The Imam Who Defected

Ahmed Akkari is one of the notorious Danish imams who carried the Mohammed cartoons to the Middle East back in 2006. His actions helped inflame tensions that led to riots and resulted in the burning of two Danish embassies (and a Norwegian one, if I recall correctly).

After spending some years in Greenland, Mr. Akkari recently caused a sensation in Denmark by publicly apologizing for his actions and admitting that they were wrong. The Danish media have been buzzing ever since with speculation about whether the imam was sincere, or whether his repentance is being faked for tactical reasons.

Last night Ahmed Akkari was a guest of the Free Press Society in Copenhagen, and spoke at length about his “conversion”. The following article about the occasion was originally published at Dispatch International in a slightly different form:

The imam who defected: Extremists run all Danish mosques

by Ingrid Carlqvist

Finally he is there — on the podium of The Free Press Society. It is half past seven PM, Thursday, August 22, 2013, as the former Islamist imam and deadly enemy of the Free Press Society, Ahmed Akkari, faces his fiercest critics.

A tiny man with more than a hundred deaths and the burning of two Danish embassies on his conscience.

“Thank you for inviting me. I don’t know if I deserve all this, but perhaps my journey through life may be of use to you,” says Ahmed Akkari as he timidly surveys the packed hall in the heart of Copenhagen.

Since ex-Islamist Ahmed Akkari came out of the closet three weeks ago, he has been the man of the hour. On television shows, in newspaper articles and on radio, he has tried to explain what has happened to him. He went from being a hardened and fierce Islamist to a kindly and thoughtful person, filled with love and gratitude for Denmark.

The metamorphosis is difficult to explain and hard to believe. Is his conversion sincere or he is he applying taqiyya — the right of Muslims to lie and deceive in the service of Islam?

In 1985, when Akkari was six, his parents fled to Denmark from war-torn Lebanon. They chose Denmark because it was a safe country without too many immigrants — thinking that they would find a peaceful life here.

Ahmed Akkari attended public school as the only immigrant in his class. He had every chance in the world to adapt and become a normal Dane. But in his teens he was drawn to religious circles and before realizing what was happening, he had become poisoned by extremism.

He embarked on an education as an imam and suddenly he detested democracy and free speech. Allah and life after death became his only concerns. When the daily Jyllands-Posten published the famous Mohammed cartoons in September 2005, he was instrumental in condemning Denmark. Together with other imams he traveled to The Middle East in order to stir up a glowing hatred against the small northern country that had had the audacity to offend the prophet. The result: riots leading to the death of more than a hundred people, two Danish embassies burnt to the ground and a boycott of Danish products.

Vengefully, Akkari and his cohorts tried to force then Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to apologize for Jyllands-Posten’s cartoons. But the Prime Minister stood firm and explained that Denmark enjoys freedom of the press and that he neither could nor would apologize. That made no impression on Denmark’s boisterous cultural elite that just could not understand why one had to offend the country’s and the world’s Muslims this way.

But now Ahmed Akkari understands. He has undergone a metamorphosis. How did that happen? And can we trust him?

It all started when Akkari got help to return to Denmark from Lebanon in 2006. He had settled there for a while but suddenly found himself in the midst of a war after Hezbollah had started firing rockets into Israel and was met with air attacks and ground operations. Denmark evacuated several thousand citizens — among them Ahmed Akkari.

“Despite the fact that I had done so much damage to Denmark, the country let me in again. Nobody arrested me at the airport. I was not interrogated and nobody questioned my right to return.”

His gratitude is palpable. He would not have been surprised if he had been met with another reaction. Has he deserved this treatment?

Ahmed Akkari sought work as a teacher in Greenland — a constituent part of the Danish realm — and there he embarked on the process that led to his conversion.

During his time with the imams, he encountered more falsehood than he has ever experienced. They smile at you but work against you, he explains. When he went to Greenland, he still believed in the Islamic ideology. The fault, as he saw it, lay with people who did not interpret it in the right way.

In the stillness of the polar nights, the thoughts came to Akkari. He started reading the world’s most important books.

