Wars today cannot be won by military might only. The outcome of a war depends more on the degree of insight that one side posses into its enemy’s psyche and history than the quantity of weapons. The lack of progress in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon and other fronts of the war on Islamist Fascism is a testimony to the fact that when the U.S. decided to launch its counterattack against Islamist terrorism, it had very little knowledge of the real nature of the enemy. And so long as we do not have at least a working understanding of the ways Islamists think, behave, and react to different events in their lives, there is very little chance of our success.

Puritanical Islam is the product of an Arab Bedouin mentality – it is irrational, it is fatalistic, and it suffers from a particular kind of paranoia. The Bedouin doesn’t like change, as he leads a life that is very stale. Living in a desert which is defined by its bleak and monotonous environment, a Bedouin knows only two sentiments – to love and to hate. Any thing that breaks the monotony of his surroundings is looked at with suspicion and skepticism; status quo guarantees his “security”. In the context of today’s war on terrorism, the West has declared its plan to break this monotony by introducing democracy into the region. But puritanical Islam can’t look at it with favor; it has to fight to preserve the status quo.

To a Bedouin mind, Western ways are strange ways. The West is liberal in its attitudes and democratic in its politics. A Bedouin mind is an absolutist mind that hates dissension and abhors openness. There are no shades of grey between an absolute white and an absolute black in a Bedouin life. The world that does not subscribe to this world view is looked down upon as an enemy and thus has to be subjugated. He is fanatically dedicated to the destruction of his enemies. This is one reason why, from the very first day of Islam, the non-Muslim world has often been declared an enemy that has to be destroyed. There is no room for any compromise.

We in the West often feel at a loss to understand many things that are happening as a result of this war on Islamist Fascism, including the phenomenon of home grown terrorism. Once we learn about the ways a Bedouin looks at his relationship with others in general and with society in particular, everything will become clear. The Bedouin follows a strict order of life in which he pledges his total allegiance to his family, clan, and the tribe: I against my brothers, I and my brothers against my cousins, I and my brothers and my cousins against the world. Islam used this Bedouin concept of loyalty toward himself, his family, and the tribe to extract from a Muslim his total faithfulness by declaring that all Muslims are one family – Muslims belong to one Ummah, a nation based on faith. There are numerous Ahadith (plural of hadith) that emphasize this aspect of a Muslim life. A believer is like a brick for another believer, the one supporting the other. Muslim, 32:6257. The similitude of believers in regard to mutual love, affection, fellow-feeling is that of one body; when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches, because of sleeplessness and fever. Muslim, 32:6258.

Consequently, the puritanical Muslims do not feel the same sense of loyalty toward a country in which they reside. According to a recent Pew poll that asked: What do you consider yourself first - A citizen of your country or a Muslim? In the United Kingdom, 81 percent consider themselves Muslim first and only 7 percent of Muslims consider themselves British first. This explains why the global jihad had no difficulty in recruiting the home grown terrorists. People who do not feel any loyalty toward their country can never be a loyal citizen of any nation state. The work instead as a fifth column in the interest of their Islamist agenda.

Recent acts of terrorism perpetuated by British, Dutch, Spanish, French, and American Islamists did not surprise anyone who understands the phenomenon of a universal Muslim brotherhood. A puritanical Muslim, whether he lives in the United Kingdom, Holland, Germany, France, Pakistan or the U.S.A., does not feel any loyalty toward the country he resides in, but is committed instead to the advancement of the causes of global jihad. According to Syrian-born radical Islamist and the founder of the London branch of Hizb Al-Tahrir (the Islamic Liberation Party), Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad, Muslims in the West have very serious responsibilities in preparing the people to embrace Islam or to accept the Islamic way of life. Al-Muhajiroun calls for Muslims in the West to “be the front line of the coming Khalifah … to become strong and united in order to become the fifth column, which is able to put pressure on the enemies of Islam and to be able to support the Muslim Ummah worldwide.” The organization believes that “bonding the Muslim community in the West with the Muslims globally” is the secret to setting off a “worldwide Islamic revolution.”

The Arabs living in Palestine used the concept of Ummah to transform their very local and parochial and strictly real estate dispute with Israel into a global jihad. By exploiting the Muslim reverence for Jerusalem, the Arabs were successful in casting the conflict in terms of religion and making it a jihad between Islam and Judaism. Now every Muslim, irrespective of his nationality or citizenship, feels duty bound to fight right along with the Arabs against Israelis in Palestine.

The concept of a universal Islamic Ummah needs to be studied and understood thoroughly. In today’s world when geographical frontiers and political boundaries have lost their conventional meanings and when ideas flow freely from one desktop to another, from one corner of the globe to another un-checked and un-censored, it is the responsibility of every individual who believes in freedom to make sure that fascism of any kind and any color and shade is prevented from installing itself in an unsuspecting mind.

Source: http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/terrorism.php?id=225247