This research was compiled by researchers of The Glenn Beck Program.
Watch the full episode of The Root on demand on TheBlaze TV. Get all the details HERE.
Before the 1930’s Muslims and Jews had a much different relationship. Jews moving back to their ancestral homeland was actually looked upon favorably to many Arab leaders. That began to change in the early 1930’s. Egypt was in the middle of severe economic hardship. A man named Hassan al-Banna began to teach that reason for their suffering was because of 2 things: western influence and…..the Jews. Al-Banna was more than just an agitator. His skills as a teacher and community organizer rallied hundreds of muslims to his cause. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded on a platform of hate. Rejecting western influence, establishing the caliphate, and death in jihad for Allah was the message.
"Allah is our goal, the prophet our model, the Koran our constitution, the Jihad our path and death for the sake of Allah the loftiest of our wishes."
The Muslim Brotherhood’s radical antisemitism soon got the attention of the National Socialists in Germany. The Nazis began funding them through the German diplomatic office in Cairo. Brynjar Lia said this in his book The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt:
“Documents seized in the flat of Wilhelm Stellbogen, the Director of the German News Agency affiliated to the German Legation in Cairo, show that prior to October 1939 the Muslim Brothers received subsidies from his organisation. Stellbogen was instrumental in transferring these funds to the Brothers, which were considerably larger than the subsidies offered to other anti-British activists. These transfers appear to have been coordinated by Haj Amin el-Husseini and some of his Palestinian contacts in Cairo.”
Zionism in the 1920’s had the effect of focusing al-Banna and the Muslim Brotherhood’s cause. They would find a like minded ally in The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini.
Amin al-Husseini was fiercely opposed to Zionism and the establishment of a national home for Jewish people in Palestine. He personally led armed revolts against Jews and organized mass riots. The British sentenced al-Husseini to ten years in prison, but he fled to trans-Jordan to evade capture.
In 1921 the British were looking to appease the Arabs so they pardoned al-Husseini of his charges and offered him the highest islamic position of the time, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. It was at this time that al-Husseini began to use his position as the Grand Mufti to infuse Islam with fierce antisemitism. He made allegations that Jews were conspiring to attack the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Muslim sites in Jerusalem. This escalated tensions further leading to riots were hundreds were killed and beaten.
In 1933, al-Husseini initiated contact with the German delegation in Jerusalem. The purpose of the meeting was to request the help of the Nazis in eliminating the Jewish threat from Palestine. What was his offer in return? “A pan-Islamic jihad” that would be in alliance with Hitler against Jews around the world.
“The Muslims inside and outside Palestine welcome the new regime of Germany and hope for the extension of the fascist anti-democratic, governmental system to other countries.”
The Grand Mufti Of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini
The Mufti, inspired by the Hitler Youth, set of what he called the “Nazi Scouts” in an effort to bring Nazi Germany to the Middle East. They even used the swastika as their symbol. The Mufti traveled to Egypt meeting with the Muslim Brotherhood and other locations throughout the Middle East setting up similar groups. The head of the Hitler Youth, Baldur von Schirach, did the same. Funneling German funds into the Middle East, von Schirach established the “Arab Club” in Damascus specifically to train recruits for the Mufti’s insurgency.
During this time al-Husseini continued to use his position as Grand Mufti to infuze Islam with fierce anti-Zionism. If anyone rejected these notions he would publicly ridicule them during public speeches. He founded the World Islamic Congress in addition to numerous other radical groups all across the Middle East. The most famous of these may be Izz al-Din al-Qassam’s group the “Black Hand”. Al-Qassam would later be the namesake for Hamas’ suicide bombers...the Qassam Brigades. The Mufti supplied them all with arms and weapons.
The culmination of this all was the Arab uprising in 1936. Arab militants attacked a Jewish truck convoy killing 2 Jews. A Jewish paramilitary group retaliated killing 2 Arabs. This set off the revolt. The Mufti formed a group called the Arab High Command that called for Arabs to strike back at Jews and Jewish businesses. Thousands of Jews were displaced and their farms and businesses were burned.
The British Government quickly moved in to put down the revolt. The Mufti was blamed for inciting the entire thing. He fled to Lebanon where he used Nazi funds to instigate another Arab revolt from 1937 to 1939. From Lebanon he went to Iraq where he continued to use his German connections to further antisemitism. He was one of the main supporters of the Al--Muthanna Club a pan-Arab fascist society. They, along with German ambassador Fritz Grobba developed programs to radicalize the Islamic youth modeled after the Hitler Youth.
After a failed coup attempt in Iraq al-Husseini was forced to flee yet again. This time European fascists intervened more directly. Italian MIlitary Intelligence (Servizio Informazioni Militari) smuggled the Mufti out of Iraq and into Italy.
