The Dawn of British Jihad
Seriously...
BBC
4.1 • 885 Ratings
🗓️ 16 January 2018
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Before 9/11 British attitudes to partaking in faith-inspired armed combat were... different.
British Muslims travelled freely to fight in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Burma and Kashmir for a few weeks or months, and then returned home to their day jobs or studies - few questions asked.
In this programme, Mobeen Azhar sheds light on the people and organisations involved in this early wave of British involvement in Jihad - the youth organisations which helped send hundreds of young Brits to fight overseas.
The programme also reveals reports featured in magazines published in the 1990s by Lashka-e-Taiba - the terrorist group behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Within its pages are detailed reports on how its leader Hafiz Saeed came to Britain in the mid-90s to spread the word on fighting a holy war, find recruits and raise money. The programme hears from those who answered his call - the British Muslims who built bridges with militant groups in South Asia and beyond.
Many of these 'pioneers' came from Britain's Salafi community - followers of a strict, literal interpretation of Islam. Since 9/11 the Salafis - sometimes known as Wahhabis - have often been named as the key influencers in the global jihad, but is that accurate?
The programme also explains the nuances of Salafism and how this early period of British involvement in Jihad was itself hugely divisive within the British Salafi community, creating a schism between a peaceful pious majority, and those who chose to take up arms.
Producers: Richard Fenton-Smith & Sajid Iqbal.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This was an impregnable fortress. The only way you get out was in a wooden box. |
| 0:05.0 | The controversial maximum security prison impossible to escape from. |
| 0:09.0 | And one of the duties of a political prisoner is the escape. |
| 0:12.0 | The IRA inmates who found a way. of a political prisoner is the escape. |
| 0:12.5 | The IRA inmates who found a way. |
| 0:14.5 | I'm Carlo Gableer and I'll be navigating a path |
| 0:19.5 | through the disturbing inside story of the biggest jailbreak in British and Irish history. |
| 0:25.0 | The narrative that they want is that this is a big achievement by them. |
| 0:28.5 | Escape from the Maze, listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:34.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:40.0 | Hi, I'm Riana Dylan, and this is seriously. |
| 0:45.0 | In today's story, we meet British Muslim men who chose to take up arms. |
| 0:50.0 | These men travelled freely to countries like Afghanistan, Bosnia and Myanmar, also known as Burma. |
| 0:58.0 | They were followers of a strict interpretation of Islam. |
| 1:02.0 | I go off, meet the people, I say, we have to take me to the battle front |
| 1:06.5 | because at that time we knew the Hadith that whoever spends a short interval at the battle |
| 1:12.1 | front, Paradise is guaranteed for you. |
| 1:15.0 | Do you actually want to fight? I want to fight and I want to attain martyrdom. |
| 1:19.0 | The men in this story travelled abroad to fight, and then some returned home, no questions asked. |
| 1:27.0 | But I'm at Heathrow Airport, fully camouflaged, 10-12 of us, praying and departure lounge |
| 1:34.0 | and coming back in the same uniform, |
| 1:36.0 | stinking and dirty, unwashed |
... |
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