Dr Yasir Qadhi: Muslim Scholar or Liberal Infiltrator? WikiLeaks emails exposé
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
One of the key challenges facing Muslims in the West is the rising tide of ‘muscular liberalism’: an Orwellian term coined by the former British Prime Minister David Cameron during a speech in Munich in 2011 as a façade for ever increasing erosion of civil liberties and the use of state powers to target the Muslim community.
As the term implies, the aim is to force Muslims to accept the prevailing liberal world order in place of their own religion. The effects of these policies, operating under the guise of tackling extremism, can be seen in all spheres of life for Muslims.
A prevailing theme in the West, concurrent to the introduction of these authoritarian policies, has been the rise and coming to prominence of an ever increasing number of ‘liberal’ and ‘moderate’ imams and sheikhs.
These imams are almost uniformly characterised by their radio silence on the plight of oppressed Muslims (except when doing so would be acceptable or even expedient for the powers that be) and advocacy for reform of Islam, some more vocal and explicit than others. All of this in an apparent attempt to seek compatibility with the ever changing moving feast of ‘liberal’ ‘Western’ values.
In another speech on extremism in 2015, David Cameron proudly declared that the British state is “
…now going to actively encourage the reforming and ‘moderate Muslim’ voices.” This would obviously not be the first attempt to subvert traditional and normative Islam by a state to pursue its own agenda. One of the main ways such powers have sought to achieve this in the past has been by aiding, supporting and coercing individuals and groups that oppose the basic foundational principles of Islam with the aim of disuniting and weakening the Muslim nation. In doing so, they ride roughshod over the sacred beliefs and sentiments of ordinary Muslims.
A historic picture of Dr Yasir Qadhi on PeaceTV, prior to adopting a more modern appearance.
Dr Qadhi describes himself as an ‘Islamic theologian’ and ‘scholar’, although many may dispute his claim to those titles. He is usually quick to remind his audience (and critics) of his academic credentials, having studied at both undergraduate and master’s level at the Islamic University of Madinah and then going on to complete his doctorate at Yale University.
Whilst he was originally known for his robust adherence to traditional Sunni doctrine, Dr Qadhi has since been involved in a number of intra-Muslim controversies. Many commentators and scholars have challenged his statements that go against Muslim orthodoxy and his attempts to introduce (or reintroduce) new and rejected ideas to his young, impressionable, Muslim audience. Dr Qadhi now openly states that he is no longer the conservative ‘Salafi’ that he was upon his graduation from the Islamic University. Instead, he has spoken about ‘reforming’ Islam, finding aspects of the Shariah to be ‘problematic’ and saying they need to be ‘looked at’
[1].
What are ‘The Global Intelligence Files’?
An email chain from 2010 leaked by WikiLeaks in 2013, which has largely gone unnoticed in the Muslim community, appears to shed some light on Dr Qadhi’s journey from a staunch advocate for traditional Islam to liberal reformist.
WikiLeaks explains the leak of this tranche of documents in its own words:
“… The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered “global intelligence” company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.” (our emphasis)
Source: WikiLeaks
What do the emails about Dr Qadhi say?
- The pertinent emails are between Dr Kamran Bokhari (then Senior Analyst employed at Stratfor) and Fred Burton who, according to his LinkedIn profile, was the VP, Intelligence & Chief Security Officer for Sratfor at the time. The full email chain can be found here.
- The chain starts with a news report about Dr Qadhi and Al Maghreb Institute and their connections to Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a failed and convicted terrorist. It questions their credibility in anti-radicalisation efforts.
- Fred Burton states that he will be questioning various authorities including the FBI, Texas Rangers, Congress and the Governor [of Texas] as to why Dr Qadhi’s centre has not been closed down.
- Dr Bokhari then steps in and makes a number of interesting statements:
- He claims to have a working relationship with Dr Qadhi and to have shared a hotel room with him in Edinburgh in the past. He then describes Dr Yasir Qadhi as “…a “reformist” Salafist of sorts.” He tells Fred Burton to let ‘our friends’ (an ostensible reference to law enforcement agencies) know that he can “… potententially get Yasir Qadhi, the guy who leads al-Maghrib to cooperate as well.” He later states: “Given the Abdul-Muttalab case he is under pressure and we can use that to our advantage to have him help us identify the bad guys, assist with long-term monitoring…”
- When pressed for more information, Dr Bokhari says Dr Qadhi is “…struggling with his journey towards moderation…” and “… is highly interested in ownership over a modern Salafi discourse.” Dr Bokhari then claims it will take some time to win Dr Qadhi over and mentions “…he has a large following among American and British youth,” as an apparent up-side of continuing to work with him and to infiltrate his work and message.
- Dr Bokhari suggests it will be possible to use Dr Qadhi to “… to develop a Salafi ideology that doesn’t clash with the need to integrate in mainstream Western life.”
—–Original Message—–
From: “Kamran Bokhari” <bokhari@stratfor.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:20:25=20
To: ‘Fred Burton'<burton@stratfor.com>
Subject: RE: Did you get this one?
Despite our huge differences, I have a working relationship of sorts with the guy where he at least hears me out. He is struggling with his journey towards moderation and has been criticized by the traditional Salafists and of course the more radical ones as a deviant. The guy is highly interested in ownership over a modern Salafi discourse but he has some hangovers that will take time and support to get over. He has a large following among American and British youth. I can help our friends to get this guy to become comfortable with us. Given the Abdul-Muttalab case he is under pressure and we can use that to our advantage to have him help us identify the bad guys, assist with long-term monitoring, and perhaps even in the long run develop a Salafi ideology that doesn’t clash with the need to integrate in mainstream western life. He is a unique personality and it is hard to find people like him. Perhaps that is why the folks at NCTC invited him for their deradicalization event in ’08.
Source: The Global Intelligence Files, WikiLeaks, Released on 11-03-2013 (one email extract from the relevant chain)
Dr Qadhi’s Response
In a reply to Al Ribat Media, Dr Yasir Qadhi stated that he only met Dr Bokhari “
…may be once or twice, don’t recall too much of his conversation and for sure I had no idea of his ties to any other organization!” Dr Qadhi objects to the notion that anyone can ‘pressure’ him to change his views and claims this is a false allegation. Dr Qadhi affirmed that his positions today are sincerely held.
What does this show us?
Irrespective of whether the conversation shown in the emails actually caused or led to Dr Qadhi’s developing views on Islam, they are another clear evidence of a multi-pronged attack on Islam in the West. A smoking gun, proving active covert attempts to infiltrate and subvert the message of Islam, to ‘modernise’ it and to remove the elements considered ‘problematic’ or in opposition to the interests of politicians and the military industrial complex that Stratfor is a symbol for in this exchange.
With the benefit of having seen the transformation that Dr Yasir Qadhi has undergone over the last ten years, these leaked emails raise a number of serious questions over his motivations. Whilst we do not endorse some of the misinformed or ill-judged comments made by Dr Qadhi in the past, his claim of simply abandoning ‘extreme’ views to become more ‘mainstream’, do not stand up to scrutiny. Instead, it is clear that he has taken up a position to undermine the long and well-accepted principles of ordinary Muslims for 1,400 years – even going to the extent of endorsing same-sex marriage (‘politically’ whilst continuing to hold that it is a sin) – see below: