Agora

The party we in Denmark call “De Radikale”, I refer to in this article as the Social Liberals, because that is the international equivalent. But it’s important to note that this party is also known to have a love affair with Classic Liberalism, apart from their fling with Socialism. “De Radikale” means “The Radicals” in the literal translation and they’ve been at the forefront of the fight against religious dogmas and ignorance since their conception. Unfortunately, they’ve usually also been at the forefront of the “stabbing Denmark in the back” crowd. Perhaps Naser Khader will give them some hair to go with their balls. Who knows…

This article appeared in Berlingske Tidende on Sunday, April 2nd, 2006. It’s a long interview with Naser Khader where he ouitlines his thoughts on the Danish Imams and their extremist organisations and how to counter them as a democratic Moslem.

“We are Facing an Incognizable Enemy from Within”
By Jesper Larsen

Much of Naser Khader’s time is currently spent in his office where newspapers are cluttered about and books line the walls from floor to ceiling. The literature is diverse - everything from the Koran and other holy books to Anne Vibeke-Holst and that sort of thing.

[Note: Anne Vibeke-Holst is a paperback writer. Mushy stuff.]

His bodyguards from the Police Intelligence Service are constantly within reach and follow him 24 hours a day. Recently an advertising distributor who was confused and semi-suspiciously going to and fro on the sidewalk, carrying ads for a new pizza place felt this. He was detained immediately.

“My family felt it. My wife Bente said that I sometimes repeated myself and talked nonsense. I am constantly tense. When we’re out of the house, I am almost paranoid and just want to get back home. But I know I have protection and that does make me feel safer. The thing is though, that I feel I am wearing manacles.”

Naser Khader turns to face the computer and goes to the website of Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke and enters a special chatroom about Moslem youths’ lives.

[Note: Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke is a cross-cultural cooperation organisation. Literally translated: Cooperation between Peoples. The website referred to is probably this: http://ungdomsliv.dk/]

“Look at this, see the hate,” he says and in quick succession reads from several postings: “Naser Khader is a pig, I hate Naser Khader, fucking hypocrite, he should be trampled to death, Naser Khader doesn’t care about us other Moslems.”

He closes the website where much more of the same kind can be read.

“Even on a website as harmless as that I am smeared massively, even by school-children. And that’s my point, that we are dealing with extremist Imams who defer from encouraging violence and terror. But when Abu Laban e.g. says that I am a rat - why does he say that, why doesn’t he say that I am a pig? It’s because rats are exterminated. An Imam in the south of Jutland said that those who hate Naser Khader will go to paradise. The Imams do not directly encourage violence and terror - but when they focus their hate on a single person, it can have serious consequences. The same thing happened to Van Gogh - no Imams in the Netherlands said he should be killed. But the organized hatred was so massive that he was made an outlaw and in the end someone killed him independently.”

So it’s the psychopath you fear?

“Yes. If you take a look at some of the people in the entourage of some of the Imams, they’re short-cropped psychopaths, they remind me of Nazis.”

How does your family feel the pressure?

“My niece went to an Arab wedding where several people walked out because she was related to the traitor. My nephew was apprenticed to a Pakistani mechanic - when he found out I was his uncle, he was fired. My mother receives calls from the Middle East where she is told what will be done to me and the family.”

What?

“All kinds of things, I won’t go into details. But I’m not the only target, my extended family is also a target.”

Are you afraid that the threats will be acted upon?

“Yes.”

What are your thoughts about that?

“I have asked myself many times: What is my crime, what did I do? My crime is to say that I want to combine Islam and Democracy. That is what some see as a crime. Now the Imams are saying that with the Muhammed-affair they have put limits on how much Islam and Moslems can be offended. They think the Danes have been taught a lesson. I say that founding Democratic Moslems has acted as a lightning rod which has helped hinder a smear campaign and lynch-justice against Moslems in Denmark. That is also the impression I get from my emails, that now it is clear that Moslems are different.”

