Jihad and the World

jihadandtheworld
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Jihad and the World is a periodic update of global issues that involve Jihad, which generally refers to the expansion of the world of Islam or the protection of the world's Islamic community. Jihad and the World centers on persons and events featured in Mark Silinsky's five books on militant Islam. These podcasts are offered as a courtesy of Dr. Silinsky's firm Kensington Security Consulting where we bring education to national security. 

  1. Sep 1

    Jihad and the World - Germany of its Islamic New Germans

    You’ve likely heard former Chancellor Merkel’s moniker “Wir schaffen das,” or “We can do it!” This goes back more than 10 years, when Merkel opened Germany’s gates to absorb more than a million mostly Muslim migrants. She clarified, “We Germans can successfully integrate these migrants into our societies.” Was this claim borne out? The answer depends on whom you ask. The optimistic, multicultural, and left-leaning set will likely say this is a national work in progress. Given the killings and social stressors, it would not be convincing to say we have done it. By that, I mean the general argument that migrants have been successfully integrated into the mainstream of German society. Too many Muslims rely on regional and federal benefits, and many remain siloed in Muslim neighborhoods. Attitudinal surveys do not indicate broad acceptance of Western values among Muslim immigrants or their children. To support my claim, I would like to give some examples.             The first was the early August 2026 car attack at the Christopher Street Day gay pride celebration in Berlin. A German-born Muslim man, whose mother came from Lebanon, plowed a van into the celebrants. He then hit a tree, scrambled out of the van, and chased revelers with a machete. He murdered one woman and injured 29 people. The assailant, Abdul Ballout, was known to Berlin police. Earlier, he attempted to join ISIS and was placed in a deradicalization program. Well, it apparently didn’t work. Could his attack have been prevented? Many people say yes, though it is not clear how he could have been deported, given that a parent was naturalized and that he was born in Germany. Some said he could have worn an ankle-tracking device. OK, but how would that have stopped him? Also, Ballout was one of nearly 29,000 Islamofascists under surveillance by German authorities.

  2. Sep 1

    Jihad and the World - Last Month's Muslim Invasion of Spain ... or Was it?

