The documentary, “Jihadists,” opens with a scene of armed men in a truck chasing down a gazelle and shooting it. Was it killed for food or as an amusement? It’s unclear, but it serves as a symbolic harbinger of the story to come.
Director François Margolin and journalist Lemine Ould Salem are the team behind the film previously released in France (2016), under the title “Salafistes.” At that time, the movie ran into problems with the French Ministry of Culture. Though accurately depicting life under Shira law in Mali, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Tunisia, there were questions about the intensity of the violence depicted and the “message” delivered.
Now, American audiences will be able to make their own determinations when “Jihadists” opens in New York And Los Angeles.
The current version has been cut to include contextualizing monologues delivered by Margolin. He gives private back story and insights into the evolution of his interest in the subject matter.
Margolin is not a stranger to tough topics or dangerous filming conditions. He has tackled the plight of child soldiers in Liberia, and Taliban opium dealing in Afghanistan.
An interest in radical Islam, jihad, and global terrorism has preoccupied Margolin for over the past quarter-century. He has been in contact with members of extreme organizations since the 1980s (after the assignation of Anwar Sadat), as well as during the period of the Soviet-Afghanistan conflict. A year before 9/11 occurred, he was conducting interviews with members of the Taliban.
To secure sit-downs with leaders from the Salafist movement, major risks were undertaken. Margolin was operating in locales that were out of the jurisdiction of United Nations forces. Other law enforcement officials were 1,000 kilometers away.
Determined to contact representatives of the Salafist philosophy and belief system, Margolin used email, Twitter, and Facebook to communicate. He relates a meeting with members of Boko Haram, based in Northern Nigeria, which almost ended in his death. He survived by escaping to the border.
What drove Margolin to put himself directly in harm’s way under such precarious conditions? He qualifies it as a “personal” mission.
Margolin’s desire to hear the motivations of extremists is informed by the loss of family members at the hands of the Nazis. They were killed during the “Holocaust by Bullets,” which took place in Ukraine and Lithuania. Mass shootings were the format for genocide.
Margolin’s impetus is the desire for this not to “happen again.” He believes it is imperative to show the ideas and actions of the Salafist fundamentalists, via an unvarnished exposure. He is bearing witness to what he terms “an important minority inside Islam.” He underscores that the majority of Muslims are not in line with Salafist ideology, the most radical faction of Islam. Disturbing video of random shootings of Shiite Muslims by Salafists clearly documents the divisions between the two branches of Islam.
The Salafi movement began in the late 1800s in Egypt, as a reaction to European influences. Adherents wanted to emulate the model of the first three generations of Muslims, the Salaf (predecessors), who were the initial followers of Prophet Muhammed. The aspiration was to “return to the source,” or, as Margolin suggests, “Before a modern world existed.” Within this movement evolved a group who believed armed struggle and violent action were needed against threats from perceived enemies to their vision of Islam.
The viewer is set up for what life is like on the ground with a shot of a sign stating, “You are entering an area where Sharia law is applied.”
A welcome sign to Tumbuktu, Mali: “Welcome to Timbuktu. The minaret of Islam. You are entering an area where Sharia law
is applied.”
Two men on a motorcycle, guns slung over their shoulders, ride through the streets looking for potential offenders of “Islamic law.” Approaching the marketplace, they inform several females that they are not sufficiently covered and must completely veil their faces. Needless to say, the women comply.
Sharia law is often described by its advocates as a “pathway to happiness and paradise.” The subjects of Margolin’s questioning frequently invoke the name of God, and expound upon God’s law — via their prism. The conversations are even-toned. Some take place with the subject framed by volumes of books, perhaps theological texts.
Omar Ould Hamaha speaks of his background. He relates that he was born in 1963 and received his baccalaureate in 1984. He describes his present situation as being a “jihadist in northern Mali,” adding, “Thank God,” as an afterthought. He considers his activities to be a “divine obligation.”
The chief of the Islamic Police (2011-2012) Abou Mohamad Toure, who also serves as the commissioner for the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), maintains that there is no problem with the civilian population. The objective is just to “practice God’s word on God’s land.”
To achieve this purpose, his force “cracks down” on sellers and consumers of alcohol, women who are “improperly dressed,” thieves, and those who don’t comply with sexual morals as per Sharia law. He elucidates, “We keep an eye on everyone.” Ironically, most of the men who are part of the patrols cover their faces to keep their identities hidden.
Omar Ould Hamaha remarks how “debauchery” has stopped since the implementation of stonings. Theft has decreased too — as the punishment of hand amputation has been implemented.
