Weekly Think Piece
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Cuckoo Clocks and Jihadists
We know that the Muslim Brotherhood, responsible for the re-establishment of
fundamentalist Islam and the spread of its ideological arm called Islamism, was
founded in the early part of the last century. But when and where was the
ideology of Islamism introduced in Europe?
According to Olivier Guitta, it was, of all countries, Switzerland.
The influential Geneva Islamic Center was founded
as long ago as 1961, with roots in the international Islamist movement. Its
leader, Said Ramadan, had been expelled from Nasser's Egypt for ties to the Muslim
Brotherhood, founded by his father-in-law, Hassan al-Banna. Ramadan also
helped create the World Muslim League, funded by the Saudi establishment
for the purpose of spreading Wahhabism around the world. Today, Ramadan's
sons Tariq, intellectual superstar of European Islamism, and Hani, head of the Geneva Islamic Center, continue to serve the cause.
It seems that Switzerland has produce more than just cuckoo clocks.
But the Islamic Center is not the only Islamist institution in the Swiss capital.
There is also the Grand Mosque of Geneva,
which has undergone sweeping leadership changes in recent months. It has a new
director, fresh from Jeddah, who suddenly fired four executives at the end of
March. The Swiss daily Le Temps reported that the firings were initiated by the
Saudi consul general in Geneva.
The fired executives have sued, claiming they lost their jobs for being too
moderate.
The new imam at the mosque is Youssef Ibram, a Moroccan who studied Islamic law for
six years in Saudi Arabia.
He is remembered in Switzerland
for his part in a public controversy about the stoning of adulterers. In 2004,
in an interview with the Swiss French magazine Coopération, he said, "Regarding
stoning, I cannot be against it since it is included in the Islamic law."
Unlike many European nations, Switzerland has seen the danger signs. As jihadist plots continue to be uncovered from Glasgow
to New Jersey,
it is plain that no place can be considered entirely safe. That includes
placid, would-be neutral Switzerland,
where a series of incidents and controversies in recent months points to a
small but untiring Saudi-sponsored Islamist presence--and to a growing
determination to resist its excesses on the part of some Swiss citizens and the
Swiss authorities.
Others, too, are challenging the Islamists. A proposal to ban minarets in Switzerland
has been floated by Ulrich Schluer, a member of parliament from the right-wing
UDC (Union Démocratique du Centre). The idea has been featured in the Arabic
media and was discussed recently on Al Jazeera's website, where some net
surfers proposed boycotting Swiss banks (which hold a lot of Saudi and other
Arab money) if the ban is enacted. Al Hayat and Al Arabiya television also
expressed concern. Annoyed, Schluer told Le Temps: "Al Jazeera states that
Switzerland
wants to ban 'mosques or putting Islamic religious symbols on buildings,' but
we never said this! We are against minarets, which we consider a symbol of
political conquest, but not against mosques, because we respect the freedom of
religion."
The Swiss get it. They can see the insidious non-violent tactics of Political
Islam. When will the rest of Europe wake up to that fact? But Switzerland
has much more work to do in this regard.
In its May 31, 2006, Swiss Domestic Security Report, the
Federal Police stated plainly that violent Islamists are using Swiss soil as
a strategic location from which to spread propaganda and provide financial and
logistical support to people abroad. The report also underlined Geneva's growing importance as a transit point for
volunteers from French-speaking Switzerland
and France going to join the jihad in Iraq.
And is this a foreshadowing of the future of Europe?
Coincidentally, the largest synagogue in Geneva was gutted by fire
on May 24, in what has been ruled a case of criminal arson. As of now,
no arrests have been made. But any illusion that Switzerland was somehow immune to
the fires of intolerance is long since gone.
Quo Vadis Europe?
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