    Hello. This is Mark Silinsky, president of Kensington Security Consulting, where we bring education to national security. Today we will look at Spain. Specifically, the flood of North African migrants into Spain in late July and early August 2026. How did this happen? Why did this happen? What are the consequences? I will conclude with a tragic account of a young woman who literally could not live with her depression caused, in large part, by a migrant gang rape. OK. Let’s start with the invasion. You likely read about it in the papers. But was it really an invasion? When I think about invasions, I think of Germans thrusting into Russia in 1941 or the Allies storming the beaches of Normandy three years later. Invasions are generally contested. They are often coordinated military operations that meet spirited resistance on the shores. Did this happen in Spain last month? Hardly. Let’s take a look by first listening to the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez. Here he is: “I’m the Prime Minister of Spain. This Is Why the West Needs Migrants. Imagine you’re the leader of a nation, and you face a dilemma. Half a million or so people who are crucial to everyone’s daily lives inhabit your country.” And his solution? To legalize 500,000 migrants. It was not difficult to do this.” So, that is what he said, and the legal system allowed him to do it. The Spanish Supreme Court ruled that migrants entering by sea could need to have their asylum claims reviewed before they could be deported. This could take years. When the word went out, thousands of Arab Muslims responded by entering Ceuta, a Spanish city in North Africa that shares a border with Morocco. And poor Ceuta, which has a population of 85,000 covering 7 square miles, was promptly swamped. And this is not the first time tiny Ceuta became inundated with a population it could not possibly absorb. At the time, PM Sánchez assured his countrymen that many newly arrived would be returned to Morocco. Some were, but many were not. They were, in the terms of the Spanish government, “regularized.” Did Spain benefit from this regularization? Migrants, Sánchez claimed, had given Spain a booming economy and urged Americans and Europeans to accept mass migration. He continued, “What is working for us can work for others. The time has come for leaders to speak clearly to their citizens about the dilemma we all face. We, as Western nations, must choose between becoming closed and impoverished societies or open and prosperous ones… Governments can buy into the far-right’s zero-sum thinking and retreat into isolation, scarcity, selfishness, and decline.” Well, this is quite a claim. Yes? Sanchez offers Western nations a binary choice. Become, in his words, “closed and impoverished” or “open and free.” Governments that choose the former sink into “isolation, scarcity, selfishness and decline.” Really? Does he offer evidence to support this? Has Britain become more open, free, and prosperous as a result of the half-century of Third World immigration? Are Britons getting better jobs? Are they happier? Is the standard of living better? A few months ago, a credible report estimated that Great Britain was poorer than Mississippi. So Britain is now poorer than the most impoverished state in the Union. Is this a consequence of immigration? Perhaps not all of it, but did it contribute? You decide. Sanchez has his detractors. Nabil Bissada, a popular blogger, opined, “Of course you are the Prime Minister of Spain. Your loyalty must be to Spain and to the citizens of Spain. If the West needs migrants, they must choose the correct ones. Not those who have already committed murder, rape, beheading, theft, destroyed churches, and kidnapped, and who live on welfare. Their target is to Islamize the West. If you are accepting more Muslims as migrants, it means you agree with and support all the crimes they are committing daily against your citizens.” Well, Bissada may have overstated this, but many Europeans would agree with the gist of it. By August 2, Moroccans had swarmed into Spain at the repeated invitation of Spanish authorities. The invitations were both active and passive. Spanish leaders toasted the benefits of their newly naturalized countrymen in speeches, on television, and on social media. They also encouraged greater migration through passivity. Not all is perfect, of course. There are problems. But whom do Spanish leaders blame for the problems? Who is the default villain? Israel, of course. Let me explain. This is from the Algemeiner. Spanish Transportation Minister Óscar Puente issued a sharp rebuke that appeared to suggest Israel was behind the crisis, promoting claims that Jerusalem was attempting to undermine Spain. “Things are starting to become quite clear,” the Spanish official wrote in a post on X. Things are becoming clear? Well….its not clear to me. And the evidence for this? There is none because Israel had nothing to do with this situation. So, why the accusations? And why would Israel do this? Well, I have several ideas. First, the leftist government in Madrid despises Israel and, to some extent, the Trump administration. I have repeatedly discussed the Green-Red Alliance of leftists and Muslims. This alliance is particularly strong in several European countries, including Spain. The Spanish press is fiercely anti-Israel. In an Instagram post, Spanish political commentator Carolina Alonso accused Israel of collaborating with Western right-wing forces to undermine Spain through immigration. These accusations also divert attention and blame from Spaniards towards the all-powerful hidden hand of Israel. Then, there is rank anti-Semitism, which has reached a fever pitch. Last week, French Jewish tourists were harassed as they left a synagogue in Barcelona. It is often dangerous for Jews to walk the streets in identifiable Jewish clothing in Spain. And for Spain’s future? Well, Pedro Sanchez sees blue skies and sunlit uplands. How do we know? He told us so. In fact, he told us so repeatedly. Others are not so sanguine. They point to strains on Spanish society resulting from absorbing roughly one million migrants. What will happen to Spain’s hospitals and medical clinics, residential housing, education, and security? Let’s take a look at what Florida Governor Ron DeSantis posted about Spain: “It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes either to recognize that leftist policies are destroying the West. Yet many populations continue to vote in hard leftists. The self-hating mentality of leftists, who hold personal values that do not align with those of any Muslim country, is sinking the West, as those same leftists oversee the inundation of Western countries with millions of Muslim migrants.” Finally, let’s leave Spain by acknowledging the death of a young woman who died by suicide after being gang-raped by migrants and traumatized to the point of attempting suicide. Noelia Castillo of Barcelona died by lethal procedure at an assisted living facility in Spain. Castillo has been confined to a wheelchair since 2022, when she attempted suicide by jumping from a fifth-floor building after being left traumatized by a horrific gang rape. She wanted to die, explaining, “I want to go now and stop suffering, period. None of my family is in favor of euthanasia. But what about all the pain I’ve suffered during all these years?” Were the migrants who raped her Muslims? I don’t know. Do you? Despite searching the Internet, I could not confirm their countries of origin. Some stories referred to them as North African. So, we can only guess. This wraps up this episode. Nothing I said represents the official position of the United States government. If you are interested in Muslim-European relations, please consider picking up my latest book, Cauldron of Terror – Hamas, Israel and the World. On behalf of Kensington Security Consulting, this is Mark Silinsky. Out here.

