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It's
rap, jihad-style.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1143643,00.html
A
music video with blood-curdling images, fronted by a young
British Muslim rapper brandishing a gun and a Koran is the
latest hit in radical Islamic circles.
The
rap song is called 'Dirty Kuffar' - Arabic for dirty non-believer
- and it praises Osama bin Laden and the attack on the World
Trade Centre in New York.
The
video has recently been posted on the British website run
by the Islamic extremist Mohammed al-Massari, the UK-based
Saudi Arabian dissident who has lived in Britain since 1994.
Al-Massari claims that the video has been selling in large
quantities at mosques to the younger generation and is in
heavy demand overseas.
The
rapper fronting the video calls himself Sheikh Terra and the
Soul Salah Crew - a take on the rap group So Solid Crew. 'Salah'
is Arabic for faith.
The
video might at first be mistaken for an Ali G spoof, but the
violent images quickly reveal it is no joke.
The
song starts with images of US marines in Iraq cheering as
one of them shoots a wounded Iraqi lying on the floor. At
the end of the video, it features shots of the hijacked planes
flying into the Twin Towers with sounds of the rappers laughing.
There is then a list of 56 countries they claim have been
the 'victims of American aggression' since 1945.
The
four-minute rap is essentially a repeated diatribe against
the 'dirty non-believers' Tony Blair and George Bush, urging
listeners to 'throw them on the fire'.
One
of the most brutal images shows a jihadist fighter in Chechnya
riddling a captured Russian soldier with a Kalashnikov. Another
image labels Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf a
traitor and shows photographs of Colin Powell and Condeleezza
Rice with the words 'still slaves' superimposed across their
bodies.
Labour
MP Andrew Dismore said he was 'disgusted' by the video and
is to refer it to the Home Office and ask the police to investigate
if any offence has been committed.
Dismore
said: 'These extremist are using music and video to prey on
young and impressionable Muslim boys in order to attract them
to their brand of lunacy and entice them to commit acts of
terror. It is inexcusable.'
The
website on which the video was originally posted is run by
the Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights in Saudi
Arabia, a group run by al-Massari who came to Britain in 1994
after being imprisoned by the Saudi regime.
He
said: 'A boy came to me and showed me the video and I thought
the content was good, although I am no expert on rap. I thought
it was an excellent attempt to use modern methods to get a
message across.'
Al-Massari
did not see a problem in using Western music and MTV-like
images to sell a message of jihad. He said that it was an
effective way of attracting young Muslims who had been put
off by other Islamic sects such as the Taliban, which banned
music and dancing. 'I do not know of any young Muslim who
has not either seen or got this video. It is selling everywhere.
Everyone I meet at the mosque is asking for it.'
Al-Massari
denied that the messages in the video incited Muslims to take
part in terrorist attacks against the West.
He
said: 'I believe the lyrics are only metaphorical. It is not
like this is a fatwa.'
In
November 2002, al-Massari circulated a 4,000-word message
allegedly from Osama bin Laden. In 2001, al-Massari was granted
permanent residence in Britain, five years after Michael Howard,
then Conservative Home Secretary, tried to deport him.
Excerpt from
'Dirty Kuffar'
Peace to Hamas
and the Hizbollah
OBL [bin-Laden] pulled me like a shiny star
Like the way we destroyed them two towers ha-ha
The minister Tony Blair, there my dirty Kuffar
The one Mr Bush, there my dirty Kuffar...
Throw them on the fire
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