“I read all the philosophers of the Enlightenment. I read world history and I realized that people are what they read. There was so much I didn’t know. I read about the freedom fighters who throughout history have tried to prevent religion from curtailing free thought and I realized that Denmark was in fact the oasis my parents had imagined.”

A couple of years ago, it finally dawned on Akkari. He had made his choice but had no intention of going public. A journalist made him change his mind and three weeks ago, the daily B.T. published the story: Denmark’s enemy number one asks for forgiveness.

He has had coffee with the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who drew the most famous of the Mohammed cartoons and who was subsequently the victim of an assassination attempt for having “offended the prophet”.

“I was overwhelmed by the way Westergaard accepted me and forgave me. He showed me precisely what is so fantastic about Denmark.”

A member of the audience asked Akkari if he had been sent to Greenland to convert the Greenlanders and establish the first Muslim state in the Western world.

“No. I understand the question but the truth is that I prayed to God never to send any Muslims to Greenland. I was so tired of corrupt imams spreading their totalitarian ideology that I was convinced they would not only melt the ice cap if they had come there, but set it on fire.”

The priest Søren Krarup asked Ahmed Akkari if he understood that Christianity is the reason why Denmark is such a peaceful oasis. Akkari responded that he understood Krarup’s thinking but gave no clear answer. It is obvious that he hopes for a dialogue with Muslims who are still in the grip of the extremists and that he doesn’t want to burn all his bridges.

How does he think that Danes and Swedes should react to the Islamization of our countries?

“Go on being as tolerant and wonderful as you are, but don’t be so naïve! Stick to your traditions and don’t give preferential treatment to Muslims. They should not have the right to behave badly in countries that have let them in. I once thought that Denmark was a country of pig-lovers that had to be forced to bend to Islam. Now I don’t understand why I thought that way. You have the right to keep your peaceful countries with your culture and traditions.”

The evening is over and Ahmed Akkari happily accepts the Free Press Society’s mug with the famous drawing of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban. He looks tired but pleased. As the audience leave the hall, most of them seem convinced that Akkari has been sincere.

The only losers are the members of the Danish cultural elite who stood on his side but are now standing with their pants down.

See the original article for photos of Ahmed Akkari’s talk at the Free Press Society.

41 thoughts on “The Imam Who Defected

  1. I think it’s close to irrelevant if he’s sincere in his “conversion” or not – It’s something we can only speculate about. The issue ought to be wether he helps clarify or obfuscate. He seems much like a second Maajid Nawaz, the British former member/leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir, and I’m unsure of how helpful Maajid is, maybe some Brits can shed some light on that?

    regards

  2. He’s sincere. This has the ring of authenticity to it. The kicker is the evident and real humility. Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, here is your equal in sincerity.

  3. I think this is good, but we must remain cautious of the man and allow time to confirm his “conversation.” Time and consistency has a way of proving all things.

  4. Sorry, not buying any.

    He didn’t renounce the shahada and he didn’t convert. He chose the stealth jihad.

    “When he went to Greenland, he still believed in the Islamic ideology. The fault, as he saw it, lay with people who did not interpret it in the right way.”

    Islam cannot be interpreted, it has to be taken straight up, undiluted. “The right way” is the way of Muhammad. “The straight path” is the way of jihad.

    “They chose Denmark because it was a safe country without too many immigrants…”

    Translation: they came to Denmark not to become Danes, but to make Denmark Islamic.

    Jihad by hijra, immigration. This “moderate” Muslim is still one of them, not one of us.

    • “When he went to Greenland, he still believed in the Islamic ideology. The fault, as he saw it, lay with people who did not interpret it in the right way.”

      Read those sentences in sequence: “as he saw it” is set in the time frame of “When he went to Greenland” and “still believed” — past tense. And then he read the freedom fighters who saw religion as a problem ….

      That’s not to say he’s 100% sincere (though he does go far beyond the typical “extremists are bad” spiel), but it’s certainly the most plausible reading of the sentence about interpreting Islam the right way: past tense.

      Your second “translation” is pure speculation. There’s nothing to indicate that his parents, the ones who chose to immigrate, were aiming to spread Islam in Denmark. They had seen what Islamic domination did to Lebanon.

