RevolutionMuslim.com is a live website again

NOTE: According to Islam Policy’s website, which is the successor group to Revolution Muslim, posted today that RevolutionMuslim.com was back online and was being redirected to the Islam Policy website. This provides more indication that they may not have changed much after all. I recently wrote in the CTC Sentinel about the demise of the website, which you can see here. The website is currently hosted by a company named eNom, Incorporated. Below is Islam Policy’s message about the Revolution Muslim website, unedited from the original.

Dear Viewers,
You may now access IslamPolicy.com direct through the old domain RevolutionMuslim.com which will forward to here for now.  Please keep us in your du’aa, and share the new site with your contact lists inshAllah.
Your brother in deen,
Younus

My new article in The CTC Sentinel: “Revolution Muslim: Downfall or Respite?”

In July 2010, Zachary Chesser was arrested in the United States for trying to join Somalia’s al-Shabab terrorist group. His arrest brought attention to a U.S.-based extremist group operating in the New York City area, known as Revolution Muslim, of which Chesser was a member.[1] Chesser’s arrest, however, appears to be the apex that disguised the seeming decline of Revolution Muslim. After suffering a series of leadership problems and disputes, Revolution Muslim was increasingly used by UK- based extremists seeking to skirt British hate speech and incitement laws by using the U.S.-based Revolution Muslim website to distribute their literature and notifications of public events. The violent calls by British extremists eventually led to the shutdown of the Revolution Muslim website in November 2010. Shortly after, Revolution Muslim’s leader said that the group had been disbanded, and he announced the creation of a new, supposedly more moderate organization, called Islam Policy.[2] Since this transition is recent, it is too early to determine whether Revolution Muslim will follow in the footsteps of the British group al-Muhajiroun by returning to confrontation merely under a different name, or if it will follow a model closer to groups such as Hizb al-Tahrir, Tabligh Jama`at, or the Muslim Brotherhood by adopting a less hostile posture. This article recounts the factors that led to the recent demise of Revolution Muslim, while also providing insight on its new incarnation, Islam Policy. Read the rest here. — [1]  See, for example, Paul Cruickshank’s article in the CTC Sentinel that provided a detailed explanation and analysis of the roots of the Revolution Muslim group in the United Kingdom, its evolution in the United States, and how the organization had led to recent arrests of American jihadists. See Paul Cruickshank, “The Growing Danger from Radical Islamist Groups in the United States,” CTC Sentinel 3:8 (2010). [2] The United Kingdom’s policing of websites that host extremist content is much stricter than in the United States, where the First Amendment provides significant protection to extremist discourse. For example, when speaking about the extremist content of Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-`Awlaqi, UK Baroness Neville-Jones said, “The websites in which feature his [al-`Awlaqi] terrorist message would categorically not be allowed in the UK. If they were hosted in the UK they would be taken down.” For details on that quote, see Jim Wolf, “Britain Urges U.S. to Take Down Extremist Websites,” Reuters, October 26, 2010.

Revolution Muslim resurfaces after their site went down: "Announcement from IslamPolicy.com – on transfer from RevolutionMuslim"

NOTE: I will have more to say about this later, but for now, below is the statement unedited.

:السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

I am saddened to announce that revolutionmuslim.com has been shut down due to an alleged, reckless post that has now been the cause of the incarceration of one of our brothers (May Allah hasten his release). We have seen a few arrests of late, with alleged ties to Revolution Muslim, and while most of what the media reports is distorted to say the least the blogs and forums have also been abuzz with imaginative and hypothetical speculation (as usual), most of which has assumed the worst and been representative of lies.
I want to express my great apology for being inactive and for remaining silent for the past few months.  I have been going through some personal alterations with regard to physical, mental and spiritual space and was eager to alter some of the approach I had been being informed of when this recent spate of bad news hit.  Perhaps prematurely, this post is to announce the initiation of IslamPolicy.com, the new home of Revolution Muslim.
Firstly, I would like to say that we pray and anticipate the best for our brothers and sisters all over the globe who are incarcerated at this time.  We know that acts in Islam are based on intention, and that one is only granted the reward of what they intended. Some of our brothers and sisters, no matter how they may be perceived by others, were acting out of what we consider to be a pure intention. It has been narrated from Ibn Umar (ra) that Abu Bakr (ra) dispatched Yazeed ibn Abu Sufyan (ra) to Syria and that Abu Bakr (ra) walked along with him for about two miles when they said to him (ra), “O, Khalifah of the Messenger of Allah would you not go back?” and that he said, “No, for I have heard the Messenger of Allah (saws) saying that, “he whose feet are covered with dust in the path of Allah, Allah will save him from the fire.”  Indeed our brothers and sisters may have taken the words, “O you who believe why do say that which you do not do?” to heart and so we ask that they are rewarded for their intentions and that they are rewarded the same as if they had attained their lofty goals.
Still recent events should serve as reminders.  We live in an age where intention is not enough.  We live in an age where we need increased knowledge and understanding as well, and so we set forth continuing on a path hoping to please Allah.  It is imperative at this juncture that we redefine our mission, advance our platform, and improve our position.  Inshallah, this Eid al Adha marks the end of our two year plan of action entitled By All Means Necessary (link). This plan outlined the objectives that Revolution Muslim held and was a guide for my decisions.  However, few of our affiliates read it and so perhaps misunderstood the purpose of our organization. In retrospect the document should be read by those that seek a greater understanding of our call, but for brevity I will highlight the closing paragraphs here.  By All Means Necessary concluded two years ago by stating that,

