related to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
While Revival describes itself as a venture of "a handful" of Sunni Muslim bloggers who "follow the Salafi Jihadi" creed, there are several indications that it is the latest version of Samir Khan's previous inshaAllahshaheed blog. In addition to both blogs being hosted by Islamic Network and sharing similar themes, Revival explicitly describes itself as "the bloggers of inshallahshaheed (a.k.a., revival)." Some of the content on Revival can also be found on an online photo album maintained by Khan.
The blog claims to provide information about "the lands of Jihad," describing itself as "a channel against the Western media since they only bring lies and deception." The "about" section of Revival features a list of Muslim extremists and terrorists, who are described as "scholars of Islam in this age whom we follow and support." It includes former Al Qaeda in Iraq commander, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in June 2006, and Abu Layth al-Libi, a top Al Qaeda commander killed in January 2008 during an American aerial attack in Pakistan.
One section of the blog provides original essays calling on Muslims to take up arms against Western democracies. One of the essays - part of a series called "The Love for Jihad" - encourages Muslims to become mujahideen, or holy warriors. "O Believing Mujahid! Don't let Shaytan [Satan] fool you into other Islamic careers when the Lord of Mercy has given you the ability to obtain His Mercy through warfare and martyrdom." Another essay in the series declares, "We hate America and her allies for the sake of Allah and we supplicate to Allah that He destroys them completely."
Revival has also produced its own terrorist propaganda video, available on YouTube and elsewhere. A link to the video, which celebrates jihad, was posted on Revival on January 21, 2008. The video, titled "We are the Mountains," features footage of attacks against American forces from both mainstream and terrorist sources. It includes graphic images and is accompanied by an English language song encouraging Muslims to "come to the jihad." The song also says, "The men you will be facing are of a certain kind who love to taste their deaths as you love to taste your wines…We’re soldiers of religion…The best raised in this nation who establishes the truth and fights against the evils their people and their troops. We’ll never compromise and never negotiate. The only thing between us and you is the AK."
Revival, which has been operating in its current form since December 2, 2007, is hosted by Islamic Network (IN), a Houston, Texas-based internet company.
Islamic Network (IN), an internet company that maintains various online forums and blogs, was launched in 2004 by Sarfaraz Jamal and his wife Fatima Hye, who lived in Houston, Texas, where IN is incorporated. They have since moved to Jordan, from where they continue to run IN.
While Samir Khan's Revival is one of the more extreme blogs hosted by IN, there are other forums maintained by IN that include support for terrorism and anti-Semitism. For example, an essay entitled Inciting Religious Hatred, which was posted to one of the forums in December 2007, says: "the ones who are cursed by Allah...They are the Jews, Christians, Hindus…Atheists." It also argues that "hating all false religions and gods other than Islam and Allah is the very first condition of becoming a Muslim."
IN forums, which encourage "open dialogue" and are open to registered members, are moderated by IN staff. One former IN moderator, Daniel Joseph Maldonado, was sentenced in Houston to 10 years in prison in July 2007, for training with a Somali Al Qaeda affiliated organization. Maldonado (a.k.a. Daniel Aljughaifi) started working with IN in August 2005.
Sarfaraz Jamal ran a similar internet enterprise, ClearGuidance, while living in Ohio prior to launching IN. Like IN, users of ClearGuidance forums and its moderators have posted extremist materials, including posts praising terrorism and attacks against Jews. For example, one forum discussion from 2002 about a video documenting a beheading, including a post saying: "I'm gonna try this on some jew right now…"
In addition, the forums were reportedly used by members of a suspected terrorist cell based in Canada with international links. Two members of the alleged cell, Zakaria Amara and Fahim Ahmad, reportedly made hundreds of posts to ClearGuidance forums between 2002 and 2004 when they were still in high school in Mississauga, Ontario. Ahmed's use of ClearGuidance to search for Jihadist materials reportedly alerted the police to the existence of the cell.
Shortly after users of ClearGuidance became aware of the investigation (Canadian law enforcement questioned one of the moderates of ClearGuidance), Jamal shut down the site, although he told a reporter his decision to shut it down was not related to these events or to threats he claims to have received.
Samir Khan's first inshaAllahshaheed blog, launched in 2004, mainly included materials about Tanzeem-e-Islami, a radical anti-Semitic group based in Pakistan that has a presence in the U.S. Khan, who became involved with Tanzeem as a teenager through a summer program in Queens run by local members of the group, has identified himself as a member, specifically with the New York Chapter, on various posts to online forums over the years.
Tanzeem-e-Islami, which describes itself as part of a movement to establish a global Islamic state, or the "khilafah," has a long record of anti-Semitism. For example, in August 2004, Tanzeem's Pakistan-based leader, Israr Ahmed, warned during an appearance at the Peshawar Press Club that "the evil genius of the Jews and the world's only superpower, America, had joined hands" to "eliminate [Islam] from the face of the earth."
In October 2001, Ahmed reportedly sent faxes to mosques in the U.S. in which he claimed that "Jews are undertaking to fulfill their dream of world domination," and that the September 11 terrorist attacks were part of "this Zionist plan." Ahmed also expressed his support for the regime in Afghanistan, saying that the "Taliban government is based on upholding the supremacy of Islamic shariah."
Shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks, Tanzeem posted to its Web site in Pakistan an article by David Duke, in which he argued that the attack was the result of Jewish influence over the U.S.
Such anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have been spread by Tanzeem in the U.S. as well. For example, the former Tanzeem director of Da'wah (propagation of the faith) in the U.S., Imran N. Hosein, wrote a book, The Prohibition of Riba, which blames Jews for spreading usury in order to advance various conspiracies against humanity. In the book Hosein wrote, "Allah revealed the wickedness of those Jews." Hosein returned to his native Trinidad in August 2003, after ten years in New York.
In recent years, the North American members of Tanzeem have attempted to reestablish the group as a mainstream American community organization. In 2004, Tanzeem adopted a new name - the Islamic Organization of North America (IONA) - establishing a mosque in Warren, Michigan, and at least once participated in an interfaith event with a Jewish organization.
Despite its effort to "mainstream" itself, IONA maintains its official ties to the Pakistan and remains committed to its goals and extremist ideology. The press release from July 2004 announcing the formation of IONA, stated: "the Islamic activist movement in North America founded by Dr. Israr Ahmad has reorganized under the newly registered…IONA...This restructuring does not affect our core objectives or methodology."
This photo, from Khan's online photo album, pictures Khan (front left) at a Tanzeem gathering.
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