  3. Aug 22

    Jihad and the World - Kensington Week in Review - August 19, 2026 - No Jokes about Bacon, Old Boy

    Hello. This is Mark Silinsky from Kensington Security Consulting, where we bring education to national security. Welcome to the Kensington Weekly, a program that explores Islam's relationship with the world, week by week. This is the third week in August 2026. Let’s take a look at Jihad Watch and see what stories are posted. First, let’s go to Germany to examine the migrant situation. This is a recurring theme in my podcasts. Years ago, then-Chancellor Merkel promised her countrymen that “We can do it.” She meant that native Germans could assimilate the “New Germans.” So…how is it going? Well, let's look at a few examples. First, there is a municipal swimming pool in Berlin. What can be controversial about a public pool? A drowning perhaps? No, nothing like that. Maybe it was those burkinis. The combination of a burka and a bikini. You may have seen them. Imagine a wet, swimming mummy in a pool, and you will get the idea. But that is not it. No, this harkens back to the Nuremberg Laws of the 1930s. It is a sick story of rank racial discrimination….AGAIN! Berlin allocated €300,000 (£255,000) to open a "people's swimming pool." A people's swimming pool reminds me of the Volkswagen,  Ya?  Well, the pool announced six hours of restricted swimming. That is, no whites were allowed to swim during those hours. It was scheduled for August 14, 2026. Now… let's look closer.  From the article I read, an organization called Each One Teach One, which bills itself, in its words, “as a non-discrimination collective,” was behind the effort. And the reasoning for the exclusion? In the words of Each One Teach One. "In doing so, the People’s Swimming Pool provides access for people who are frequently affected by exclusion and racism.” I am not sure that I understand the logic here. Do you? And, while we are at it, what is a non-White? I mean…would Barack Obama have been invited or excluded? His mom was white, and his father was black. Maybe he could have gone halfway, to his waist, into the pool given his mixed-race genes. I had never heard of Each One Teach One. So let’s drill down a bit. This is from its homepage. “We counsel according to the principles of empowerment and partisanship, which means that the person seeking advice, with his or her history, desires and interests, is at the center of our work. In most cases, discrimination is subtle and difficult to grasp; sometimes there is even uncertainty as to whether it was discrimination at all. Those seeking advice can also turn to us in order to find words to express what they have experienced.” Wow! I am taken by this line: “In most cases, discrimination is subtle and difficult to grasp.” Well, folks, I don’t think there is any subtlety to a pool sign that says “people of color only.” Do you? It is about as subtle as saying “Raus Juden!” Well, this group disagrees with me and other critics. They announced, "Labeling this (the black-only restriction) as a form of discrimination is very revealing." Well, Each One Teach One: we agree on one thing – it is revealing. Yes, it reveals to me the continued obsession with race in Germany and elsewhere. After pressure, the government canceled this event. But some form of it will be back. Mark my words. What does this have to do with Islam? I don’t have the details, but many of them are considered non-white and are from North Africa and, presumably, Turkey and the Middle East. So, I would like to know who funds this group. Let me know if you have insights or opinions. Let’s move away from the pool and into the classroom. How well are things going there with mass migration? Here is a story from Hugh Fitzgerald about a school in the Rhineland. The headlines read, “German teacher says school with 75% migrant-background students is plagued by violence, drugs, and even prostitution in toilets.” Speaking anonymously to Bild, special education teacher “Carola S.” said many New Germans had arrived from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, or Ukraine. The teacher said, “It’s all blowing up in our faces. Every day is a challenge. Fights, shouting — this happens in the classroom and on the schoolyard,” she told the German tabloid. “We are happy if we can teach for a few minutes at a time. Sometimes the police have to come several times a week.” Her students are high on drugs, which are sometimes peddled openly. And the scourge of drugs brings prostitution. A 15-year-old student prostituted herself in the school toilets for drugs and money. She became pregnant and left the school. “And the academic implications this year, almost 40 percent failed to obtain their secondary school leaving certificate.” Carola S. calls her school a “holding pen” controlled by students who, in her words, are “mini-Islamists.” Well, they are also tomorrow’s leaders and voters. Well, good luck Carola.             