The Mufti arrived in Rome on October 10th 1941.Just 2 weeks later he would be in meetings with Mussolini. The topic was for Axis support of an Arab nation that included Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Transjordan. The homeland for the Jews was to be destroyed. The Jews living there...exterminated.
Al-Husseini’s proposals were accepted by the Italian foreign ministry. The Mufti was sent to Berlin to discuss his terms with Adolf Hitler himself.
Hitler made it very clear to the Mufti that, although he wouldn’t make a public statement, he supported Arab liberation. His eventual goal was to hunt down the Jews that resided in Palestine under British protection. After that, Palestine was for the Arabs.
Al-Husseini stayed on in Germany throughout the war. There he would learn radical antisemitism from those that perfected it...Hitler and the Nazis.
The Mufti wrote this in his memoirs regarding his relationship with the Nazis:
"Our fundamental condition for cooperating with Germany was a free hand to eradicate every last Jew from Palestine and the Arab world. I asked Hitler for an explicit undertaking to allow us to solve the Jewish problem in a manner befitting our national and racial aspirations and according to the scientific methods innovated by Germany in the handling of its Jews." The answer I got from the Fuehrer was: 'The Jews are yours."
The Mufti collaborated with men like Adolf Eichman (orchestrator of the holocaust) and Heinrich Himmler (head of the SS). He was taken on tours of German concentration camps. Knowing full well of Hitler’s “Final Solution” al-Husseini deliberately persuaded European leaders not to send their Jews to the national home set up in Palestine. Where did he want them sent? To Poland...Auschwitz.
To the Hungarian foreign minister:
"I ask your Excellency to permit me to draw your attention to the necessity of preventing the Jews from leaving your country for Palestine, and if there are reasons which make their removal necessary, it would be indispensable and infinitely preferable to send them to other countries where they would find themselves under active control, for example, in Poland, thus avoiding danger and preventing damage."
In 1943 Heinrich Himmler took the Mufti completely under his wing. He asked al-Husseini to help in the creation of a Bosnian SS unit. After Bosnian Muslim clerics preached out against joining with the Nazis, he personally travelled to Sarajevo to throw the weight of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in favor of Hitler.
"The active cooperation of the world's 400 million Muslims with their loyal friends, the German, can be of decisive influence upon the outcome of the war. You, my Bosnian Muslims, are the first Islamic division and serve as an example of the active collaboration....My enemy's enemy is my friend."
For his help in exterminating the Jews while with the SS Heinrich Himmler wrote the Mufti this letter of appreciation (telegram):
"To the Grand Mufti: The National Socialist movement of Greater Germany has, since its inception, inscribed upon its flag the fight against the world Jewry. It has therefore followed with particular sympathy the struggle of freedom-loving Arabs, especially in Palestine, against Jewish interlopers. In the recognition of this enemy and of the common struggle against it lies the firm foundation of the natural alliance that exists between the National Socialist Greater Germany and the freedom-loving Muslims of the whole world. In this spirit I am sending you on the anniversary of the infamous Balfour declaration my hearty greetings and wishes for the successful pursuit of your struggle until the final victory. Signed: Reichsfuehrer S.S. Heinrich Himmler"
Today you might notice that radical Islamic ideology sounds the same all over the world. Whether it come from Syria or Iran...Sunni or Shia. That’s because they all had the same teacher.
In 1940’s era Middle East one of the most popular things to do was to listen to radio broadcasts while at cafe’s, restaurants and public squares. Tuning in every day were thousands and thousands of Muslims all listening to a radio show broadcast from a radio tower in Zeesen, Germany. The station’s star became the most famous man in the Arab world at the time...The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini. In between Arabic music and recitations from the Koran, the Mufti mixed in anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda. Besides Hitler, no one else at the time promoted antisemitism and anti western ideology like the Mufti did. It was via the Zeesen radio transmitter that the Mufti helped to transform Islamism into the radical forms we see today. Al-Husseini skillfully blended the words of the Koran with the ideology of the National Socialists in Germany. Fierce anti-semitism, strong opposition and rejection of the western world, and a longing to create a radical authoritarian government that for them was a Sharia dominated Caliphate.
With Zeesen radio providing the inspiration and the Muslim Brotherhood’s community organizing radical Islam spread like wildfire. Muslim Brotherhood numbers went from around 1,000 just before the Arab uprising in Palestine in 1936 to hundreds of thousands by the end of WW2. When WW2 ended the Mufti attempted to flee to Switzerland but was caught and arrested by the French. They transported him to Paris and placed him under house arrest. The French, in order to improve their status in the Middle East, eventually decided to grant the Mufti amnesty and send him to Egypt. A known war criminal that led SS units, campaigned to send Jews to Auschwitz, and the head of their propaganda to the Middle East. Despite all that and multiple requests to extradite him to try him for war crimes he was still sent to Egypt.
