The Jihad Transformation

The town of Bolton lies in what used to be the industrial belt of northwestern England. It was a part of Lancashire when I lived in England back in Harold Wilson’s time, but all that has changed — it now seems to be in Greater Manchester. In those days I lived in Yorkshire, which was a traditional rival (if not enemy) of Lancashire. However, when facing off against the “bloody Southerners”, not to mention the Welsh, the Scots, or those wogs across the Channel, the two counties were like brothers.

Back then Bolton was still largely without cultural enrichment. The Pakis, as they were commonly known in the age before PC, had begun their incursions into Bradford and its suburbs, but most of the old industrial towns in the region were still largely inhabited by the English, with some outlanders from Wales and Ireland. Yet in 2014, not only was there a chemistry teacher by the name of Jamshed Javeed at Sharples High School in Bolton, but his life’s dream was to travel to Syria and wage jihad in the way of Allah for the Islamic State.

The before-and-after photos above show Mr. Javeed’s jihad transformation, from a clean-cut reputable young man with a responsible job into a disheveled and hirsute mujahid. Kind of like a hippie in the old days, but without as much emphasis on peace ’n’ love.

The following two articles describe the trial of Jamshed Javeed in Woolwich Crown Court. Neither of them leaves JIM entirely unmentioned, but the first one, from The Bolton News, is more forthright in its acknowledgement of the religious and ideological motives behind the defendant’s desire to join a terrorist group in the Middle East.

Notice that the prosecutor felt compelled to insist that Mr. Javeed’s intended actions were “not… about the religion of Islam”:

Sharples High School chemistry teacher planned to commit ‘multiple acts of murder fighting alongside ISIS’

A CHEMISTRY teacher who planned to travel to Syria to fight alongside Islamic State prepared himself to commit “multiple acts of murder”, a court has heard.

Sharples High School teacher Jamshed Javeed was among a group of young Muslim men who became radicalised and “determined to fight Jihad” in 2013.

The 30-year-old helped his younger brother Mohammed and two other men join the terrorist group, also known as Isis, in Syria by providing money for flights as well as clothing and equipment, Woolwich Crown Court in London was told today.

Javeed is then said to have prepared to travel to the country with another member of the group, Nur Hassan, to fight with Isis and their fellow Britons against government forces.

In November 2013, he bought clothing, equipment and flight tickets but he was stopped from travelling by his family, who hid the clothes he had prepared, along with his passport.

Javeed, who is married with a young child, pressed ahead with his plans despite the pleas of his wife and family not to go, prosecutor Simon Denison QC told the court.

He said: “He persisted, buying more clothing and equipment to take with him for himself and others, and applying for a replacement passport.”

The teacher, from Levenshulme, Manchester, was arrested in December 2013 and police found material on his mobile phones and computers providing evidence of a “violent Islamist ideology” and his “intention to engage in acts of terrorism in support of that Islamist ideology”.

Javeed, who taught 11 to 16-year-olds at Sharples, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts.

He accepts he intended to travel to Syria to join rebels against the “vicious” Assad regime but in a basis of plea he claimed he has never supported “the aims of Isis as now revealed and understood” and insisted he is not an extremist.

Mr Denison said it was clear the action Javeed intended to engage in “would have involved the use of firearms and/or explosives”.

He said: “This case, of course, is not about who is right, and who is wrong, in the conflict in Syria — as if anyone could say.

“It is not about humanitarian aid. Nor is it about the religion of Islam.

“It is about the defendant assisting others in preparing, and preparing himself, to commit multiple acts of murder in guerilla warfare to advance their religious or ideological cause.”

The sentencing hearing is scheduled to last two days. […]

The BBC is more reticent in its approach. Although it mentions “jihad”, the “jihadist mindset”, and “jihadist ideology”, its only reference to Islam is the name of the Islamic State:

Teacher Jamshed Javeed jailed for Syria ‘jihad’ plan

A chemistry teacher who was poised to travel to Syria to fight with the group that became widely known as Islamic State has been jailed for six years.

Jamshed Javeed, from Manchester, was “determined to fight jihad” despite pleas from his family not to, Woolwich Crown Court heard.

