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New Zealand warned by a former jihadist about “soft” approach

A former jihadist, who has embraced the teachings of the Bible and Jesus, has dire warnings for the Western world, and for New Zealand, reports Lynley Smith, special to ASSIST News Service.

Dr Tawfik Hamid, a New Zealand resident, and his wife Nohed, were back in the country at the end of last year to speak to groups concerned about the Islamisation of the Western world, and what can be done curtail this.

Mr Hamid, who now serves on the advisory board of the United States Intelligence Summit, was an early participant in the Egyptian terrorist group Jamaah Islamiyah, rubbing shoulders with Al Qaeda deputy leader Dr Aimon Al-Zawahiri.

However, his rather liberal upbringing in Egypt opened his eyes to other ways of thinking.

His views are expressed in his book Roots of Jihad.

Mr Hamid told Challenge Weekly he was brought up in a secular family. His father, who was an agnostic, taught Tawfik and his brother to �?think for themselves’, something frowned upon in Islam. His mother was a “liberal”.

“Our family was not religious, but I developed an interest in religion when I was about 16 years old,” he said. “I was studying the DNA molecule in biology when I realised there must be a designer.”

Although he attended a Catholic primary school, Egyptian law required the teaching of Islam to all culturally Islamic children from the earliest age. Consequently, Tawfik learnt and became attracted to the incredibly seductive teachings of Salafi Islam, which taught that Muslims were destined to rule the world. Having decided there must be a god, Tawfiq, at 16, quickly became absorbed in the culture of Islam.

“I began to read the Bible – before I’d read the Qur’an – so I could find weaknesses in it, for debating in high school,” he said. “But the Bible made an impact on my mind.”

When he entered medical school, he was invited to join Jamaah Islamiyah and soon joined its prayer sessions. The group clearly wanted to take the idea of world domination of Islam further than just rhetoric.

“There were two things that drove us,” he said. “One was suppression of thinking. We were not allowed to think about what we were taught. The other was the fear of hell. These two led to a blind acceptance of what we were taught.”

Mr Hamid said the indoctrination led first to intolerance, then hatred and finally to a suppression of his conscience, so he could accept such violence as beating women.

“The hajib dress was meant to separate the women, who will go to hell,” he said. “Subjugating women was the first step to violence. Accepting polygamy also resulted in suppression of conscience. We were gradually desensitised.

“In a few months I became like a beast.”

However a verse in the Bible stayed with Mr Hamid and awakened his critical thinking.

It was: “What does it profit a man for him to gain the whole world if he loses his soul?”

He also realised, thanks to encouragement from his father to think for himself, that there were other forms of Islam which were not so violent and which didn’t accept the concept of war to spread Islam throughout the world.

“I also knew a verse in the Qur’an which said you must tell the truth, even if it is against yourself and your culture.”

Mr Hamid said young Muslim children are not developing normally as they are taught it is good to beat women, declare war on non-Muslims, enslave women and make them prisoners, kill homosexuals and wage war on the Jews.

“The extremists are putting these things into practice,” he said. “The enemy is not actually the terrorists, but the teaching of hate.”

New Zealand needs to be aware of three threats, he said.

The first is individual attacks of terrorism, which could happen anywhere. The second is the proliferation of a society that wants to implement Sharia law. Once it has reached a critical size, we would have to surrender and show “religious tolerance.”

“But I ask are we ready for slave markets in New Zealand? What are the limits of your tolerance?”

The third threat is of insurgency as has occurred in Iraq.

“If we have a lot of Islamics in New Zealand, at some stage, some of them will burn schools for girls. They will threaten the Government economically and get them to bow to their demands.

“We mustn’t do nothing and wait for this.”

Mr Hamid said the problem of Islamisation is solvable. Either a country stops the Muslims coming in, or it does something to protect the young Muslim residents from being indoctrinated with hatred.

“To be silent and wait is simply to wait for your end,” was his ominous conclusion. “New Zealand must discriminate against the bad. You must use a preventative approach or you will be destroyed. You can’t wait to treat this �?disease’ or it will be too late. That is the role of any government which truly cares about its people.”

Mr Hamid said he had been warning New Zealand for 12 years about the risk of Islamisation.

He predicted the September 11 terror attack on the Twin Towers in New York, and several other major terror attacks.

“I was watching the growth of Islam and I could see and attack coming. They like to attack the most powerful icons in the West, to �?tease the infidels’, for which they think they will be rewarded by God.”

He believes there will be another major attack, this time in Europe, within the next two years.

“They are scared of the United States. Its reaction was too great after the Twin Tours. It has gone after Al Qaeda. It has been �?bad press’ for them [the Muslim extremists].”

Mr Hamid said he saw with his own eyes the demise of the Coptic Egyptian community in Auckland after the Egyptian community was infiltrated by Muslims. The Arabic school moved its classes to Sundays so the [Christian] Coptics couldn’t attend. Women were persuaded to wear the hijab and they were rude to the Coptics, he said.

“The Government supported the change of day for the school – that was 12 years ago and now the Egyptian community has disappeared.”

Mr Hamid said the evangelical message of personal salvation falls on deaf ears in the Muslim world.

“If you want Muslims to learn about the love of Jesus, you need a prior stage,” he said. “Christianity has many treasures and value systems which the whole world needs to hear about. The real meaning of love is the essence of it.

“Christians here must focus on teaching [Muslims} about Jesus in terms of loving your neighbour. Ultimately this message can lead to personal salvation, but, without it, the personal salvation message will not work.”

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[03/06/2008]

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