      There’s a common pattern of nominal Muslims (born Muslim; faced death penalty for apostasy) recognizing that non-Muslim societies are superior in important ways. Then their children may have some challenges and disappointments in the new country, and in the effort to deal with their problems, they start to think it’s because the society around them is corrupt and they need to return to the religion that their parents essentially left behind.

      That’s not to say that jihad by hijra doesn’t exist, but it doesn’t explain every immigration story.

      • Radegunda says:

        “Your second “translation” is pure speculation. There’s nothing to indicate that his parents, the ones who chose to immigrate, were aiming to spread Islam in Denmark. They had seen what Islamic domination did to Lebanon.”

        Not.

        Islam means submission.

        Its exactly what I said: these people, this imam, may be humbled by the generosity of the kafirs, but he and his clan, are still Muslims, and Islam must conquer, must dominate, otherwise they are no longer Muslims and they will be replaced by better people, that’s what the Koran says.

        The imam didn’t renounce the shahada. He will submit.

        I recommend you read this excerpt from The Al Qaeda Reader:

        “There are only three choices in Islam: either willing submission, or payment of the jizya thereby physical, though not spiritual submission to the authority of Islam, or the sword–for it is not right to let him live (an infidel). The matter is summed up for every person alive; either submit, or live under the suzerainty of Islam, or die.” (Note to Michael,what does this have to do with any policy grievances? This is a statement of permanent, endless, obligatory religious war).

        “Muslims and especially the learned among them, should spread Sharia law to the world, that and nothing else…(Muhammad:)”I have been commanded to battle mankind until they declare there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah…He also said, per Berida..”Call them to Islam, if they respond (convert) accept this… if they refuse to accept Islam, demand of them the jizya…if they refuse, seek the aid of Allah and fight them. Does Islam, or does it not, force people by the power of the sword to submit to its authority, corporeally if
        not spiritually? Yes.”

        “In fact, Muslims are obligated to raid the lands of the infidels, occupy them, and exchange their systems of governance for an Islamic system, barring any practice that contradicts the Shari’a from being publicly voiced among the people as was the case at the dawn of Islam…They say that our Shari’a does not impose our particular beliefs upon others, this is a false assumption. For it is, in fact, part of our religion to impose our particular beliefs upon others.”

        “Offensive Jihad is an established and basic tenet of this religion. It is a religious duty rejected only by the most deluded. Divine foundations that are built upon hating the infidels, repudiating them with tongue and teeth till they embrace Islam or pay the jizya with willing submission and humility. The Prophet was “sent in the final hours with the sword so that none is worshiped but Allah alone, partnerless.”
        –“Moderate Islam is a Prostration to the West” (Usama bin Laden)

  5. “Despite the fact that I had done so much damage to Denmark, the country let me in again. Nobody arrested me at the airport. I was not interrogated and nobody questioned my right to return.”

    Imam, that’s because they don’t dare to incite or bother you. #2 They did not want to lose you. How could they lose such a valuable Muslim? Inconceivable. They are Christians : so they not only will turn the other cheek, but also …er well. Oooops. Did I connect Scandinavia and Christianity. God forbid.

  6. A White family I know lived in Uganda for about 20 years. The mother allowed her two children to play in the dirt with the local kids, with bare feet.
    At some point the children became ill. Some form of tick had entered their bodies through the feet and parasitised both of them. By the time the son was
    50 he had had more than 10 operations to deal with cysts on the liver, and
    elsewhere. Then he seemed to be ok for about 5 years. Everyone thought he
    was cured. Then it came back again. This is how we should view Akkari. Once
    Islam has invaded the system, one can NEVER be sure that it won’t recur. He could be another Major Hassan.

    • Well, I dont know enough to make any pronouncement on Akkari.

      But there is always the danger of offspring, getting back to Islamic fundamentals. So where-ever Islam is, you always have the group of fundies making life miserable for everyone else, at minimum.

      As we can see the Conservative Islamists are the majority and dominate the inistitutions of Islam.