Javeed, 30, who admitted terror offences, claimed in court he wanted to go to support ordinary Syrians.

He was arrested in December 2013 hours before he was set to leave the UK.

Javeed, a teacher at Sharples High School in Bolton, had been preparing to leave his home on Cringle Road, Levenshulme, after helping his younger brother Mohammed make the trip to Syria.

The teacher’s relatives initially foiled his plans by hiding his passport but he persisted even after learning his wife was pregnant.

‘Martyr’ aim

Police found £1,490 in cash, thermal gloves and combat-style trousers in a rucksack during a search at his home.

At an earlier hearing, Javeed admitted two counts of engaging in conduct in preparation of terror acts but insisted he was travelling only to support the people of Syria, not to join Islamic State.

But in sentencing him, Judge Michael Topolski said he was “not satisfied” Javeed had rejected “Isis’s ultimate aims” and believed he remained “adherent to a violent jihadist mindset” and considered him “dangerous”.

He said by autumn 2013 he had “become sufficiently radicalised and committed to a violent jihadist ideology that you were part of a group of young men determined to travel to Syria to join Isis and to fight and die for them”.

Judge Topolski said: “I find that you were not planning to return to this country… but rather to die, if you could, as a martyr.”

He said Javeed played an “important role” in enabling his younger brother and three other men to travel to Syria to fight.

“One of those young men is now dead. The other three are effectively missing.”

[…]

Judge Topolski imposed an extended sentence of nine years, comprising a custodial term of six years and an extended licence period of three years.

Speaking after sentencing, Det Ch Supt Tony Mole from Greater Manchester Police said: “Javeed was an otherwise law-abiding man who had a responsible job, a child and another one on the way.

“However, from August last year both his appearance and behaviour started to change and in a short space of time he started to support the Isis cause and those planning to travel to Syria.

“He had bought equipment to take with him and had given money to help others travel there.”

For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.

Hat tip: Mithrandir.

11 thoughts on “The Jihad Transformation

  1. “Nor is it about the religion of Islam.”
    OMG Those Brits are truly living in lala land!
    It’s ALL about islam you [epithets redacted] island dwellers.*

    * Note from Admin: It was the Celts swarming Rome from the north who painted themselves. Brits are more staid than that.

    • You conflate the people of these islands with the ‘news’ services. There is little similarity between the two and we are capable of the same degree of anger and disbelief at the misinformation fed to us as you are. Nor are we all primitive savages. I hope for an apology: are you man enough for that?

  2. I am English. I resent being referred to as a Brit – particularly by those in one of our former colonies who ought to know better.

    • Have to disagree with you here, Peter. I’m comfortable with either, and take issue with, in particular, Scots who aren’t proud Brits, especially while we English subsidise them!

      • I’m Scottish and a proud Brit as are many Scots I know, several serving with distinction.
        The anti-Darwinian welfare state and unfair distribution are I agree, problems,
        (as are the Salafist friendly faux-nationalists but that’s another story).
        However problems like the Barnett Formula and the West Lothian question can be solved.
        But differences between the Scots and English pale into utter insignificance, when viewed from the context of the EU’s multikulti agenda- and if the ENP reaches fruition, there will be no going back from that.
        English, Scots,Irish and Welsh, will become a quaint regional stamp on an EU passport on Airstrip One.
        The cultures completely undermined and identities destroyed.

  3. You may laugh at this, but I have found throughout my life that when looking into the eyes of the closely photographed, as in those pics in this article, I get vibes that are not always pleasant, in fact, some have made me recoil as from a threatening Cobra. And those vibes are instantaneous and occur in such a short time, like a matter of milliseconds, that it is almost like a physical assault, a slap on the face if you will without the pain. It is difficult to describe my reaction to viewing such photographs, but if one can appreciate seeing something that has an immediate adverse affect on the mind, then that is pretty close to what I perceive, but without any tangible evidence for why I feel that way.

    I got slapped in the face when viewing the photo of the shaved Muslim, but not the bearded version? And I have no idea why the bearded version would be less confrontational.

    Maybe there is something in why ancient peoples do not like to be photographed?

