4 Threat Matrix: The cartoon jihad continues

Written by Bill Ardolino on January 26, 2012 10:11 AM to 4 Threat Matrix

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/01/the_cartoon_jihad_continues.php

An al Qaeda supporter has opted once again to use art to promote jihad against the West, thereby violating the Salafist jihadist or Wahhabist proscriptions against art endorsed by ... al Qaeda. Via the SITE Intelligence group:

The creators of a jihadi comic strip called "Son of the Martyr" released a second comic, "The Fleeing Enemy," using the characters they established to contrast Islamic society with that of the West. The comic was posted on the Shumukh al-Islam forum on January 24, 2012, and comes nearly four months after the first issue. The message posted with the first issue indicated that the creators were seeking a media foundation to publish the comics. In the message introducing the second comic, the creators named the "al-Wedha Islamic Foundation" as its publishing house and explained that the comic is a means to face Western "culturization" of Muslim boys and girls.

In response to the comic, a fellow jihadist on Shumukh al-Islam commended the creators and advised they produce more comics but not focus on jihad alone. He added: "By Allah, the Jews and the disbelievers sneak their beliefs through such drawings that some might see as simple, but they are not simple at all. If they are read by a child, they will remain in his imagination...."

As a reminder, artwork, especially drawing the human form and "other living objects," is prohibited in many unadulterated interpretations of Islam. (As are music, dance, loud laughter, and many other basic human activities, according to the logic of the takfiris).

The use of cartoons on an al Qaeda-associated Internet forum illustrates how individuals can be enamored of the trappings of armed jihad, while at the same time lacking in understanding of the particular theology behind the jihadist movement they have embraced. Casual support of strict Islamist and radical jihadist political goals is easy; actually living under their authority - and the brutally enforced, austere standards that can come with it - is hard.

This helps explain a paradox in some quarters of the Muslim world. Although some opinion polls may show casual support for the vague political aims (though not the means) and general Islamic identification of strict conservative and radical groups, many of those movements wear out their welcome once they obtain any real authority (i.e., Algeria, Iraq's Anbar province, and large portions of Afghanistan). Narrow, harshly-enforced theology conflicts with both modernism and regional cultural standards, such as tribal codes ... or the basic permission to create artwork that depicts living beings.

Thus, an al Qaeda cartoonist is both ignorant and hypocritical. And beyond his violation of religious precepts, he is protesting "Western 'culturization' of Muslim boys and girls," in a medium that is itself a symptom of 'Western ... culturization.' Irony abounds.