Ramadan terror concerns?
From Zain Verjee
CNN
ATLANTA (CNN) -- As more than one billion Muslims prepare to celebrate Ramadan, terror experts are mixed about whether the holy month is a tool for recruiting terrorists.
Some terrorism experts and Islamic scholars say Ramadan gives extremists an opportunity to enlist new recruits.
"It's a time which can be exploited by radical clerics to motivate individuals into taking action on the basis they are somehow serving their religion," says terror expert M.J. Gohel.
And analysts see another temptation for terrorists: exploiting a the Battle of Badr, a symbolic date in Muslim history, which falls near the U.S. presidential election.
"Within Ramadan you have the anniversary of the Battle of Badr, which was the first jihad that took place in 624 and the commanding general of the underdog Muslims that were fighting the war was Mohammed himself," says Ed Hotaling author and former Middle East bureau chief for CBS News.
"Now that the U.S. elections are almost going to coincide with Ramadan, there is almost a double temptation as it were to perpetuate some kind of atrocity," says Gohel.
U.S. counterterrorism officials say they are concerned al Qaeda wants to attack the U.S. homeland or strike American interests abroad ahead of November. Iraq, terror analysts say, is the likeliest of targets.
But Islamic experts insist on caution when connecting Ramadan with terror.
"It humiliates millions and millions of ordinary peace-loving Muslims," says Akbar Ahmed, a scholar of Islam and professor in international relations.
An estimated billion Muslims will mark Ramadan this year.
Ramadan is an important holiday on the Islamic calendar because the Quran was revealed to the prophet Mohammed then. Muslims fast and pray for a month.