    • “I have found throughout my life that when looking into the eyes of the closely photographed, as in those pics in this article, I get vibes that are not always pleasant…I got slapped in the face when viewing the photo of the shaved Muslim, but not the bearded version”

      Others have commented on the dead eyes of fervent Muslims. Your observation reinforces by own view.

      My view is that the entire face frames the eyes. Most people focus on their expressions, seeking to communicate happiness, displeasure, joy, whatever. Such expressions include using the muscles of the entire face. Actors are masters at using the face muscles to emphatically express emotions.

      Islam is a tribal-based, primitive system, resting on the foundations of social position, wealth, and power. Women are chattel, under the control of a male, and in ideal Islam, have to say as to who they marry. They also have no social life not controlled by a male relative. The men in Islam use power, threats, and money to control other men as well as women. Everyone is a potential enemy to a Muslim, but there are degrees of suspicion, based on the degree of relationship.

      Once a person, particularly male, goes deeply into Islam, the need for emotional expression in relationships disappears. An example is the female jihadis who travel to ISIS to marry Muslim fighters they have never met. Once there, they put on niquabs, which absolutely hide any facial expressions.

      So, a fervent Muslim will have no need of facial expressions. All his (her) relationships are defined by power, family, and position in the religious society. All male-female relationships are explicitly dictated by authority. There is literally no need for a Muslim to focus on facial expressions for any purpose. The “dead” eyes so many people remark on are actually a completely passive facial expression. There is literally no need for Muslims, or Muslim converts, to go to the trouble of projecting any type of expressive emotion.

      Islam goes further to actively discourage any emotional expressiveness, to the point of obsession. Women are made to cover not only their hair, but their entire faces. In any case, they are not allowed to mingle in public, or, in Saudi Arabia, to even drive cars. Men and women are not allowed to date, and wives are not allowed to meet strangers not approved by their “owners”.

      All the expressive arts are literally forbidden by Islam. No acting, no musical expression, and no artistic representation of humans, which inevitably would involve a focus on the expression projecting some thought. Islam systematically suppresses any emotional display.

      This, in my opinion, is the reason for the prevalence of the “dead eye” Muslims. The phenomenon is very real, and very symptomatic.

      • That is one lengthy and informative reply RonaldB. Thankyou.

        But it is not only photo’s of Muslims that occasionally hit me right between the eyes. I understand the ‘dead’ eyes aspect to what you have brought up and maybe that is why I get nothing from the eyes of the bearded version – because his soul is no longer controlling him, but there have been many more photo’s, and in particular of Obama, that have conveyed to me feelings that I find impossible to put into words – let’s just call those feelings bad feelings for now, because that is the best I can describe them as.

        When I was a police officer I would often get the same kind of ‘bad feelings’ when coming into contact with known criminals who had history for violence. One incident I attended I covered the passenger (ID unknown to me at the time) in a motor vehicle stop, and before even realizing I had actually done it, I had placed my hand on my revolver ready to retrieve it to point at him, such was the ‘bad feeling’ I got from looking into his eyes.

        He smirked back at me while offering no words which really caused my senses to go to high alert – I found out later he was a violent thug who had already put some people in hospital and sent one person to an early grave and was not averse to physically attacking police if given the opportunity.

        His eyes were not dead but emitting, and in my opinion, malevolent thoughts.

  4. It is remarkable that it was his immediate family who turned him in to the police. Even more remarkable is the fact that a recording, made by his sister, of heated exchanges between Javeed and his family were conducted entirely in English of the Lancashire variety, complete with some anglo saxon words.
    (I have Sikh friends who still often talk in Punjabi, punctuated with anglo saxon, between themselves even though they were born here.)

    The bottom line though is that he has still succeeded in his economic jihad. Had he gone we Brits would have been supporting his wife and child and the one yet to be born. As it is we still will be doing that but will also be incurring annual costs of £40k ($60k) per year to keep him in prison. When he is released he will not be allowed to teach so the cost of his education is lost to the UK but still available to the jihadis.

  5. forget the before and after inanity… he’s got the same dead and threatening eyes before and after… surely we can rise above dumb class image and hippy [content that I deprecate].

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