Let’s turn now to that most puzzling friendship between gays and Muslim activists. I stress Muslim activists because garden-variety Muslims consider homosexuality foul and criminal. More than a few would like gays thrown from tall buildings. This comes from Adam Zivo: “British socialists fracture over Islamic homophobia,” National Post. In Britain last week, Muslim clerics from the group 5pillar, concerned about the growing appeal of the gay lifestyle, presented a short “practical” guide warning against the peril of the truth that dare not speak its name. Homosexuality was framed as an affliction that calls for “compassion without compromise.” Parents were further advised to monitor their children’s social media. Well, this shouldn't be surprising. But how will this affect the Green-red alliance? I’ve written extensively about the partnership between leftists and Muslims. They are bound by a mutual hatred of the West, particularly of Israel and the United States. Can this friendship survive these strains? We will keep you posted. We now go stateside to revisit the ongoing comic saga involving the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). I’ve discussed this organization a few times. The Justice Department zeroed in on the SPLC for funding the hate organizations it purports to investigate. Yes, the SPLC is anything but poor, and its leaders hardly live in poverty. Its leaders responded that they made payments to infiltrate hate groups. We’ll see what comes out in court. But now let’s look at CFO Heidi Beirich, who may be facing prison. Heidi was arrested in California on fraud charges. According to the charges, she paid off the KKK and other anti-black groups. I hope they make a tongue-in-cheek docudrama about this. It could be a lot of fun. It certainly has all the elements of satire. We have an unusual actor in Britain’s Islamic scene. China. Investigations in the U.S. and Britain have revealed China’s funding of anti-Israel groups, including Code Pink. This is from Nick Gutteridge, The Telegraph: U.S. politicians investigating alleged secret Chinese backing of Code Pink. I’ve discussed this group and profiled it in Cauldron of Terror. It is strongly anti-American and anti-Israel and appears to support Communist China. I mentioned earlier that Neville Singham has contributed “hundreds of millions of dollars” to far-left groups — Code Pink apparently has received the most — that spread Chinese communist propaganda. So, why would China lavish millions to tarnish Israel’s image in Britain? The author speculates that it is part of a larger effort to sow division in the West. Maybe, but Israel’s image is very tarnished already. So, I think that this is a curious case. Well, still in Britain, let’s turn to comedy. But be careful. The wrong joke could get you arrested or fined heavily. I’ve presented more than a few examples of near-lethal humor, and I intend to offer more for a few reasons. First, it is a warning to my listeners that the wrong joke – and by that I mean a joke about Islam – is very dangerous these days. I’ve been through it with you before. Reputational damage can get you sacked, demoted, or forced to publicly repent.  Second, I use these fines and arrests as markers of the Islamification of Britain, which is well under way. Third, these are sad tales for me. I earned my master’s degree from Oxford in the late 1970s and early 1980s. England was both fun and funny to this young Yank. Well, as some Englishman said, the past is a foreign country.”  This story comes from the British newspaper The Telegraph. Stephen Gray, a retired police officer, made a joke. Whether it was funny is for you to judge. He wasn’t laughing when he was charged with a criminal offense for sharing online posts critical of Islam. He confessed, “I guess some of the posts may have been in bad taste. Some of them may upset one or two people, but I didn’t think for one second it would be cast as grossly offensive by the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and by the courts. Not for one second.”    And what were these offensive posts? The first had the words “time for mass deportation” alongside an image of a Middle Eastern man, who was in his late 20s or 30s, and the words “Children in Need”.    The image had the caption “12-year-old Mohammed recently arrived at Dover. Please donate to help him move from a three-star to a five-star hotel which has a better halal menu, free Wi-Fi and Sky and is nearer to a girls’ school”. The second image was a picture of a rasher of bacon and a man in a turban, alongside the caption “Fun facts about Bacon!” People who eat bacon have a lower chance of marrying a 9-year-old!” Well, I like the joke about bacon, but the judge didn’t yuck it up, and he ruled against the former policeman. The judge ruled that the first joke, which was about migration, was, here I quote, “not grossly offensive and related to a political issue that had been debated in Parl