Double-dealing and Brain Washing

Naser Khader goes online again, this time to search for some material about the Imam conference in Bahrain last week where both Abu Laban and Ahmed Akkari where delegates. He finds a photograph of the Council of Fatwas for Europe, chaired by a certain Professor Youssouf al-Qardawi.

“The ones who arranged the conference in Bahrain, that is, amongst others, al-Qardawi - him, that’s him,” says Naser Khader and points to the image. “It’s him who talked about the Friday of Wrath, it’s him who said the Moslem wrath must strike Denmark. Al-Qardawi was among the first to issue a fatwa justifying the killing of innocents for purposes of Jihad. We’re seeing the consequences of that in Iraq where innocent civilians are slaughtered. Al-Qardawi helps decide how to be a Moslem in the West. With the others he issues fatwas about how women should work, fatwas against fraternisation between the sexes, fatwas against Moslems working in banks because they collect interest. And al-Qardawi also organises a conference which the Danish Imams were delegates to. I have realised that they have a very strong international network.”

Naser Khader sees al-Qardawi et al. as Salafists - a very intolerant branch of Islam. They aren’t just Islamists and several of the Danish Imams are Salafists, he thinks.

“There are two kinds of Salafists. One is the Wahabi-Salafists, which includes people like Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network and then there are the Salafists of the Moslem Brotherhood. Salafism means to go back and live life like it was lived at the time of the Prophet. The bin Laden-salafists are for global Jihad using terror as the means. The Brotherhood-Salafists acknowledge the weak position of Moslems at the moment and therefore discourage violence. Their means are to educate, spread the faith and gain control of Moslem societies. They think Sharia should be the law where Moslems live. That means that that youth thing is actually the consequence of that education, where they refer to quotes from the Koran and are in the process of being brainwashed,” he says referring to the homepage from Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke.

“What is significant about both kinds of Salafists is that they have embraced the concept that as long as you’re weak, it is acceptable to be double-dealing. That was what shocked me most, that some Danish Imams are salafists. Salafists hate everybody who’s not like them, they are also against other Moslems. And especially secular Moslems and Moslems who want to combine Islam and Democracy.”

We Need to Wake Up

Naser Khader thinks that they and only they should be the matter of concern - the Salafists. The Muhammed-affair is neither about the government’s handling of the issue or about immigration policies.

“Maybe we should investigate who should have met who and so on, that may be. But I think that we should be careful that it doesn’t distract us from what is the real issue. The real issue is to strengthen the integration and it’s about the fact that we have some Trojan Horses among us. The Salafists. And they worry me sick.”

You don’t want to talk more about that investigation?

“I don’t want to talk about that investigation because it distracts from what it’s really about. We’re facing an incognizable enemy from within. That’s why we need to be united in the fight against this enemy. But I would like to make it clear that I am a fanatical Democrat. I don’t want Ministers to abuse their power and not inform the parliament - all that needs to be in order. That said, there’s something more important than that. We need to wake up. We are dealing with an enemy within who is more dangerous than you can imagine. I recently realised that.”

And Salafism isn’t about the Government’s immigration policies either?

“Salafism has nothing to do with the Government’s immigration policies. Salfists are present in the Netherlands and Spain too - the ones who blew up themselves in Madrid were Salafists too. The Salafists try to maintain pressure and in my opinion they are the ones who are responsible for the Muhammed-conflict. It might be true that the way our allies act, the lack of support from the other Eu-countries and the US, it might have something to do with our immigration policies, I won’t reject that notion out of hand. But this is about something much bigger than that. Consider the Egyptian Ambassador to Denmark, who’s a Christian by the way. She said that the main culprit is Naser Khader. Because when he said that he disagreed with the Islamic Faith Community, an apology had almost been imposed on the Danish Government. He split the Moslems - so a hidden agenda was most certainly present. There was a fight about who would command the Moslems in Denmark and the West. They used the cartoons as an excuse in that fight.”

I want to be Minister for Integration

What is your opinion of the general attitude towards the Muhammed-affair in your party?

