I keep reading about the fear homegrown terrorists are supposed to be spreading here and there, thither and yon, throughout our bright and great land. Here is a story explaining how we're supposed to be scared. If we choose. If you choose. Look here to get the newest al Qaeda poop about how huge, spectacular attacks need not be SOP, but smaller, less sophisticated attacks can be just as effective at making us run scared.
Or something.
So, let's take another look at the phenomenon of the homegrown terrorist, as a reminder to all of us how easy it is for some people to turn into the monsters under the bed, and just down the street.
For starters, I don't think I'm the only one who'd like to cough and snort and hock up a gag-me loogie and launch it with gale force into the stupid face of this bitch.
Jihad Jane (LBUH) Colleen White-Trash LaRose
Jihad Jane (LBUH) beggin' someone to slap some sense into her
Jihad Jane (LBUH) hiding with an ugly sheet the deeper ugliness of her soul
Here is a news video covering some of the story. Note the woman who says, like so many before her: I can't believe it. I just can't believe in this, you know, small community like this that this is going on. Oh, shut your stupid pie hole, will you? Turn off Oprah and read a book. And her boyfriend had no clue. Doesn't make any sense, says he in head-shaking, whipped wonderment.
Here is the story of how Jihad Jane was caught. Excellent though brief. We must all be so committed and brave.
Sharif Mobley (LBUH) is another example. You can find part of his heart-breakin' story here.
Sharif's daddy (LBUH), pictured below, says here that his boy sure ain't no terrorist. Okay, dad; he's not a terrorist... compared to whom?
Note a sign of a pious Muslim, the topi, or prayer cap. I guess he blew it and wasn't pious enough to teach his kid about true Islam, the religion of peace.
And, here's the story of Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a woman with a promising career ahead of her who turned her back on all the good in order to become a killer for Allah. Read more information here about how she traumatized her son in pursuit of jihad. Looks like her step-father has been a Muslim for quite some time. An apple never falls far from the step-tree, eh?
Jihad Jamie (LBUH)
Hmmm. Could it be?
Where do we start? What easily-seen manifestation of galacticly crass stupidity can we see all around us pretty much every day? Something which tells us that someone might be leaning to the left to a sufficient degree that the gravity of Islamic lies just might topple them? How about the kafiyeh, the Palestinian scarf, a sure sign that you're either right or you're wrong about who are the real terrorists.
This picture is a still-shot from a Dunkin' Donuts ad, which was pulled when people complained that the scarf represents terrorism. The people were right.
And this cupcake is wrong, but she thinks she's right just because she's blonde and beautiful. I'm diggin' the Alabama trooper shades.
This one's wrong, too. But she thinks she's right because she's a skinny Asian and everybody knows skinny Asian chicks are never wrong.
This brunette is wrong as well. But she's got a nice-lookin' nose. I'm just sayin'.
Boy-model... ghey. You know they're never wrong. Except for this one.
And then this guy can't be wrong to wear a kafiyeh just because he's black and any criticism of him would surely be racist. But he's still wrong.
Why are all these kuuuhl people so wrong for wearing a simple scarf? Because of this evil POS, Yassir Arafat. He was a venomous, treacherous, murderous queer who is considered the father of modern terrorism. Though the scarf is often called a Palestinian scarf, he was not Palestinian; he was Egyptian. You can read the rest of his bloody biography here. And anyone who wears so much as a hat-pin honoring him or his people and their plight is ignorant and uneducated. And perhaps as evil as he. If you don't know the true history of the Arab/Israeli conflict, look here.
See?
Get it?
Anyway; let's say you have an acquaintance ~ maybe someone you knew in First Day class ~ who seems like a normal American guy or girl, but then you begin to sense something's not right whenever you spend time together. Could be anything. Could be they've chosen Islam as their religion, or, as I like to call it: slave ritual. Fair enough: we all make choices and we all have to live with the consequences, intended or un... unless you're a Kennedy. But what indicators might you see in the lifestyle and behavior of your brand new, shiny Muslim or Muslimah?
How 'bout these:
- Won't drink any form of alcohol
- Refusing to touch pork products, including gelatin
- I guess jello shooters are out the window, eh?