  4. Aug 20

    Jihad and the World - Bowling for Non-Believers - Muslim Car Attacks in Europe

    Hello from Kensington Security Consulting, where we bring education to national security. This episode is called Ramming – Muslims, Cars, Pedestrians, and Europe. Last week, I discussed the rampant and random stabbing attacks. I offered you the term “getting stabby,” a play on words. In England, it means getting irritable and getting skewered on the street generally by a knife-wielding Muslim in the name of Allah. Well, this applies to running people over as well as impaling them. I don’t have any gallows humor or punny phrase for vehicle killings. Is there an equivalent for “getting stabby?” I don’t know of any. Let me know if you do. But let's get right to the stories. Well, you likely heard about yet another car-ramming incident in Europe. More specifically, a 21-year-old named Abdul Ballout. Following the terror attack during the Christopher Street Day event in Berlin, a car struck several people in the Tiergarten area. One woman died in the attack and over 16 were wounded. According to the German magazine Bild, he was a German citizen of Lebanese descent. If you are curious about Christopher Street, it is a famous street in Manhattan that attracted many gays before the Stonewall Riot of 1968. Back to Berlin … well, Ballout had a past, not a clean one. In fact, he has a long criminal record. But why would a repeat offender plow a car into a group of peaceful gays celebrating an annual festival? Why kill his fellow countrymen? What gives? Well, the answer lies in Islamofascism. Last week, I shared an episode called “Getting Stabby.” I quoted Robert Spencer, and I will do so again. The Islamic State issued this call back in September 2014. Here it is -“So O muwahhid, do not let this battle pass you by wherever you may be. You must strike the soldiers, patrons, and troops. Strike their police, security, and intelligence members, as well as their treacherous agents. Destroy their beds. Embitter their lives for them and busy them with themselves.” It continues, “If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman, or any of their allies. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him….” Sound familiar? It should be, because this sentiment is often repeated by Muslim clerics. Notice that the demand is to kill by any means possible, with a bullet, bomb, poison, rock, knife, or car. Use whatever you have. And Islamofascists do just that. According to Bild, Ballout was long part of the Islamofascist scene in Berlin. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared, “We will not allow this poison of terrorism to spread further in our society.” That was tough talk indeed, but what are the chances he will purge the “poison of terrorism” from Germany? And notice that Chancellor Merz did not mention Islam, let alone Islamofascism. I have discussed this ad nauseam. Western leaders avoid, at almost all costs, the ideology that drives the attacks. And that ideology is Islamofascism. European leaders are not alone. Several gay activists openly stated this. Before Ballout’s identity was known, they hoped the perp was a Christian, white person. And this is the mindset of intersectionality, which is part of the Green-Red alliance. I have discussed this repeatedly.             Was Ballout the only Islamofascist to bowl over Europeans like tenpins? Hardly. In February of last year, Farhad N. carried out an Islamofascist vehicular rampage in Germany. He killed several infidels but did not die in the attack. The prosecutor in his case said, “He acted out of religious motivation.” Well, yes. So what was that religion? Was he a Lutheran? Lots of Lutherans in Germany, and Catholics, too. Jews? Probably not. Most are long gone. Hmmmm. Buddhists or Hindus? Maybe, I suppose. Hmmm. Well, somebody in the prosecutor's office added: “He believed he was obliged to attack and kill randomly selected people in Germany in response to the suffering of Muslims in Islamic countries.” Let’s examine the logic here. He drives into a crowd of Germans because Muslims abroad suffer. Did Germans cause the suffering? Yes? How? And were the Germans at this German rally directly responsible for the suffering of Muslims abroad? Yes? I don’t see how. Well, if this makes sense to you, please explain it to me.               Let’s turn to another ramming in Germany. This time, it is a combination of ramming, burning, and slashing in an Islamofascist attack. In September 2024, a 41-year-old Syrian national wounded 31 people, including two children who were left in critical condition, in arson attacks in Essen. He, like the killer of Christopher Street, was well known to police. This attack was planned. This Islamofascist set several residential buildings aflame, randomly slashed kaffirs with a machete, and ran his car into several storefronts. He carried a Palestinian flag as he attacked. Let’s go to Norway and examine the case of a woman who plowed into pedestrians. An Islamofascist woman deliberately ran her sports utility vehicle into a man who had just burned a Koran. But you would not know this from the AFP headlines. On January 27, 2024, Robert Spencer points out the AFP headlines, which read, “Woman jailed over car-chase with Norway anti-Islam activist.” Well, yes. This is true, I guess. She is a woman. It was a car chase. The victim was certainly opposed to Islamofascism, and I assume he had little time for Islam in general. But I think the headline was intentionally misleading. First, what kind of woman was she? Christian? Pagan? Quaker? Don’t you think it matters? Well, I do. She attacked her victim because she was a Muslim, in the name of Islam, to avenge a slur against Islam, and the victim was a critic of Islam. I see a lot of Islamic issues in this woman. Let’s go to the “car chase.” Maybe it is me, but I think of a car chase as Bonnie-and-Clyde types of things. Or the scene in the French Connection, a great movie. Better yet, Steve McQueen scouring the streets of San Francisco with his 68 Mustang in Bullitt. But is running somebody over a car chase?  What do you think?             Now we move to the last part of the headline, which is the characterization of the victim as a critic of Islam. This is true…yes…sure.  But he was also a free speech activist. He was also a defender of Western civilizations and norms. He was a Norwegian patriot. So, I suggest we conjure up some alternative headlines. These are a few:             “Female Islamofascist Tries to Kill Norwegian Patriot.” Here is another one, “Rampaging Muslim woman Berserker.” I could go on, and yes, I am being sarcastic. I’ll stop. But I think you get my point. And this is about it for this episode. Thanks for listening. Nothing in this podcast represents the official position of the United States government. I am very excited about the publication of my latest book, Cauldron of Terror – Hamas, Israel and the World – 500 Days in Gaza. On behalf of Kensington Security Consulting, until next time, out here.