  7. I will take it as sincere, those ex-Muslims who have stood up to be counted have my utter and total respect.

  8. There’s no defection in islam. There’s no respect for the kuffar in islam. There’s no remorse in islam. I believe this is taqiyya and a likely attempt to gain influence in the Free Press Society in order to damage it from within. Don’t trust this man.

  9. All’s well that ends well, the trophy has been presented to the victor the only losers are the mugs of the counterjihad who stood in opposition but are now standing with their indigenous pants down.

    Has the conterjihad succumbed to conventional political interests exposing itself to the charge of being a false flag sting within the progressive agenda, the outcome being the distributing of trophy mugs and ordnance to the jihadists.

  10. Pingback: Video: Ahmed Akkari i Trykkefrihedsselskabet « Snaphanen

  11. A complete “conversion” would mean not only rejecting what he did before, but leaving Islam entirely. Come to Jesus, Imam. I will pray that God will place an authentic Christ-follower in his path and introduce him to the One who transforms hearts and lives.

    • Indeed. Though those can be like hen’s teeth in Europe. This fellow likes his Denmark, multicultural and socialist.

  12. I eye such people with suspicion knowing their past, but the part where he tells the Danish to stop being NAIVE and stick to their traditions and not give special favors to Muslims, rings with sincerity. His words will inspire other muslims who want change to think the same way and push for it, changing the way Denmark and other nations behave to graciously to muslim immigrants, therefore his message just as it once did for evil, now will have a similar effect. Sad thing is his old “colleagues” will try and silence him someday…..

  13. I was there and listened to every bit that was said. It is my opinion that he is sincere, although he might have some further steps to take. For one, there was not a hint of that very central Islamic theme “Muslims are victims!”. Just wasn’t there.

    The Islamists are having a hard time with this. So far, they choose to silence him, hoping that the embarrassment will pass. I have video, and will work to make sure it doesn’t 🙂

    • This is an embarrassment for The Free Press Society and its associates from the CJ movement, the courting of Ahmed Akkari is more like the actions of a bleeding heart progressive movement that is cheerleading the religion of peace.

      Ultimately this act of fraternisation with moderate islam maybe the signal that on the political plain only ethno nationalism can defeat the left/right progressives and islam.

  14. After all our experience with these phonies its alarming that this creature from the dark side would be given the time of day. This band of liars just need time to regroup and upgrade – I imagine.

  15. Sincere or not, Ahmed Akkari is now a ‘dead man walking’. If this was some craftytaqiyya operation every single Muslim in Denmark should be aware of it, and I doubt they are that well organized. So now Akkari has to spend the rest of his short life looking over his shoulder. Not only that, but he has insulated himself from his former social life and with no hope of getting accepted by the Danish ‘nomenklatura’. He will be exluded from any job in public service – the Danish Berufsverbot is quite effective – and no Danish Main Street Media will ever again let him in. Until he meets his executioner his only personal contacts, guardians and heralds will be people of the political incorrect conviction. So for once let us embrace a Muslim in good faith.

  16. He did not convert to christianity. He haven’t denounced islam. He is still a muslim.

    All he want is a safe place to live for him and his family. Denmark is such a place, lebanon is not.

    • If Denmark is a safe place to live for someone who offends Islam – such as Kurt Westergaard, Lars Hedegaard or Ahmed Akkari – then I am the Emperor of China.

          • Ha Ha. He is more safe than Lars Heedegaard and Kurt Westergard ever was.

            He is PET´s new pet and they love it. Now they have a chance to play real cops and robbers. He is covered in all four corners — and you are paying for the dance.

            Send him back to lebanon and forget about him!

          • He is PET`s new pet. If you get the pun 🙂

            They love to play cops and robbers. We are paying for the dance. Send him back to lebanon and forget about him.

          • UNITED —

            Foul language does not become acceptable here just because it is not in English.

            Don’t do that again.

  17. Who cares whether he’s sincere or not? He’s a useful turncoat. Just keep him at arm’s length and use him as a weapon in the propaganda war. When he’s no longer useful, well… you know what to do.

  18. The Ummah is the mortal enemy of humanity, and I seriously hope this individual does not end up paying an undue price for his change of mind.
    One of the most important rights Western civilizations respect is the right to change one’s mind.

