Dirty Kuffar

'Dirty Kuffar' (Kuffar is Arabic for "nonbelievers") is a controversial 2004 Jihad style Islamist extremist rap video produced by Muslim British rappers Sheikh Terra and the Soul Salah Crew, or, as the video says: featuring the Soul Salah Crew.

The music video begins with a CNN video clip showing US troops shooting an Iraqi individual and then rejoicing,[1][2][3] the clip is then followed by the logo, "Digihad", playing on the terms Digital and Jihad. The Beat of Dirty Kuffar is also the same of the popular Lumidee song "Never Leave You-Uh Oh."

The soldier being interviewed at the beginning of the video[4] is allegedly called Riddle and was interviewed by CNN.[5][6][7]

The 'Digihad' logo has been spoofingly taken from the racist and White supremacist British Combat 18 website logo,[8][9] only that the Swastika has been removed.

Significance

Unlike any other controversial rap song or form of music, 'Dirty Kuffar', as an independent song, has hit the mainstream media headlines from the day it was released in 2004 to present.[10][11][12] and even internationally.[13][14][15] The Globe and Mail on 17 August 2007 have said that:

In Australia, newspapers, television reports, Google hit results for terms such as "jihad rap" return hundreds of references and has been a hot topic on both Music and Right-Wing internet forums.

This may be because of the significance of the impact of Islamic and Western cultures and beliefs being such a popular topic or the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Western countries.

As of 24 June 2007, over 3 years since the videos release, Google return over 27,500 hits for the search 'Dirty Kuffar' and over 818,000 for 'Jihad Rap'. A Google search for 'Digihad' returns 14,700 hits.

The Arabic news station Al-Jazeera reported on the phenomenon.[17]

Steven Emerson, an investigator of jihadist activities of the Investigative Project, via jihadwatch.org comments on the video:

"The video you are about to watch is a rap video designed to inspire people to take up jihad against the West. Posted on a radical Islamic website based out of the United Kingdom, the video is undeniably entertaining, as professionally produced as any video you might see on MTV. Consider the irony: radical fundamentalism, sworn to destroy Western culture and beliefs, uses that culture to market its hate. Paralleling the same deception, the Islamic organization that produced and marketed this video claims to be an Islamic "human rights" group but in reality is a group sworn to support the killing of Jews, Christians and moderate Muslims." [18]

Screen shots from the video depict the singers wearing Palestinian Keffiyeh's around his head, atop a balaclava.

2004

The song is a rap/dancehall song that is underpinned by the much-used Diwali Riddim. The video has recently been posted on the British website run by the Islamic extremist Mohammad al-Massari,[11] the UK-based Saudi Arabian dissident who has lived in Britain since 1994. Al-Massari claims that the video has been selling in large quantities at mosques to the younger generation and is in heavy demand overseas. In 2004 al-Massari told the Guardian newspaper that he did not know a single young Muslim who has not either seen or got the video.[19]

Al-Massari also stated that "It is selling everywhere. Everyone I meet at the mosque is asking for it." Al-Massari's Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights in Saudi Arabia - a group which came to Britain in 1994 to publicise injustices in the desert kingdom - also distributes the four-minute video on its website.[20]

The rapper fronting the video calls himself Sheikh Terra and the Soul Salah Crew - a take on the rap group So Solid Crew. Salat is Arabic for "prayer". On the video Nazis, Ku Klux Klan, Tony Blair, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin, Ariel Sharon and Nick Griffin are main Dirty Kuffars. The video attacks Muslim political leaders like former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as traitors to Islam. The video also featured Hamza Yusuf with the caption stating that he was one of the "Scholars for Dollars".

It was stated by the Daily Times of Pakistan that "Al Qaeda’s newest weapon against the West is a violent English-language rap tune..." [21]

The British National Party has stated that "More than a tiny minority of young British Muslims turned the 'Dirty Kuffar' rap video into a cult." [22][23]

On 10 November 2004, former Jihadist Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, reviewed the song for Frontpage Magazine.[24]

2005

On the 2 August 2005 the well-known Bronx artist DJ Damien released an Internet-based tribute single in conjunction with Morcoq, entitled "Dirty Kuffar (Acoustic Tribute)." The lyrics follow the theme of the original, but in this version main Dirty Kuffars include Jacques Chirac and Lap Fung Chan.