  5. Aug 15

    Jihad and the World - Kensington Week in Review - August 12, 2026 - A Gay Cruise Enters the Waters of the Islamic World - What Happens?

    Hello. This is Mark Silinsky from Kensington Security Consulting, where we bring education to national security. Welcome to the Kensington Weekly, a program that explores Islam's relationship with the world, week by week. This is the second week in August 2026.   Let's begin with an article by Hugh Fitzgerald at Jihad Watch that tells a compelling and tragic German story. What happened? Marius Dick, a young German, was killed by an Afghan who stabbed him. Dick was walking home after shopping when Afghan asylum seeker Sajad M, 22, sprang from a hedge and plunged a kitchen knife into his heart. The two had never met. Why did Sajad M kill a random pedestrian? According to a public health officer, he was mentally ill. This surprised some who knew him, who described him as a good neighbor and fellow worker.

  6. Aug 13

    Jihad and the World - October 7, 2023 - Did Anything Good Come of It?

    October 7, 2023 changed the Middle East and the world. It was a slaughter unlike anything the Jewish world had experienced since the Nazis. You know that. Well, let me offer you a take on the attack and its aftereffects that I discuss in the book. But I want to emphasize two elements that I think are of great interest to this audience. First, I will discuss the counterterrorism strategy and how effectively it was applied to Hamas. Second, I will address how Hamas is defined. Others and I suggest that Hamas is what it is, not what we want it to be. Third, I will examine the global response to the attack. I think it shocked most of us. Almost immediately, Israel, the victim, became the genocidal victimizer.

