Cheering for Osama is Quilliam’s new report on the content of jihadist websites, identifying three key concepts which prop up terror rhetoric, and how these principles should be tackled.

The saved [Wahabi] sect is basically the idea – found, too, in other religions – that “we” are right while everyone else is wrong and will go to hell. At best, this means that others, whether unbelievers or fellow Muslims, are misguided and in need of re-education but it can also be used as a pretext for violence against them.

The second concept is taghut, which roughly translates as idolatry. This is a familiar idea in mainstream Islam but, in the hands of Wahhabis and Salafi-jihadists, it is extended to include almost anything beyond what God is believed to have decreed: constitutions, democracy, “man-made” laws, etc. “For Salafi-Jihadists this can mean fighting physically against states which do not impose their preferred version of the sharia as state law or against individuals who support such states or facilitate their functioning,” Quilliam’s report says.

The third concept is al-wala’ wal bara’ – allegiance to Muslims and rejection of non-Muslims. This idea, “which aims to divide humanity physically, mentally and socially into Muslim and non-Muslims blocs, is central to Wahhabi thinking,” the report says. In practical terms, it can mean declaring other Muslims to be apostates if they cooperate with “non-Muslim” authorities such as the police and security forces: “Even where this does not directly lead to attacks, it can make Muslims more reluctant to join such organisations.”

Article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/28/cyber-jihad-islamic-extremist-websites

Report: http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/index.php/component/content/article/700