“I am worried about the general lack of knowledge of what we are dealign with - and that is true for the political system in general. Ask people in Christiansborg if they know the Salafists. In all parties - not just my own - there is a desperate naivity and lack of knowledge in regard to the Salafists and the threat we are facing. This disturbs me.”

[Note: Christiansborg is the Danish Parliament Building]

How does what has happened affect the integration in Denmark - the large majority are neither Islamists or Salafists?

“No, they’re not. That is what we need to remember always and that is why we need to stop talking about ‘the Moslems’ - the Salafists hate the majority of Moslems who aren’t like them. The problem is that they wield a lot of power. There are 100 Imams in Denmark but only five or six are prominent.”

And that’s the Salafists?

“it’s been revealed that they are Salafists. Thay have hidden agendas. Them going to a conference arranged by a man like that — really… Who bankrolls them, by the way? You can’t go to a conference like that in Bahrain for less than 30,000 DKK. Where does that money come from?”

I think the theory is that the Muhammed-affair has been good for certain Imams because they’ve shown that they’re really fighting for the Prophet up here and that that has yielded them economic support from elsewhere?

“Yes, they receive a lot of support. They’re also backed by totalitarian regimes with their own agenda. That’s also why they fear me becoming Minister for Integration.”

They do?

“Yes, that’s why Akkari talks about someone blowing me up. If I’d been asked six months ago, I would have said no, I don’t have the energy. Now I only have one goal and that’s to become Minister for Integration.”

Why?

“Because I am their worst nightmare. Because I understand them, because I know their ideology and their agendas. I know how to resist them and I understand the various connections. That’s the first. The second is that concrete initiatives are needed to really turn on the switch for the majority of Moslems who are marginalised, unemployed and unintegrated. One of the most important things is to unite them and all other Danes under the flag of some common values. I think that’s more important than standing around throwing rocks at each other, calling each other sheeps, goats and dangerous.”

You say that the goal now is to become Minister for Integration, that that’s the most important thing for you…”

“Yes.”

…yet the prospects for the Social Liberals joining a coalition government seem remote?

“I can tell from the polls that there is a possibility for a majority consisting of the Liberals, the Conservatives and the Social Liberals. That chance at pulling the government in the right direction mustn’t be missed. I think there’s a strong backing for this view - also among the Liberals and the Conservatives. I think that this possibility is more realistic than the possibility of a government consisting of the Liberals and the Social Democrats. Three quarters of the emails I receive are from people who don’t understand me being a Social Liberal. As one says, it’s been impossible to understand up till now how to combine Islam and Democracy. He’s understood that now, but he doesn’t udnerstand how I can be a Social Liberal.

Naser Khader laughs in a disarming way and shows some other emails.

“Hi Naser Khader! When I vote I usually vote for the Danish People’s Party, but if I promise to vote for you, will you promise me to stay on in Danish politics?”

Don’t worry, Naser Khader will stay.

“Once I was very racist and voted for Jonni Hansen (NOTE: Nazi) for local elections because of people such as Abu Laban and Ahmed Akkari,” another email says. “It’s nice to know that Democratic Moslems exist and I will join the support organisation immediately. It’s way cool that you’ve tatooed Democracy in Arabic, in case you should run into one of the Imams.”

Naser Khader nods.

“I see myself as a Classic Social Liberal. And I very much feel a connection with the original spirit of the party. And that’s why I think that what I represent is pure radicalism (NOTE: See note at top). That is what the Social Liberals have been known for and they have been frontline soldiers in the fight against blind religiousity and against intolerance. They’ve been frontline soldier for Democracy and the Rule of Law. As Søren Bald says, take a look a this,” says Naser Khader and shows a short note from the Chairman of the Social Liberals.

“Dear cousin. It’s an extraordinary pleasure to see that the strongest and the best values of the Social Liberals, centered about Freedom of Speech, Democracy and Secularism are represented by one man who has come to both Denmark and the Social Liberals from without but who in such an elegant way has understood what Democracy is about. A man who doesn’t want to implicate all kinds of pseudo-considerations into the substance of Free Formation of Opinions and real Freedom of Speech. It’s an honor for the Social Liberals that this man has come to us as his party of choice.”