The viewer witnesses the video of a flogging before rules for an array of crimes are outlined. Alcohol drinkers get forty lashes for the first offense. Repeat offenders get eighty. Those accused of stealing are put to the test of eleven conditions. If they are lucky enough not to meet the criteria, they only get whipped.
One 25-year-old didn’t make the grade. His hand was severed. Afterward, he was given medical care and informed that “all his sins [were] erased.
In the case of adultery, a single young man gets one hundred lashes and a year of banishment. If the male committing adultery is married, he gets stoned to death. The rationale is that the single male gets a less severe punishment for satisfying his “unhealthy urges.” (An interesting doctrine considering the information that Yazidi women are raped or sold in markets because their religion is deemed “Satanic.”)
While describing the strictures of Sharia law, the speakers frequently weave their comments with phrases such as, “God, in his infinite wisdom,” or asides such as, “God doesn’t like beer drinking.”
As a counterpoint, and a respite, Margolin speaks to one young man from Mali who speaks gently about his Muslim identity and the religion he learned from his parents and grandparents. It included people smoking and listening to music. He seems genuinely baffled by the zealotry and extremism that has overtaken daily village life.
Conversely, leader Sanda Ould Bouamam pronounces that the only criteria is “obeying God’s orders.” He defines all actions by, “We have simply restored God’s religion.”
It is clear that many of those interviewed believe that “force is necessary” to make people comply to God’s will. An example is the quote emphasizing that for those who refuse to convert, “jihad will be spread by the saber.”
A clip of the Twin Towers attack introduces a segment on the “justification” of jihad as a reaction to the history of European “colonist powers” and America’s involvement in “misdeeds.”
A man declares that “9/11 was good.” He expounds upon this thought. “It taught the United States a lesson. They spent years killing innocent people.” During the film, America is repeatedly taken to task for “dropping bombs from the sky” and demonstrating a lack of courage.
On the topic of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, one speaker validates the action because the “prophet was attacked” and mocked. While refuting the concept of freedom of speech, he flatly suggests the perpetrators were “simply expressing their own freedom of speech.”
There is a definitive “eye for an eye” brand of justice in play and a dismissal of secular democracy — described as being “about what people want, and not God.”
Several exchanges include discourses on the Salafist view regarding the inferiority of women (“A woman cannot be considered equal to a man.”) and the condemnation of homosexuality (Gay men are thrown from the roof of a building as a death sentence.)
It is a strange disconnect to see jihadis who want to strictly enforce Sharia law, while adopting the technological conveniences of contemporary society. Social media is especially useful in spreading their dogma. Live tweeting a terrorist action, reporting on the number of the dead while amplifying the name of “the martyr,” is not unusual.
Salafists engaging in ordinary aspects of worldly life can come across as bizarre. There is the shop owner in Tunisia who is selling books on jihad, items to hang from a car mirror, alcohol-free perfume, and more. SLF magazine is a Salafist “life-style” magazine with advice on “how to avoid looking at girls in the street.” There are also fashion tips, such as, “You can go to join jihad in Syria wearing Nike.”
These instances stand as a stark contrast to the propaganda videos disseminated by the movement online. In those, messages are sent out to potential recruits in England, France and Germany with the rhetoric, “Take us where God orders,” to attack “infidels around the world” and purify the globe. God receives thanks for bringing fighters together from all corners of the earth.
Margolin was unable to film in territories controlled by the Islamic State, so he used propaganda films of the Salafists to illustrate their activities. One graphically records a mass execution of “worshippers of the cross, belonging to the hostile Ethiopian Church.”
I spoke with Margolin by Skype to get further insights about the lengths he went to in order to secure this unprecedented account of the Salafist movement.
“The film was very, very dangerous to shoot,” he told me. He reiterated that his motivation was to present how the Salafists think, and to let them openly share their logic. “My role is to help [people] understand. It was a risk, but it is important to know who these people are. It’s my way to contribute.”
Will American audiences respond differently to the documentary than those in France? (The film played there continuously in a theater, for almost one year.) The terrorism of 9/11, which impacted the American psyche, has left indelible scars. Perhaps “Jihadists” will help clarify the actors and doctrines in the story of jihad? Although clearly a treatise about the dangers of the Salafist movement, there is a strong subtext about extremism and hyper-focused ideology that leaves no room for interpretation.
Margolin didn’t risk his life without reason. He had a story to tell. “To know is more important than being blind,” he said. “It is a beginning.”
The film is dedicated to the victims of terrorist attacks.
Opens: January 25 at Cinema Village (New York)
February 1 at Laemmle Music Hall (Los Angeles)