  19. the best off all send him back to his home country as he threaten the nation and the country he accommodated him for long and gave him all human right but he worked against the county national security and its citizen then he do not deserve to hold the citizenship.
    Strip him from the his citizenship and send him back with some money to start his life in loving nation and country Lebanon.

  20. Die dummen Schweden, German for ‘Those stupid/dumb Swedes’, is an indigenous expression of rare self insight that undoubtedly ALWAYS allows itself to be updated by ANY decision relating migration and muslimism that the current swedes and their Chieftains take.

    Recently, btw, the country’s feminist intellectual elite distinguished themself by enshrouding themselves in hijabs to express solidarity with an unknown no name muslima who apparently of educative purpose were being beaten by her spouse but who by proxy blamed the incident on some fictitious non present, racist Swedish man.

    Die dummen Dänen, is the well deserved characterization of that group of soft-hearted, eagerly listening and applauding Danes who solemnly drank a slightly reformed Muslim message from the lips of Europe’s perhaps new, roughly-hewn, mini “Tariq Ramadan the second”.

    He is, however, no more than a muslim snake which has costed the Danish society billions in the form of burned down embassies, import boycotts etc. and he has actively contributed to the destruction of old age for an aged cartoonist.

    There is only one productive and efficient way to tackle the Muslim issue and that is an absolute and total rejection of / repudiating from everything muslimistic. Death to the planet’s most idiotic religion.

  21. I wouldn’t say that the sincerity of this man, or any other Muslims that express a wish to live in peace rather than wage violent Jihad, is unimportant. But it is not a question which we can make a basis for application of law.

    Whether or not Ahmed Akkari has answered for any violations of criminal law in his past is not clear to me. On the face of it, his public call for revenge against the enemies of Islam is, of itself, speech that must be as protected as the publication of cartoons designed to mock a religious group. The possibility that he did more than just speak is a real concern that I feel may not have been adequately addressed, but for the speech itself proponents of a free society cannot justly ask more than a public apology and retraction.

    The notion that advocacy of an idea, even one definitely incompatible with a free society, should forever disqualify someone from being considered able to participate in a free society is itself definitely incompatible with a free society. To those that say that a former advocate of violent Jihad can never be trusted or forgiven, I ask if you are willing to be judged by the same standard.

    I do not know whether Ahmed Akkari or any other Muslim can really be trusted. But from what I see in this comment section I see that the Counter-Jihad has bigger problems than possible infiltration by dishonest Muslims. I will still stand to defend Christendom against Islam. But it appears I shall also need to watch my back.

  22. The one thing that proves a person (Muslim or ex-Muslim) is sincere in their opposition to Shariah, jihad etc. is that they speak to Muslims in this way *when they aren’t being watched by outsiders*. That’s the thing to look for – have we seen that?

    I welcome him in anticipation. He sounds too good a man to be a devout orthodox Muslim (what a statement! But it is surely correct as he is a far better man than his prophet & that the Islam he was disappointed his fellow Imams did not follow was an idiosyncratic Islam he had created due to being a good, if delusional man).

    There are good Muslims who reject the things that make their religion supremicist – many are not even aware of the Shariah compliant aspects as they are simply cultural Muslims.

    Those who can – let’s keep praying for him.

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  24. *when they aren’t being watched by outsiders*

    And for that you need Arabic and the like. We could also turn the tables on them and stress that the fact that e.g. North-Africans do not need to wear beards in order to enter mosques smacks of “asabiyya”, the Muslim equivalent of “racism”.

  25. If he can steer the gullible and hateful away from Jihad, fine.

    Let him examine the history of the Koran to see if he remains an adherent of Submission.

    If the Koran is imperfect, Islam is false.

    Let the imam think it through seriously and get back to us.

    (How’s that Yemeni Koran fragments study seem to you, imam?)

    The more serious the questioning intelligence, the less the palimpsest Koran impresses.

    (If Mohammad remains the imam’s ‘perfect man’, then something’s screwy.)

    Leaving a Death Cult is difficult, but has been done.

    Choice is choice.

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