Security officials in Brussels, the effective capital of the European Union, have received a terror alert-warning today that a team of Islamic State jihadists have left Syria en route to Europe.
Having exploited the EU’s freedom of movement rules, the aim of the forward deployed terrorist group, reports Reuters, is to split into two units. The first of these is aimed at attacking Belgium, where potential targets include a shopping center, police station and fast-food restaurants.
The other ISIS unit, for which no targeting information has presently been disclosed, is headed towards France. Several cities in France are currently hosting the Euro 2016 soccer tournament, whose timing coincides with Ramadan.
The position of the Muslim holy month changes yearly as a result of the Islamic calendar’s basis on a lunar cycle. The ten days of Ramadan so far this year have seen several attacks in the West, including the worst mass shooting in US history committed in Orlando, on Sunday.
This weeks’ casualty list now also includes two senior French police officers, including the chief of police of a Parisian suburb. The married couple were killed by Larossi Abballa, who live-streamed his murders on Facebook claiming it was his holy duty during Ramadan. The case has caused political uproar in France, but is receiving mooted coverage in the United Kingdom, which is preparing to vote on independence from the EU on June 23.
A further Ramadan-motivated attack in France, by an as yet unnamed assailant, saw the stabbing of a 19-year old French girl as she waited for a bus in Rennes on Tuesday.
Mohammed Khalid, a migrant-origin Somali in Texas, was shot dead by a local SWAT team after a hostage situation at a Walmart in Amarillo yesterday. As Breitbart revealed in January, the Panhandle city contains the largest ratio of Muslim “refugees” already permitted entry into the US.
The spike in religiously-motivated killing during this Islamic month will be of no surprise to citizens of the Muslim world, where the total dead thanks to jihadist attacks stands at 532 this Ramadan and counting.
In addition, Ramadan traditionally sees a leap in criminal conduct in the Islamic world, as well as a spike in obesity cases due to the gorging commonplace at night-time.
The link between the month of Ramadan and extreme violence in Islam is an ancient one.
The year 624 AD marked a turning point in world history, when the Arab brigands choosing to follow a self-declared prophet named Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Quraysh hit upon a unique recipe.
Before the “Nakhla Raid,” the caravan attacks committed by the first disciples of the person 1.6 billion Muslims now revere as their Prophet Muhammad were calamitous failures. So, instead, the first followers of Islam chose to combine violence with deception.
Seventh century Arabia was a free-for-all of warring tribes who nevertheless all shared one ethical principle. Acts of war during the holy months, particularly the two months which included Ramadan when pilgrims journeyed to the then multi-faith shrine in Mecca, were strictly forbidden.
It was the ultimate taboo, and the first Muslims not only broke it, but also added a further twist of subterfuge. They decided to disguise themselves as pilgrims. Approaching at night, their enemies would not know their true intent until it was too late. In the decades that followed, the combination of deception and violence allowed Islam to conquer two-thirds of Christendom.
Though most Muslims today are more secular-minded, and often unaware of their religion’s early history, fundamentalists are chiefly committed to emulating this historical example.
For instance, see the the post-Orlando statements of organizations like CAIR. The whole world has witnessed homosexuals being thrown off buildings for two years in Islamic State controlled territory, but in a commitment to a puritanical application of Islamic law, for CAIR the “nothing to do with Islam” pretense must be maintained at all costs.
More importantly, some of those first Muslims objected to the clear blasphemy entailed by fighting during holy months. Islam’s prophet Muhammad then conveniently revealed verses from his god, including 2:217 of the Quran. Quite simply, it was those committing the attacks that were the true victims, because the non-Muslims by their sheer presence were denying Muslims the ability to truly follow their religion.
Non-Muslim practices – homosexuality would be an example – risked averting Muslims from the straight path of Sharia. Such temptations, according to Allah, were a far greater sin than the slaughter of such infidels. And a commitment to principles like these is the centerpiece of the jihadist mindset.
During Ramadan, contemporary Muslims are still enjoined to make an active special effort to do “what is right, and forbid what is evil” – namely, un-Islamic – according to the Quran (3:110).
As a consequence of mass Islamic immigration into the West, the terrorist violence so commonplace both between Muslims and by them during this period has been exported alongside them into our nations.
George Igler is a political analyst based in the City of London and the Director of the Discourse Institute.
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