- No more going to fortune tellers
- No more trips to the casino or Vegas
- Need for prayer 5 times a day
- Hatred for Jews and Christians
- Hatred for Israel and America, and Great Britain while they're at it
- Arguing Islamic law with every-freakin'-body
- Hysterical compassion for Palestine and the cause
- Changing their name a/o those of their children to something Arabic or Islamic-sounding
- Giving a shit about where Mecca is on the map
- Setting up email accounts or Facebook pages with jihadi, Islamic, a/o Arabic-sounding usernames a/o themes
- Wearing Muslim garb, some depicted below
- New-found appreciation for certain animals
- Incomplete list: goats and sheep and cattle (because a brother can't always get a date on a Saturday night), buffalo (prom dates for Montana Muslims), fish, camels (need camel shit and urine for their pharmacies), gazelle, bunny wabbits, ducks, pigeons, sparrows, partridges in pear trees, owls in K-mart signs, doves, and cuddly-wuddly sharks
- Aversion to other animals
- Incomplete list: all insects, snakes, lizards (unless they're playing Kiss My Lizard with a little girl at Muslim weddings), gecko (evidently they must change auto insurance carriers) , mice (none of that Mickey Mouse crap for the kids), rats (no Chuck E Cheese parties), hedgehogs, weasels (too close in the DNA chain), frogs, lions, tigers, bears... oh my (you saw that one comin'), wolves, foxes, cats, jackals (which is why the CIA knew Carlos the Jackal was not Muslim), apes, dogs (even Irish Wolf Hounds, can you believe that?), falcons, hawks, kites (unless they can attach razors to the strings) and fuzzy squirrels
- Desire to give money to the needy, usually some shady Islamic charity
- Attending local university Muslim Student Association meetings and diversity events
- No more music or will listen to Muslim music only
- Islamic/halal websites saved on Favorites task bar
- Not suggesting you pry or spy, but the sites may be in open sight/plain view
- No more cussing ~ no fuckin' way, man
- No more television or movies... unless it woos Muslim children to kill the evil Joooos or tells the sad tale of some martyr about to meet one of his virgins who was, of course... murdered by the evil Joooos
- Overt practice of every Islamic precept, to the point of obsession
- Reading Islamic books and listening to Islamic preaching on tape, CD or DVD
- Refusal to buy using credit
- Shopping only at hahal markets ~ hey, those Muslim S&H green stamps add up quickly
- Debating religion at work... and just about everywhere else
- Switching from a toothbrush and paste/gel to miswak
- Openly rebuking Muslims considered to be less zealous and sincere
- Attitude that everything Muslims do, think and say is godly and good, while insisting that anything and everything non-Muslim is demonic
- Frequently peppering their speech with Arabic-isms they either really don't know or can't pronounce
- Chattering at length about their Islamic identity and their Muslim-ness
- They see anti-Muslim bias that didn't a/o doesn't exist
- Viewing themselves as the sole arbiters and practitioners of truth and quickly passing judgment on anyone not as wise a/o zealous as are they
- Believing that what they view as good is absolute truth, and what they don’t know or understand is bad just because it hasn't been "revealed" to them
- Insisting that questioning Islamic tradition and religious innovation is forbidden
- Might see Islamic a/o Arabic household a/o personal items appearing in their domicile, some depicted below
- Perhaps you'll see the Palestinian flag ~ depicted below ~ worn as a garment a/o hung on a domicile wall
A newly-converted Muslim is called a Muallaf. New converts often obtain a certificate of conversion from an Islamic centre, organization or mosque. Perhaps you would see one of these certificates proudly displayed on a wall in your friends' home. I couldn't find any examples to post but see here and here for info on the shahadah certificates.
To help converts start a new life, they might receive money from others in the local Muslim community, so you might come to realize that most if not all their debts have all been paid mysteriously...
No single indicator above is necessarily proof that someone is leaning toward becoming radicalized but if you see several that don't pass ~ like a juvenile phase ~ you should pay close attention and consider notifying the FBI. Not the locals, the FBI.
IDENTIFYING EARLY INDICATORS... according to the FBI: Conversion to Islam is not radicalization. The FBI defines violent extremists as persons who engage in, encourage, endorse, condone, justify, or support in any way the commission of a violent act against either the U.S. government, its citizens, or its allies to achieve political, social, or economic changes or against others who may possess opinions contrary to their own radicalized ideology.
The FBI assesses the radicalization process as four stages: preradicalization, identification, indoctrination, and action. Each one is distinct, and a radicalized individual may never reach the final stage.
Conversion may be to a religion or a commitment to another form of the religion. An individual's motivation is critical to the process and not always static. For example, people who initially convert to gain acceptance may reinterpret their faith if the group they join is composed of Muslim extremists.
Motivation: In a jilted-believer conversion, internal frustration and dissatisfaction with the current religious faith leads the individual to change belief systems. The new system can be initially religious in tone or secular. Conversion attempts to resolve inconsistencies between what the person has come to believe and was taught to believe.