In 2005 'Dirty Kuffar' featured extensively in a programme called 'Media Jihad: As Sahab Foundation' , A CBC programme based on a documenaty originally produced in Japan by NHK Television and was updated by the Discovery Times Channel.

2006

On 6 December Channel 4's Dispatches programme aired 'Jihad TV',[25] a documentary investigating the fact that "Internet footage of beheadings has become a vital weapon in al-Qaeda's jihad against the West. Dispatches investigates this powerful propaganda machine and its impact on young Arabs and Muslims in the UK." In this show the Dirty Kuffar video was extensively reviewed.[26]

On 27 November the BBC reported into "Online Jihadism" and exclusively featured the 'Dirty Kuffar' rap video.[27]

The 2006 documentary, Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, features 'Dirty Kuffar' and discusses online Jihad.

2007

In 2007 The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that the 21 July bombers appeared in court and it was witnessed that they had watched the video.[12]

In January 2007 the 'Dirty Kuffar' video was featured in the CNN Behind the Scenes series documentary 'The War Within' about radical Islam in Britain.[28]

The video also featured in the Fox News documentaries on radical Islam, Radical Islam: Terror In Its Own Words, and Obsession: The Threat of Radical Islam.

In May 2007 Digihad remixed Dirty Kuffar, version 2.1 and released it through the video sharing website YouTube [29] and, in March 2007 another video, 'Dirty Takfiri, with Azzam the American was released.[30] However, although not promoting 'Dirty Kuffar', 'Dirty Takfiri' was an anti-Jihad video spoofing Dirty Kuffar."

In July, online news websites are featuring stories on Islamic extremism and Jihad on the internet, mentioning 'Dirty Kuffar',[31][32] and on 18 August the Globe and Mail ran a story entitled 'Terror goes digital. With Canadian help', reporting how popular the song is still.[16]

2008

In May 2008 Investor's Business Daily reported in the article 'Google's TerrorTube'[33] that: "Among the videos remaining on YouTube is a slick piece of pro-terrorist propaganda called 'Dirty Kuffar'"

Whilst Family Security Matters report that "One of the most well-known examples" (of content that supports the goals of violent Islamists.) "is the rap video 'Dirty Kuffar'"[34]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Information Clear Articleing House
  2. ↑ Information Clearing House Transcript
  3. ↑ CNN Full Transcript
  4. ↑ YouTube - Broadcast Yourself
  5. ↑ Take No Prisoners
  6. ↑ CNN Presents: Fit To Kill
  7. ↑ "CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  8. ↑ Blood and Honour Combat 18
  9. ↑ http://www.skrewdriver.net/c18bonf.jpg
  10. ↑ Gardner, Frank (25 October 2006). "The growth of 'online Jihadism'". BBC News. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Barnett, Antony (8 February 2004). "Islamic rappers' message of terror". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "July 21 trial jury watch beheading videos". The Daily Telegraph (London). 13 February 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  13. ↑ Toronto's 24 News channel, Pluse24
  14. ↑ Al-Jazeera
  15. ↑ Pakistans Daily Times
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 The Globe and Mail, 'Terror goes digital. With Canadian help'
  17. ↑ Al Jazeera English - Archive - 9/11 Rap Wows British Muslims
  18. ↑ Jihad Watch: Jihad rap from Britain
  19. ↑ Islamic rappers' message of terror
  20. ↑ Al-Massari
  21. ↑ Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
  22. ↑ BNP News, 13 July 2005
  23. ↑ BNP News, 12 February 2004
  24. ↑ http://daveedgr.com/publications/internet-journals/jihadi-rap/
  25. ↑ Channel 4 - News - Dispatches - Jihad TV
  26. ↑ Jihad_TV.avi
  27. ↑ YouTube - " Online Jihadism "
  28. ↑ "Amanpour: Radical, moderate Muslims battle for young English minds - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  29. ↑ YouTube - Dirty Kuffar - DIGIHAD (REMIX 2.1)
  30. ↑ YouTube - Broadcast Yourself
  31. ↑ E-jihadists take advantage of net technology good and bad | ZDNet Government | ZDNet.com
  32. ↑ Technology News: Internet: Web of Terror, Part 1: Extremists Take to the Net
  33. ↑ Google's TerrorTube - Investor's Business Daily, 5 May 2008
  34. ↑ Violent Islamist Extremism, the Internet and the Homegrown Terrorist Threat: Part Three of Five - Family Security Matters, 21 May 2008

External links

Video

Newspaper articles in date order