We have learned a great deal over the last few years. Osama Bin Laden is still alive and Al-Qaeda is plotting attacks that “outdo by far” September 11. According to a former senior Yemeni Al-Qaeda operative, Al-Qaeda has reinforced training camps across the globe. Victory is recognizable in Afghanistan, more may occur in Iraq with recent developments and the prospect of an attack by Israel on Iran. The Shabaab in Somalia are getting closer to regaining Mogadishu as the Ethiopian forces look poised to withdrawal at the end of the year. The incoming American Administration looks destined to be a mule of the international financiers and may be reverting towards a protectionism that will create discord between China and the U.S. and destroy the value of the dollar. Chaos abounds in international markets. The mujahedeen are still waging a successful jihad, but the majority of Muslims cannot foresee the justice of an Islamic State. They are largely unaware of the effect the corporatacracy has on their lives, largely afraid of the rulers the corporatocracy defends. We must pose and become the solution to this paradigmatic problem. It is the best we can do. Revolution Muslim issues a challenge to Muslims across the globe to accept a role in working toward the establishment of the state. Say Somalia would be taken tomorrow. We have problems with piracy, drinking water, health care and political divisions. The world would pose an economic barricade with no foreign investment. The State has oil, resources, agricultural capabilities and a strategic location and the right crew with the right connections could come in with some serious policy recommendations, community organizing and etcetera and protect the State. However, there may not be an internet connection for quite some time and there is little use chatting when the whole world gathers around to destroy you. This is a bold challenge but one that can be met. These are our objectives for the following two years; call it a strategic plan for advancing the objectives outlined in the Mission Statement of Revolution Muslim. Inshallah by the completion of two years heijra will be possible. May Allah make it soon!!!

Having passed two years, much of it remains true, our predictions about the Obama Administration and friction between West and East were accurate, the lands of jihad are spreading, and the ummah still has little clear understanding about what the Islamic State would look like were it established.  Thus, the next two years will, inshallah, concentrate on the solution that is the establishment of the state, defining its specifics, enhancing the sophistication of calls for it, and helping prepare and advance progress, while maintaining support for brothers and sisters working for it across the globe.
In order to attain that objective, modification is necessary.  Inshallah, on the Eid, IslamPolicy.com will release its methodology which will clarify the next stage of our struggle and at that time we will be setting forth a very idealistic set of lofty goals.  The only way they will ever be attained is if we get the help of fellow Muslims. And so please watch IslamPolicy.com for the platform, pass this message and the accompanying videos around the web via email, posting on forums, blogs, websites, facebook, twitter and etcetera so that people know of the change in sites.
Of course we will include all the brothers and sisters that are willing to aid and abide in the effort but would like to make some alterations having observed that they are due.  The video above highlights the principles that will drive these changes.  Please feel free to comment or criticize.
Inshallah, we will be back soon, founding an online radio show, magazine, extensive blog and other activities, while keeping the ummah connected to the sincere callers to Islam.  Because his words are so much more beneficial than mine I depart for now with a selection from Ibn Qayyim’s book The Path to Guidance:

There are matters to which he (the sincere servant) has been guided but he is in need of further guidance with respect to them since guidance to the path is one thing, but guidance upon the path is something else. Do we not see that a man knows the path to a certain city, that the path is such and such? However, he is not capable of traversing this path because traversing it requires specific guidance in the journey itself, such as travelling at a certain time as opposed to another, taking a certain amount of water in such and such a desert, resting at this place as opposed to that one. All of this is guidance upon the journey. The one who (merely) knows that this is the path neglects all of this, perishes and is cut off from the desired goal

We ask Allah, having guided us to the path to place us upon it and I close with this from the Quran praying that it is the sincere reality of my intention:

أُرِيدُ إِلاَّ الإِصْلاَحَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُ وَمَا تَوْفِيقِي إِلاَّ بِاللّهِ عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ وَإِلَيْهِ أُنِيبُ I only desire (your) betterment to the best of my power; and my success (in my task) can only come from Allah. In Him I trust, and unto Him I look.

It is truly a pleasure to be back in contact with you all.  I look forward to hearing the ideas of all: old friends and new.  Welcome to IslamPolicy.com, where the revolution in Islam continues inshallah!
~Younus Abdullah Muhammad