The words of the chairman have been pinned to the wall in Naser Khaders office

Have you ever considered changing your party?

“Why should I change my party? I am a Social Liberal and I think that what I do is in keeping with the radical spirit of the Social Liberals.”

Well, the question wants to be asked when you aim to be Minister for Integration while disagreeing with your party. What would you do if Anders Fogh Rasmussen calls you up this Monday and asks you to be his Minister for Integration?

“It can’t be done - something like that would be possible in the US, for the Republican president to appoint a Democrat to be a Minister, but it can’t be done in Denmark.”

Why not?

“We don’t live in the US”

Okay..?

“To be honest, the matter of integration is in need of us going beyond calling each other sheeps, goats and dangerous. It’s simply that which I feel - people need unity, cooperation and in the end, some form of national, bi-partisan agreement. It’s more important than party politics.”

And you say that you resist the Islamists because you know them?

“Yes, they need to get the thing they fear. They are the greatest enemy of integration, they are greater enemies of integration than the Danish People’s Party. The Danish People’s Party are nothing compared to them. But it’s not enough to resist them - it’s also important to do something real for the integration. Look at the cooperation the Democratic Moslems have with employers - it shows that it can be done.”

It’s become an advantage to be a Democratic Moslem?

“Yes, to take an example, there’s a bank that has contacted us and said that they would like 50-100 new apprentices from the Immigrants’ millieu and we help them get them. As the leader of the Democratic Moslems I have had meetings with some of the biggest Danish companies who want to contribute. The fact that we have shown ourselves to be democrats means that we meet greater understanding. We’re also planning to do job-sites on our website. Before the Muhammed-conflict, employers were worried that employing Moslems would be problematic. But now we can tell the sheep from the goats among the Moslems.”

Do you think you’ll be Minister?

“I will turn down all other offers.”

Until it happens?

“Yes, I want to clean the place up. Because that’s what they fear the most because so much swindling, cheating and humbug is going on.”

Agrees with Fogh: Less religion

What kind of support have you received?

“The many thousands of letters from citizens have touched me deeply. And I have also received a lot of support from fellow politicians. Marianne Jelved (Note: Leader of the Social Liberals) has called, she was very worried. And it also impressed me that Fogh, in the middle of last week’s EU-summit, called me and spent half an hour supporting me. He caught me on my cell phone - all I said was that I needed some breathing space to reconsider my priorities. I didn’t say that I wanted to leave politics.”

So you didn’t consider leaving politics, you were thinking of the opposite, to become a Minister?

“Yes, and I mean it. That is my goal. It may be that some won’t like it. But I am my own best advisor, because I have a project for life now and that is to fight those intolerant Islamists. I am so tired of them -they and their big beards make me want to vomit and then they issue a fatwa that you can’t shave. Many of the refugees from Iran fled those things - and then we have to face it here again. Their goal is to impose Sharia on Moslems in the West. And the motto of the Salafists is - and in Arabic it sounds almost poetic: Allah is our goal, the Koran is our law, Jihad is our way and death as a martyr our highest aspiration. That’s the motto and that’s why they need to be fought to last fucking Democrat.”

Is it out of the question to make the Democratic Moslems a political party?

“Yes.”

Why?

“The political is not the primary thing in the Democratic Moslems. On the board are people from several different parties. The primary goal is to spread Democracy among Moslems. And to do everything to draw away the marginalised Moslems from the Islamists and to include them in Danish society. That’s also why I don’t like defining myself by my religion - I agree with Fogh that religion has too big a place in the public space and I disagree totally with Haarder’s wish for more religion. So, no, Democratic Moslems will not become a political party. Even though I am sometimes frustrated, I feel more at home with the Social Liberals. I have been a member for 22 years and I feel that my actions are in keeping with spirit of the brothers Brandes and Hørup.”