  7. Aug 2

    Jihad and the World - Getting Stabby in Europe - Angry Muslims and their Knives

    This episode is called Getting Stabby – Muslims, Knives, and the West. An interesting title? Brace yourself for an unconventional talk. Muslim stabbing frenzies are much in the news these days. Britain has long been a stabbing center in Europe. It was there that the term “getting stabby” was coined. Well, this has two meanings: becoming irritable, and unwanted knife activity. And there is plenty of unwanted slashing and plunging stainless steel activity in London.  In May, a jihadist group suspected of links to Iran claimed responsibility for the stabbings of two Jewish men.  All this and more is in Getting Stabby.

  8. Jul 20

    Jihad and the World - Islam Comes to Britain

    Hello and welcome to Jihad and the World. This episode traces the early Muslim migration to Britain. It is entitled, “Islam Comes to Britain.” "Already London is the biggest center for Islamic finance outside the Islamic world. But I want London . . . to be one of the great capitals of Islamic finance anywhere in the world. John Cameron, 2013 “A cesspit for Islamists" Wole Soyinka, a Nobel Laureate for Literature, description of London, 2010 Origins Islam's presence in Britain began in the 19th century through colonial ties to India. The East India Company established trade relations with Muslims, especially in India, and employed many South Asian workers. The first notable play about Islam was the 1802 production “The Bedouins, or Arabs of the Desert,” a comedy in which an Englishman navigates Arabia. In 1857, a boarding house advertising itself as a home for “Asiatics (sic) Africans and South Sea Islanders” opened in London's Limehouse district. Arab design and fashion influenced Britain. Brighton’s Royal Pavilion, built in 1815; the 'Arab Hall' at Leighton House in London; and the 'Arab Room' at Cardiff Castle, all from the mid-19th century, introduced a new aesthetic to the country. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 brought more Muslim workers to Britain. The first notable mosque was established in Liverpool in the early 1890s. Henry William Quilliam became Shaykh Abdullah Qulliam after converting to Islam in 1887. The Ottoman sultan appointed him Shaykh al-Islam of the United Kingdom. During both world wars, Muslims fought for and against Britain. In the Middle East, the exploits of Lawrence of Arabia became famous as he led a revolt by Arab Muslims against Ottoman Muslims during the Great War. Britain liberalized its immigration policies after World War II. The British Nationality Act of 1948 was significant, welcoming former colonials as countrymen. The journey of the “SS Empire Windrush” from Jamaica to Britain that year symbolized the beginning of what is now called multicultural Britain. Many families from the Indian subcontinent soon followed, increasing the Muslim population decade by decade. As the social landscape changed, British lawmakers crafted anti-racial-discrimination legislation. A series of Race Relations Acts in the 1960s and 1970s became the legal foundation for combating perceived discrimination. Muslims were not initially defined as a race and were not afforded protections under the Acts. Some Britons were worried about the growing influence of South Asia and the Middle East. But others were well placed to take advantage of the billions of petrodollars. London’s City, its financial center, was delighted to absorb new financial flows. British home banks courted domestic finance and eagerly accommodated Muslims through Sharia-compliant finance, which is Islamic-compatible lending and investing. Sharia-compliant stock funds may not invest in industries considered sinful, such as alcohol and pork.    Multiculturalism “We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue and then we take it higher.” This line from Eddy Grant’s song Electric Avenue references the Brixton riots of 1981. Social tensions grew during the 1970s and 1980s. In April 1981, the London suburb of Brixton erupted in anger against the police. The riot pitted traditional police officers, armed with wooden truncheons, against alienated non-white residents. Journalists and elites generally discussed these riots in terms of racial alienation or class struggle. In the 1990s, Prime Minister Tony Blair championed Muslim-friendly immigration policies. He admired Islam, calling it a beautiful religion and describing Muhammad as an “enormously civilizing force.” He increased immigration levels and boasted about “rubbing the Right’s nose in diversity.” A pivotal shift in immigration policy followed the publication of “Research, Development, and Statistics Occasional Paper No. 67.” Released in 2001, the paper projected a bright, prosperous multicultural future. The large influx of immigrants was expected to boost wages for all Britons and to culturally enrich the United Kingdom. Tory leaders criticized the Prime Minister for turning Britain into “a foreign land.” Middle Eastern migrants continued to arrive, straining the country's resources. By 2017, Britain was among many European countries that absorbed millions of Middle Eastern migrants, most of whom were young men. Some claimed to be 16 or 17 years old but had receding hairlines and stubble beards. They had no official documents to verify their age.  