A protest conversion may be an attempt by people to identify themselves apart from or to rebel against a society or circumstances they perceive as oppressive. Additionally, faith reinterpretation is another form of an intrinsically driven conversion where individuals alter their religious tradition through introspection and evaluation. This motivation refers specifically to those born into Muslim families but choose to follow a more extremist form of Islam, including such individuals as Faysal Galab, Tasein Taher, and Shafal Mosed of the Lackawanna Six. Galab, Taher, and Mosed drank alcohol, used drugs, and had relationships with non-Muslim women —all forbidden by the Koran —before converting. After this transition, it was easier for Kamal Derwish, who primarily influenced their newfound Islamic path, to convince them to participate in jihad as a way of absolving their sins.
Acceptance seeking, a form of extrinsic conversion, is a fundamental human motivation. Individuals have a pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of lasting and significant interpersonal relationships. However, the product of these relationships can have positive or negative consequences for the people involved. Those with weak social ties may benefit from the solidarity that extremist groups provide.
Stimulus and Opportunity: Converts who proceed through the radicalization process often are driven by a respected, frequently older, extremist with whom they have come into contact. Interactions between converts and Islamic extremists can occur in a variety of venues. For example, in mosques, extremists can observe other Muslims' commitment to the faith and their reactions to the Islamic message given by extremist religious leaders. In prisons, extremist recruiters can identify a population disaffected with society and use their operational skills and propensity for violence to further their cause. In Islamic and secular universities, they can find curious individuals who question society, as well as their own beliefs. Further, extremists can interact with others in businesses, which provide a private setting to conduct meetings and further indoctrinate new converts, and in Internet chat rooms where vulnerable individuals from around the world can gather to discuss Islamic doctrine.
The Radicalization Process
Identification: In this stage, individuals identify themselves with a particular extremist cause and accept a radicalized ideology that justifies violence or other criminal activity against perceived enemies. Accepting the cause leads people to become increasingly isolated from their former lives. New converts often seek and follow guidance from imams, more senior followers, on how to live every detail of the religion, becoming more committed to the newfound faith. Converts' social connections with other like-minded individuals can strengthen this dedication. In addition, overseas travel may accelerate the radicalization process by providing networking and experience (e.g., religious or language instruction and basic paramilitary training) that later may support operational activity.
Indoctrination: Indoctrination can involve becoming an active participant in a group or being initiated within the recruit's self-created jihadist environment. Through various activities with the group and increasingly demanding and significant roles within it, converts see their potential as a jihadist and, ultimately, can become convinced of the need for further action to support the cause.
Formal recruitment into a terrorist group usually will occur before or during indoctrination. Recruitment plays an important role in any terrorist organization, and radicalized individuals can use their experience to spot, assess, and encourage potential recruits to follow the same path. This process also could include vouching for new recruits or helping them establish their extremist credentials. A charismatic recruiter with limited training or participation in jihad can transform that experience into a particularly enticing recruitment tool for individuals susceptible to an extremist message. Extremist Islamic clerics can play a major role because of their knowledge of Islam, their ability to provide religious justification for terrorist attacks, and the emotional hold they can have over impressionable recruits.
In the case of Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (JIS), Kevin James, the group's founder, propagated JIS ideology and recruited adherents inside and outside prison mainly by disseminating the JIS manifesto and through direct meetings with inmates. James also sought new recruits without prison records who could benefit the group through their occupations, abilities, or access to sensitive locations.
Action: The final stage consists of supporting or engaging in terrorist activities. Although this action can be violent or nonviolent (e.g. financing), it always intends to inflict damage on the enemy. Some individuals who reach this stage will attempt to participate in a terrorist attack.
Every action has three stages: preparation, planning, and execution. During any of these, recruits can try to stop participating. However, they may be so caught up in the group's activities that they will engage in behaviors they otherwise would not consider. Attack preparations can include target selection, casing, financing, and forming distinct operational cells.
Facilitation, a key component of any terrorist attack, can be accomplished by operatives dedicated to the support role or waiting for a separate attack, supporters unwilling or unable to perpetrate a terrorist attack, or unwitting participants. It can include providing financial assistance, safe houses, false documents, materials, attack plans, surveillance, or travel assistance. Individuals unable or unwilling to carry out a violent terrorist attack still can further the goals to which they subscribe. For example, facilitators play a key role in obtaining funding for a terrorist operation through such criminal activities as fraud, scams, embezzlement, or theft and some may even involve violence.
More halal cosmetics here.
Flavored miswak sticks ~ Muslim tooth-picks.
Halal tooth-paste.
