My Friend the Fanatic (published 2008-09) is a travel narrative by the Indian-American author Sadanand Dhume about his exploration of Islamic extremism in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country. Dhume's travel companion is a young Javanese, an Osama bin Laden admirer who edits the country's foremost fundamentalist magazine.
The travels described in the book begin at the site of the 2002 bombing of the Sari Club in Bali and end nearly two years later in Ambon, the scene of a civil war between Muslims and Christians. Some of the famous personalities Dhume encounters include Abu Bakar Bashir, the head of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian branch of Al Qaeda, [1] Inul Daratista, a popular singer and inventor of a risque dance called drilling, and the televangelist A. A. Gym. The places he visits include Bandung, Yogyakarta, South Sulawesi and Balikpapan on the island of Borneo
As a self-described atheist,[ citation needed ] Dhume views the rise of both Islamic extremist politics and orthodox Islamic practice in Indonesia with concern. He challenges the belief that Indonesia's syncretic form of Islam makes it immune to inroads by Islamic extremism.
My Friend the Fanatic was first published by Text Publishing in Melbourne, Australia in 2008 ( ISBN 9781921351402), and will be reprinted by Skyhorse Publishing in New York in 2009 ( ISBN 1602396434).
The Australian edition of the book has drawn both praise and criticism. Writing in the Far Eastern Economic Review, Robert W. Hefner of Boston University, a noted scholar of Indonesian Islam, called it “[a] fine book [that] tells us much about Indonesia and about Islamism, one of the most important political phenomena of our age.” [2] The Asian edition of The Wall Street Journal said that Dhume “Guides the reader deftly through the whirlpool these Islamic extremist currents have created.” [3] The Sydney Morning Herald called My Friend the Fanatic “an eye-opening piece of reportage.” However, The Jakarta Post criticized Dhume for pointing out the ideological affinity between the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah and the powerful Islamist political party PKS (Prosperous Justice Party). The reviewer called Dhume's observation “clearly very dangerous and misleading.” [4]
Jemaah Islamiyah is a Southeast Asian militant extremist Islamist terrorist group based in Indonesia, which is dedicated to the establishment of an Islamic state in Southeast Asia. On 25 October 2002, immediately following the JI-perpetrated Bali bombing, JI was added to the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 as a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir also known as Abu Bakar Bashir, Abdus Somad, and Ustad Abu is an Indonesian Muslim cleric and leader of Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid.
Laskar Jihad was an Islamist and anti-Christian Indonesian militia, which was founded and led by Jafar Umar Thalib. At present, the militia is believed to have disbanded.
The Australian embassy bombing in Jakarta took place on September 9, 2004 in Indonesia.
Hamzah Haz is an Indonesian politician who served as the ninth vice president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004. He also chaired the United Development Party from 1998 to 2007.
Abdullah Sungkar founded and led Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamist terrorist and separatist organization. He was of Hadhrami Arab descent.
The Prosperous Justice Party, frequently abbreviated to PKS, is an Islamist political party in Indonesia.
On the 2000 Christmas Eve, a series of explosions took place in Indonesia, which were part of a high-scale terrorist attack by Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah. The attack involved a series of coordinated bombings of churches in Jakarta and eight other cities which killed 18 people and injured many others.
The Majelis Mujahideen Indonesia (MMI), or Indonesian Mujahedeen Council, is an umbrella organisation of Indonesian Islamist groups. The group was designated as foreign terrorist organization by the United States on 13 June 2017.
Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam." Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Western journalists adopted the term in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks of 2001. Since then, it has been applied to various insurgent Islamic extremist, militant Islamist, and terrorist individuals and organizations whose ideologies are based on the Islamic notion of jihad.
Islamic extremism, Islamist extremism, or radical Islam refer to extremist beliefs and behaviors associated with the Islamic religion. These are controversial terms with varying definitions, ranging from academic understandings to the idea that all ideologies other than Islam have failed and are inferior to Islam. This can also extend to other sects of Islam that do not share such beliefs. Political definitions include the one used by the government of the United Kingdom, which understands Islamic extremism as any form of Islam that opposes "democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs".
