Dyab Abou Jahjah
Encyclopedia
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
political activist who came from Lebanon to Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
as an asylum seeker. He is the founder and former leader of the Arab European League
Arab European League
The Arab European League or AEL is a radical Pan-Arabist civil rights movement/organization in Belgium and the Netherlands.-Foundation:...
(AEL), a Pan-Arabist movement that supports the interests of Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
immigrants in Europe.
Personal life
He was born and grew up in southern LebanonLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
in Hanin, near the Lebanese-Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i border. He holds a Masters degree in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
from the Université catholique de Louvain
Université catholique de Louvain
The Université catholique de Louvain, sometimes known, especially in Belgium, as UCL, is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It is located in Louvain-la-Neuve and in Brussels...
.
He has written an autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
titled "Between Two Worlds - the Roots of a Freedom Fight".
Move to Belgium
In 1991, at the age of 19, Abou Jahjah left Lebanon. He aimed to move to the US, then France, then applied for political asylum from Belgium, claiming that he was fleeing Lebanon due to conflict with the leaders of Hezbollah. "I wanted to go abroad like a lot of Lebanese young people", he said, adding "It was just a low political trick to get my papers." In 1996 he became a Belgian citizen, after a brief marriage to a Belgian woman.Political views
Abou Jahjah is an opponent of assimilationCultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
. He wants immigrants to be treated as full citizens who can keep their own culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
, rather than being treated as guests. He says he is inspired by the American human rights activist Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
, who was also a Muslim and also opposed assimilation and the melting pot
Melting pot
The melting pot is a metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" into a harmonious whole with a common culture...
model of integration
Racial integration
Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...
. He sees the integration of Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
in Lebanon as the ideal model. He has said that, "America's race laws are more advanced than here. I have relatives in Detroit and they are Arab-Americans but they feel American. I don't feel European. Europe needs to make its concept of citizenship inclusive to all cultures and religions. I'm a practicing Muslim but I'm not a freak. I'm not a fundamentalist."
Abou Jahjah has urged Flemish people to adapt to Muslims instead of the other way around, and he proposed making Arabic the fourth official language
Official language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
in Belgium (beside Dutch, French and German). He argues for the building of Islamic schools in Belgium, and believes that wearing the hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
should be a question of free choice for Muslim women.
Arab European League
In 2000 Abou Jahjah founded the Arab European League in Antwerp, a city with a large Muslim population. He was a candidate for the AEL in the Belgian parliamentary elections in 2003. The AEL did not win any seats. Early in 2006 Abou Jahjah announced that he will no longer be leading the AEL nor holding a leadership position. In 2003 he helped found a new political party, the Moslim Democratische PartijMoslim Democratische Partij
The Muslim Democratic Party or MDP is a political party in Belgium which was formed in 2003, as a result of the poor showing of the alliance RESIST between the Marxist-Leninist Workers Party of Belgium and the AEL at the 2003 Belgian federal elections.The party was founded by Dyab Abou Jahjah,...
or "Muslim Democratic Party", which has now disbanded.
Sabra and Shatila
In 2001, Abou Jahjah founded the Sabra and Shatila committee, which brought a lawsuit against former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel SharonAriel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
for his alleged role in massacres in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps during the Israel-Lebanon war in the early 1980s.
9/11
He said of Arab reaction to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks that "Most of us ... felt that day something that can not be described as joy, or as happiness, but rather as that sweet revenge feeling. We all had – except that small minority- a “what goes around comes around’” attitude", but he continued that "Now, almost two months after the eleventh of September, we see things clear(er). It is terrible how criminals can cause by their acts the misery for so many people, people of their own kind and people of their alleged enemy. How violence will breed violence that will breed more violence".Arrest
Abou Jahjah was arrested and detained for several days in 2002 after he allegedly organized riotRiot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...
s and called for violence. The riots broke out in Borgerhout
Borgerhout
Borgerhout is a district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The district houses 41,614 inhabitants reflecting 90 nationalities...
, a district of Antwerp, after a 27-year old Belgian-Moroccan was shot by his Flemish
Flemish people
The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...
neighbor. In December 2007, Abou Jahjah received a one-year prison sentence by the Antwerp correctional court for inciting people to commit violence. He appealed the verdict and was acquitted from all charges on October 21, 2008. A police officer who was watching him the night of the riots said that Abou Jahjah is innocent and that the evidence against him was fabricated.
Theo van Gogh
In the Netherlands, Abou Jahjah had a row with the late film director Theo van GoghTheo van Gogh (film director)
Theodoor "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch film director, film producer, columnist, author and actor.Van Gogh worked with the Somali-born writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali to produce the film Submission, which criticized the treatment of women in Islam and aroused controversy among Muslims...
, who was known for his opposition to Islam. After van Gogh insulted Abou Jahjah by calling him "de pooier van de profeet" ("the pimp of the prophet") in front of an audience, Abou Jahjah left the room.
2006 Israel-Lebanon war
In July 2006 he announced that he would be going to Lebanon to participate in the battle against Israeli forces. In response, Vlaams BelangVlaams Belang
Vlaams Belang is a Belgian far-right political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels that advocates the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration, whereby immigrants would be obliged to adopt Flemish culture and language...
leader Filip Dewinter
Filip Dewinter
Philip Michel Frans "Filip" Dewinter is a Flemish politician in Belgium. He is one of the leading members of Vlaams Belang, a right-wing Flemish nationalist and secessionist political party...
called on the Belgian government to revoke Abou Jahjah's citizenship. In January 2007 he returned to Antwerp.
He wrote a book on the Israel-Lebanon war called "Diary Brussels Beirut".