Muslim tooth-brush, or miswak. According to Muslim lore, the greatest benefit of using the stick is gaining the pleasure of Allah. Ooo. Supposedly, the reward of prayers is multiplied 70 times if miswak was used before mumbling them. Hey, you can't make this stuff up; this is the Internet.
Halal tuna.
Halal foods: not just delicious, but royal, too.
Who knew? Mm-mm good. More halal food here.
This is the logo of the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America, web-site here. While you might have seen just regular filthy kufir food spread around your friend's house, you might find food and other items with this mark on it after his or her conversion. Other halal markings are shown below.
These prayer beads, called misbaha or tasbih, come in strings of 33 or 99. Usually there is a divider between each 11 or 33 beads. The beads are used to practice the zikr, a form of meditation, during which 99 "sacred" names of Allah a/o some verses of the Koran are repeated. The beads help to count the number of repetitions. When 33 beads are used, one would cycle through them three times to equal 99.
What makes these beads different from other religious strings is that they come in lengths of 33 or 99 beads. The beads or tassels on the end are decorative, with no religious significance.
Changes in grooming and clothing
Clean shaven to a bearded Muslim Rage-boy.
Muslim religious leader, ugly with or without beard. Note how well the miswak is working.
Salafi beard and topi on the big, bad NWA brother...
Opaque leg hose, worn by pious, fearful Muslimah who dare not expose their lower legs lest their "men" lose control.
Arm-length gloves, worn by a Muslimah who believe it's haram, or wrong, to expose their arms to Muslim "men", as though the sight of a forearm or thigh will cause Abdullah to... never mind, you know where I'm going with that.
What kind of religion would force its women to wear this disgusting, demeaning garb? The woman on the left is free, whether you or I like what she's wearing, or not. The Muslimah is a slave to her god and to her male co-religionists.
Muslimah in prayer clothes. Not found in the JC Penney catalog.
Muslimah in prayer clothes. Spray liberally with dust picker-upper and turn her loose in my hootch. But check her for stolen weapons before I send her home.
Is it just me or is this girl really hot? I hope they had to force her into the hijab at gunpoint cuz if she did it voluntarily, my heart is broken. Again.
Digital Muslim watch with qibla finder; lets the wearer know which way Mecca is so he can pray in the right direction to please his god.
Another digital Muslim watch with qibla thingie. Works with or without batteries since there is no real god associated with Islam.
Qibla doo-dad, perhaps found attached to the car keys.
Another qibla gizmo in a swell gift box, just in time for Christmas.
Qibla clock. The numbers listed on the right depict actual times in various Muslim cities in the Middle East.
Qibla whuchamacallit. This model can be used for removing stubborn mayonnaise jar lids, but you have to turn your body to open the jar, the point must always be toward Mecca.
Qibla compass. Often mistaken for a tasty, tangy throat lozenge.
Qibla puck. Popular with all those butch Muslim hockey players.
Traditional rug designs are based on the Arabesque patterns. When praying, a niche at the top of the rug or mat must be pointed toward Mecca.
Placements of these rugs or mats in a convert's domicile would be... meaningful. Most area rugs are placed in parallel/perpendicular alignment with walls a/o furniture, but a prayer rug would be laid so the top of it points in the direction to Mecca, which could mean the rug alignment may be visibly off-kilter in relation to furniture a/o walls. Too, the mat could be placed in an out of the way spot in the house or apartment, and your friend might not want you to stand or walk on it or to get near it.
Be strong and of good courage, neither be afraid... okay, now get back to work.
Update/Response to the question posed below: There is no exact time set for salaat, but Muslims try to pray at the following times of day: Fajr, before dawn. Dhuhr, shortly after the day's work has begun. 'Asr, in the late afternoon, before finishing the day's work. Maghrib, just after the sun goes down.'Isha, before going to bed for the night.
I think some maullaf (plural: maullafi?) would not be loud about conversion and the big changes would be seen in the privacy of his or her home. But, from what I've read, maullaf more likely to lean toward jihad would be proud of his conversion to the point of being arrogant, ergo I would expect some public display of conversion easily seen by passers-by on the street ~ kafiyeh, hijab, maybe even public prayer, etc. ~ no matter where he or she lives.
A muallaf in a small town might be shy about going public at first and so might travel to seek encouragement at a mosque in a local city, and if/when he became jihad-inclined, I'd expect to eventually see a lot of brothers a/o sisters from the city mosque showing up at his place ~ coming often and staying late ~ accompanying him or her around town, sort of showing the Muslim colors.
It's going to come down to the totality of the circumstances you observe over time, with some hints to watch for shown above. That time may stretch over a few weeks or even a few years. Anything more from me would be speculation.
Great question, though I'm not sure I answered it well.
