The development of a jihadist's mind

[Phx_Dem]

TAWFIK HAMID , THE JERUSALEM POST

What occupies the mind of a jihad-driven Muslim? How is such fervor planted in young and impressionable believers? Where does it originate? How did I - once an innocent child who grew up in a liberal, moderate and educated household - find myself a member of a radical Islamic group? These questions go to the root of Islamic violence and must be addressed if free societies are to combat radical Islam. To further this aim, I will explore the psychological development of a jihadi's mind through my own firsthand experience as a former member of a Muslim terrorist organization.

I was born in Cairo to a secular Muslim family. My father was an orthopedic surgeon and an agnostic at heart; my mother was a French teacher and a liberal. Both considered Islam to be, primarily, an integral part of our culture. With the exception of my father, we would fast on Ramadan. Even though my father was not religious, he understood our need to fit into the community and never forced his secular views on us. He espoused diverse philosophical ideas but encouraged us to follow our own convictions. Most importantly, he taught my brother and me to think critically rather than to learn by rote.

I never had any doubt, however, that we were Muslim - that Allah was our creator, Muhammad his messenger and the Koran our book. I believed that if I performed good deeds, I would be admitted to paradise where I could satisfy all my personal desires. I also knew, alternatively, that my transgressions would be punished by eternal torture in hell. I absorbed these beliefs largely from the surrounding environment rather than from my parents; they were shared by most children around me.

I attended the private Al-Rahebat primary school in the area of Dumiat, which is about 200 kilometers north of Cairo, when I was six years old. Though managed by Christian nuns, the school was supervised by the Egyptian government and required its Muslim students to attend classes on Islam.

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1. More from Tawfik Hamid....'The majority of Muslims are all passive terrorists'...

This is the transcript from a radio interview. This Walid Shoebat protegee appears not just to have a problem with Muslim extremists, but with most if not all Muslims:

'Hamid: When I joined the medical school, I met with some people from the Jemmah Islamiya or the Islamic Group who talked to me about religion and how Islam should dominate the world. But it just takes you gradually via a brainwashing mechanism that made me at the end really a very bad person in my soul. And I then started to be against all of this. During this period I was with Dr. Al-Zawahiri in the same Islamic group in the medical school, Jemmah Islamiya. Then I thought I am becoming a very bad person and my soul is becoming very evil. So I started to change my thoughts and create a new sect or new way of thinking in Islam. But unfortunately, the vast majority of Muslims were against any peaceful understanding. And they prefer this violent traditional teaching of Islam.

Barry: In what way were you being brainwashed, what were you being told?

Hamid: For example, if you are an ordinary Muslim in the traditional Islamic teaching in the books and in the mosques, they teach you that you have to beat your son to force him to pray when he is 7. And if you are a husband you have to beat your wife to discipline her according to the traditional Islamic teaching. So these are some factors that create elements of violence…and also it teaches you to hate non-Muslims, Christians and Jews. Traditionally, Muslims invaded other people's land to force them on Islam either to become Muslims or pay money for them or to be killed. These were the three options for non-Muslims.

Barry: What were you actually told about Christians and Jews and other religions?

Hamid: What they teach in the mosque, for example, is that Jews are the sons of pigs and monkeys. This is traditional teaching in most of the mosques and the classical teachings in most of the books. And about the Christians, this is what they taught us–they are infidels who will go to Hell and will be tortured forever. And they describe to you the way of torturing these Christians. This just makes you as a Muslim feel bad. These people have no soul. They are not human beings. And it's part of the process of justifying killing them . If God Himself is against them to this degree and they are infidels who will be tortured, why should Muslims care about them and care for their lives?

…There are different degrees of evil . Jemaah Islamiya represents the active evil or active terrorists let us call them who are ready to commit violent acts and all such atrocities. But the majority of Muslim are all passive terrorists. They believe in this evil. They support it either by money or emotionally they are not against it. You can see the number of demonstrations against bin Laden was nearly none in the whole Islamic world.'

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2006/02/03/tawfiq-hamid-islamic-reformer-who-hates-islam/