The head of a fundamentalist Muslim organisation in Trinidad, who is considering joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis), says there is no recruitment going on locally for foreign fighters for Isis.
Rather, he said, Muslims from ten fundamental groups in T&T were considering joining Isis of their own free will and already close to 50 local Muslims have left T&T to join Isis by crossing the Turkish bank of the River Orontes, which is the frontier with Syria. Security experts say Isis has 30,000 foreign terrorist fighters. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Isis was an ideology, a religious doctrine luring Muslims to fight voluntarily for the protection of Islam.
Claiming knowledge of every citizen who has crossed the border to go to Syria, he explained: “Prophet Mohammed said coming to the last days, the nations would gather together like vicious dogs around a bowl of food. “We are seeing that playing out. When that time comes, there will be an army that will march from Khurasan to Israel and they will defeat every army in sight and they will go to Israel and fight the Jews. We are seeing that happening.
“The army is unstoppable. They cannot get rid of Isis. This is why so many Muslims are joining Isis voluntarily.” Giving an outline of its organisational structure, the source said Isis had a nine-member council which met daily to discuss strategies.
“Isis is a religious doctrine. It is an ideology. It has a structure that is more effective than most of the governments.
“They have a council within the structure which sits on a daily basis and every member of this council has a speciality in a particular field, like military, economics and government. “They even have one specialised in agriculture. This nine-member council sends information to all the governors who are in control of the areas which Isis has conquered,” the source added
The council members report to a three-tiered hierarchy, comprising leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his two deputies. Al-Baghdadi has a US$10 million bounty on his head. “These three leaders make critical decisions and dictate how the organisation is run,” he added. The source said one of T&T’s prominent scholars would be speaking out about Isis in the coming weeks. Asked why he had not gone to Syria, he explained that he wanted to get information first on what Isis stood for.
He said the western media were spreading propaganda about Isis and there was no confirmation that Isis was responsible for the deaths of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning. Asked if he supported the use of children in the Isis armies, the source said in Islam it was prohibited to kill women and children on the battlefield but Islamic doctrines dictated that mothers should give consent for their children to join armies.
“It’s part of the Islamic doctrines to train our children to shoot with bow and arrow, swim and ride horses. We no longer have bow and arrow so children will be taught to shoot. “Don’t criticise the Muslims for putting guns in the children’s hands. They are fighting for their lives and religion and honour,” he added.
Desperate for money
Contacted yesterday, Minister of National Security Gary Griffith said it was not only fundamentalist Muslims who were on the Government’s radar. He said non-Muslims were also being enticed by the mighty dollar, noting that Isis was one of the most powerfully funded terrorist groups in the world. “Isis’ tentacles have spread and young men are being lured by Isis because they are desperate for money.
“They are being used and they lose their lives for a couple hundred dollars,” Griffith said. He added that there are 30,000 foreign terrorist fighters in 80 countries. Griffith said he was willing to meet with any group to discuss the Isis threat. He also said he would embark on an educational campaign to build awareness of it.
Give Muslims some respect
The source also accused the Government of being discriminatory towards fundamentalist Muslim groups and said the purchase of armoured vehicles was meant to intimidate local Muslims. The official also said it would be in the best interest of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to meet with fundamentalist Muslims, rather than to co-sponsor the United States resolution against foreign fighters, adding: “
Islamic doctrines dictate that one must help one’s brother even if he is the oppressed or the oppressor. “Isis has called on world leaders, saying, ‘Show us what we are doing wrong.’ How can we say Isis is doing bad things? You have to ascertain the truth. Have we done that? “I am not in total support of Isis. All I am saying is that we do not know what is happening in that part of the country.”
He said many fundamentalist Muslim groups were being blocked from discussions with conservative Muslim groups.