Terrorism in Indonesia refer to acts of terrorism that take place within Indonesia or attacks on Indonesian people or interests abroad. These acts of terrorism often target the government of Indonesia or foreigners in Indonesia, most notably Western visitors, especially those from the United States and Australia.
The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left is a 2007 book about Ed Husain's five years as an Islamist. The book has been described as "as much a memoir of personal struggle and inner growth as it is a report on a new type of extremism." The son of pious Muslim parents from South Asia, living in East London, Husain joins the Islamist group Young Muslim Organization at the age of sixteen, before moving on to be active in Hizb ut-Tahrir while in college. After disheartening experiences with factional infighting and sectarian violence at his college, and unIslamic behavior while living in Saudi Arabia as an English teacher, Husain rejects political Islam and returns to "normal" life and his family. Husain describes his book as explaining "the appeal of extremist thought, how fanatics penetrate Muslim communities and the truth behind their agenda of subverting the West and moderate Islam."
Quilliam was a British think tank co-founded in 2008 by Maajid Nawaz that focused on counter-extremism, specifically against Islamism, which it argued represents a desire to impose a given interpretation of Islam on society. Founded as The Quilliam Foundation and based in London, it claimed to lobby government and public institutions for more nuanced policies regarding Islam and on the need for greater democracy in the Muslim world whilst empowering "moderate Muslim" voices. The organisation opposed any Islamist ideology and championed freedom of expression. The critique of Islamist ideology by its founders―Nawaz, Rashad Zaman Ali and Ed Husain―was based, in part, on their personal experiences. Quilliam went into liquidation in 2021.
Sadanand Dhume is an American writer and journalist based in Washington D.C. He is the author of My Friend the Fanatic: Travels with a Radical Islamist, a travel narrative about the rise of fundamentalism in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.
The Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM), or Malaysian Mujahideen Movement, is/was a terrorist organisation that supported an overthrow of the Mahathir government and is/was for the creation of a pan-regional Islamic state comprising southern Thailand, the entirety of Indonesia, and the southern Philippines. It is believed to be self-financing and is often tied in correlation to smaller more extremist groups in Southeast Asia. The KMM is often cited as being associated with the Jemaah Islamiyah or JI. The Malaysian government, which is actively fighting against the Malaysian Mujahideen Movement, has arrested anywhere from 70 to 80 terrorists. The government currently has 48 members in total detained.
Islamic organisations in Australia include a wide range of groups and associations run and supported by the Islamic community in Australia. Organisations include major community councils, local organisations, mosques and schools. Most Australian Muslims are Sunni, with Shia then Sufi and Ahmadiyya as minorities.
The National Counter Terrorism Agency is an Indonesian non-ministerial government department that works to prevent terrorism. BNPT is headed by a chief, Suhardi Alius, who is responsible to the President. When it was first launched, the leader of BNPT held the ranking of a civil servant but the Presidential Regulation in 2012 elevated the post of BNPT Chief to the ministerial level.
Jemaah Tarbiyah, also known as the Tarbiyah movement or the Dakwah movement, is an Islamic religious movement based in Indonesia. Jemaah Tarbiyah was an active movement during the 1980s to 1990s and consisted of university students, aimed at the religious education and da'wah (proselytizing). The movement is considered to be influenced by the teaching of Muslim Brotherhood. It is considered an important influence for Islamization of Indonesia. The movement became the bedrock of the Islamist party Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) which was founded in 2002.
The Indonesian People's Da'wah Party, is an Indonesian Islamist political party, founded by Farid Okbah and other Indonesian Islamists on May 31, 2021. The party was later accused of being affiliated with Jemaah Islamiyah and became the center of a crackdown on November 16, 2021. The accusation shocked many Indonesians due to the fact it was potentially the first time in Indonesian history that a potential terrorist organization disguised operations as a political party and attempted to intervene and participate in the Indonesian political system.