All is Not Well “It’s our country, it’s not a Christian country. You jealous we taking over?”  A Muslim shopkeeper to a leader of a Christian Patrol marcher, May 2017. “Islamophobia is an oxymoron.”  A sign held by an ex-Muslim, London, July 2017 Tensions between Muslim and non-Muslim Britons surfaced in the early 21st century. Muslim advocates demanded and received law enforcement protection against slights to their religion. Some claimed to suffer emotional distress caused by “Islamophobia,” a term that became deeply embedded in the British lexicon. But many white British, rich and poor, felt they needed protection. Working-class whites organized through groups, particularly the English Defense League, and through ad hoc patrols of their neighborhoods. The well-heeled class, no longer feeling inoculated against Islamist violence, beefed up security in the tonier parts of town. The long-iconic English nanny, made world-famous through Mary Poppins, retooled. British counterterrorism specialists taught aspiring nannies at Norland College how to protect wards from terrorists. Across Britain, ideas that would have been laughed off as bad jokes are now taken seriously. By 2015, there were at least 3 million Muslims living in Britain. Of these Muslims, 47% were born in Britain; 68% were ethnically Asian; and 33% were under 16 years old. Eight percent of all school-age children in Britain were Muslim, and many schools had student bodies with over 50%. But many Muslims, particularly women, did not work outside the home and were dependent on welfare, known as benefits in Britain. Nor were Muslims proportionally represented in professional occupations. “About 6 in 10 Muslim women who have had traditional Islamic weddings in Britain are not legally married, according to a survey. They have had a nikah marriage, but 61% failed to go through a separate civil ceremony recognized by the family courts. If their marriage breaks down and they cannot agree on a division of assets, they must fight through the civil courts rather than start with a presumption that they will get an equal share.” The growth of the Muslim population has brought significant voting power. Muslims are a decisive voting bloc, comprising 20% or more of the electorate in 26 constituencies and residing in all local authority areas in England and Wales. Islam will likely become the dominant religion in Britain within several generations. All this has raised concerns about pervasive “whiteness.” London's transport authority is far too dominated by white men, according to London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who promised “to reshape (it) to better reflect London's diversity in the interest of Londoners.” The Department for Education plans to recruit an additional 68,000 teachers from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds to better reflect England’s pupil demographics. Some organizations are simply too white for some tastes. British Red Cross chief: “There is a risk that in a very diverse community like Grenfell, an organization with the words ‘British’ and ‘Cross’ in its title is confused with a Christian establishment organization.” This concludes this episode of Jihad and the World. Future podcasts will update relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain and on the continent. If you liked it, please subscribe and give us a like. We are very excited about our latest book, Cauldron of Terror – Hamas, Israel, and the World, which may now be available for purchase. Nothing in this podcast represents the official position of the United States government. Until our next podcast, thank you for listening, and goodbye from Kensington Security Consulting.

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About

Jihad and the World is a periodic update of global issues that involve Jihad, which generally refers to the expansion of the world of Islam or the protection of the world's Islamic community. Jihad and the World centers on persons and events featured in Mark Silinsky's five books on militant Islam. These podcasts are offered as a courtesy of Dr. Silinsky's firm Kensington Security Consulting where we bring education to national security. 

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    jihadandtheworld
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    57
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    Clean
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