The terrorist attacks in Europe raised the question of the depth of Islamic State group involvement, when it became clear that the young people responsible for the attacks had recently returned from the fronts in Syria and Iraq with the goal of importing terrorism to their homelands. This is a problem for which Europe needs to formulate a plan of action, but it is also important to emphasize the ideological vision that modern Islam holds regarding to the West and the weight given to the mission within it. Islam is a missionary religion (proselytizing in Arabic is called "dawah"), working to preach and convert. Islam's relationship to the "other" -- whether pagan, Jewish or Christian -- as it is described in the Muslim holy texts, falls along the spectrum between patronizing and demeaning at best and holy war at worst, depending on how you interpret it. The basic idea is that the only true religion is Islam and the rest of humanity is either mistaken or heretical. In the past, Islam spread by the sword, but today, there are other ways to influence the West -- whether it is through the power of immigration, demographics or the economy. The stated goal of modern Muslims in our day is to create a system of "ambassadors" that will bring people to Islam by showing its beautiful side and using new, friendly terminology. In order to preserve the strong Islamic identity of the preachers and to avoid a situation in which the influencers are influenced -- God forbid -- religious Muslims created a comprehensive ideological infrastructure that includes sweeping changes to Shariah law, often rendering it unrecognizable. For example, Muslims are now allowed to take loans with interest, which is forbidden according to Shariah Law. Being able to borrow from Western banks allows Muslims to live comfortably in the West and to climb the socio-economic ladder. There were also changes made to the dietary laws, in order to allow Muslims to integrate into society so that they may then influence it. Now, it is even allowed to convert Westerners who state that they have no intention of following all the laws of Islam. The organization at the head of this ideological and economic system is the European Council for Fatwa and Research, which was founded in London and is led by the most influential Muslim scholar today, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is based in Qatar and identifies with the Muslim Brotherhood (once mistaken for a friendly group by the West). The ECFR has ties to smaller organizations that work underneath it, such as the Union of Islamic Organizations in France. Then, there is a network of mosques, schools, institutions for training imams, preachers and more. These are all supported by the Qatari government's generous purse and by Islamic charitable foundations ("sadaqah"). Al-Qaradawi has been known to say of Europe: "Conquest need not come by way of the sword, we will conquer these countries without an army. We want an army of teachers and preachers who will represent Islam in all languages and dialects." And so, with carefully planned steps, Islam is gaining economic and political power in the West. If the Europeans want to stop it, they should supervise the money flowing in from their home countries -- countries that identify with fundamentalist Islam. They should also establish a system to supervise the content shared at mosques and to track the identities of preachers and imams. Dr. Nesya Shemer is a lecturer in the Middle Eastern Studies Department at Bar-Ilan University.
Islam's silent conquest
מערכת ישראל היום
מערכת "ישראל היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
