News and comment from Denmark: Threats and yet more threats.

Al qaeda has once again threatened Denmark with terrorist attacks. By my count this is the third such call for death over Denmark by al qaeda. This time the message was from some one called Mohammed Hassan who is apparently a Libyan and infamous for having escaped the Americans at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. The response from Denmark was predictable. Our politicians ‘distanced themselves’ from the use of violence and ‘condemned it’ and our native Muslim Faith Society, not to be outdone, made their own veiled threats against prominent Danish politicians.

Abu Laban, the most popular of the imam’s in Copenhagen has said he intends to leave Denmark (I’ll believe it when I see it) because he feels ‘humiliated at being regarded as a terrorist’. This statement was made against the background of recent violence in the Vollsmose district of Odense that flared up when Danish Police stopped and detained four French imams visiting Denmark. The rioting Muslim youths in Vollsmose were furious that their imams had been so ‘humiliated’, and now Abu Laban also feels ‘humiliated’. During yesterdays friday prayers, Abu Laban carried out a sort of pantomime performance for the news cameras. calling to his congregation, "should I stay?"
"YES!" they cried out.
"Should I leave?" he questioned them.
"NO!" they replied.
"I will only leave with the permission of this gathering" Abu Laban concluded.

moif: Abu Laban has been at the pinnacle of the local Muslim heirarchy here in Denmark's ease and comfort for two decades. I really can't see him decamping back to Gaza's misery and uncertainty to become just another guy with a beard! This whole thing has just been Abu Laban's play to regain the public spot light from Naser Khader.

The foreman of the Islamic Faith Society Said Kasem Ahmad has told the Danish media that if Abu Laban leaves it will be a 'serious blow' for the Danish Muslim community.
He said; “There is such a poisonous atmosphere against Muslims in Denmark that it will/would (depends on how you translate it) not be difficult to find Danish Muslims willing to sacrifice themselves in a terrorist action.”

He continued. “This is a warning, not a threat. There are signs in society that must be interpreted, for example, the episode in Vollsmose, where imams were arrested. Our young Muslims over reacted to this and threw stones at the police and did not respect the work of the police. This is a form of radicalisation. On the one side are those who do not respect imams and on the other some who do not respect the police. It is all equal one might say.”

Said Kasem Ahmad went on to list possible targets for attack, these included (in this order) Education and Church Minister Bertel Haarder (who is also a prominent Christian). The leader of the nationalist Danske Folkeparti Pia Kjærsgaard. Member of Parliament for the Radikal Venstre and chairperson of the Moderate Muslimer Naser Khader and The Prime Minister himself, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

There is currently a conference being held over here on ‘Islamophobia’ by the British Islam Channel. Asked why they chose to hold their conference in Denmark their spokesperson told DR that it was because Denmark was the 'centre of European Islamophobia'. This observation was apparently based on the cartoon affair and Danske Folkeparti’s support with the electorate. No mention was made of the domestic death threats, al qaeda or the 12 assassins said to be on the way to Denmark to kill the Mo’toons artists.

In the mean time a poll taken amongst the Muslim population in Denmark indicates that half of Denmark’s Muslims feel a loyalty to Denmark, one third feel a loyalty to the country from which they originate and the remainder is unsure.
MP Peter Skaarup of Danske Folkeparti calls these figures, ‘disturbing’, and advises those who do not feel loyalty to Denmark, to "go back to where ever it is they do feel loyal to".

moif: Personally I can’t see what difference it makes whether someone feels loyal to Denmark or not. When we moved back to Denmark in 1986 I hated the place and wanted to go back to England It was only after I’d finished being a teenager and lived here for a time that I began to realise I was actually more Danish than I was English. Also, I don’t think feelings of national identity are the problem amongst Muslims. I’d be more interested in a poll that asked how many Muslims put Islam before any other national, legal or moral considerations. I think that this is the real issue at hand, not whether an Iraqi immigrant feels loyal to Denmark.