European Nazi fascism had effectively been defeated in Europe but had now been exported to the Middle East. It should now seem obvious that it’s no coincidence how the rise of National Socialism in Europe occurred parallel with the rise of radical Islam in the early 1930’s. The Mufti’s escape to Egypt uniting him with the base of the Muslim Brotherhood sealed the deal.
The Mufti and the Muslim Brotherhood would continue to export Islamic extremism all over the Middle East.
The messages of al-Banna and Husseini influenced all the major names and groups associated with radical Islam and jihadists to this day.
Before the clerical regime of Iran took power in the Iranian Revolution in 1979 their leader, the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was an avid listener of Zeesen Radio and a follower of Hassan al-Banna’s teachings. Khomeini was heavily influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood and translated all the works of Sayyid Qutb (Muslim Brotherhood leadership) into Persian. The modern day nation of Iran was founded on the antisemitic and jihadist principles of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Mufti Amin al-Husseini.
- The Mufti’s cousin, Yasser Arafat, would become the head of the PLO.
- The Muslim Brotherhood off shoot Hamas would be co founded by fellow MB member Abdullah Azzam.
- Azzam moved to Jordan after the 6 Day War in 1967 where he led paramilitary attacks against Israel.
- Azzam was also a professor on Sharia at the University of Jordan but was later deposed due to his radical teachings.
- He took a position teaching Sharia at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
- It was there that he met a young Osama bin Laden.
Bin Laden had the funds to go along with Azzam’s radical Muslim Brotherhood ideology. Together they traveled to Afghanistan to help fight the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union was defeated and retreated Azzam and Bin Laden stayed in Afghanistan. Their goal was to train fighters that would eventually go back to Palestine and fight the Israelis.
They called their group Al-qaeda.
Modern day jihadism was born, but had its ethos changed much from the 30’s and 40’s?
No.
The current leader and “Supreme Guide” of the the Muslim Brotherhood summed it up pretty nicely:
“The Jews have dominated the land, spread corruption on earth, spilled the blood of believers and in their actions profaned holy places. Zionists only understand the language of force and will not relent without duress. This will happen only through holy jihad.”
Nothing has changed.
In 2002 the state controlled Egyptian newspaper Al-Akhbar made this comment:
“The entire matter [the Holocaust], as many French and British scientists and researchers have proven, is nothing more than a huge Israeli plot aimed at extorting the German government in particular and the European countries in general. But I, personally and in light of this imaginary tale, complain to Hitler, even saying to him from the bottom of my heart, "If only you had done it, brother, if only it had really happened, so that the world could sigh in relief [without] their evil and sin.”
And this anti-Semetic and anti-western ideology is spreading. Alfred Rosenberg, the head of the Nazi Party's foreign policy department, made this strikingly accurate prediction in 1938:
"The longer the fire continues to burn in Palestine, the stronger becomes the resistance to the Jewish regime of violence in all the Arab states and beyond that in the other Muslim countries too."
Modern day jihadists are using the same playbook, the same ideology, and the same propaganda used and taught by Nazi Germany. Not only is it “becoming stronger” as Rosenberg predicted but it’s also evolving. Al-Qaeda brought jihad global on an entirely new scale. The goal initially was this:
“We shall continue the jihad no matter how long the way, until the last breath and the last beat of the pulse - or until we see the Islamic state established.”
The evolution of radical Islam took another jump when a branch of al qaeda decided that the last portion of their mission statement should happen sooner rather than later. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Al qaeda’s affiliate in Iraq, publically announced their split from Al qaeda and established the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham. ISIS was born.
On June 28th, 2014 al-Baghdadi made it official. The Islamic State Caliphate was established. The dream that was kick started in the 30’s by men like al-Banna and the Mufti, progressed by Azzam and Bin Laden, was now a reality under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
This evolution places significant interest on the end times.
The re-establishment of the Caliphate legitimized portions of the Koran that up until June 28th, 2014 weren’t relevant. According to Islamic teaching there will be a total of 12 legitimate caliphs. The 12th will be the last and will take Muslims to the final battle in Jerusalem. This will be the end of the world. Al-Baghdadi is now the 8th legitimate caliph. For them, it’s only a matter of time before the “armies of Rome” (the west) descend on the town of Dabiq and are conquered in a massive battle. After that an anti-Messiah will arise from the Khorosan area (Eastern Iran) and beat the caliphate all the way back to Jerusalem, initiating the end of the world.
So what does this mean?
The Islamic State is attempting to purify the world before the final battle. To do that they’re willing to call anyone that doesn’t convert and pledge allegiance to the caliph an apostate. That carries with it a death sentence. This includes other Muslims. This is a significant evolution and divergence from modern day jihadism. Not even Al qaeda was willing to go that far. They believed they were preparing for the days leading up to the re-establishment of the Caliphate. ISIS has declared that the caliphate has returned and it’s time to prepare for the next stage….the end.