The Crisis of Jihad in the Muslim world and the refusal to come out of Denial
- In Military & Strategic Affairs
- 06:09 AM, Aug 10, 2016
- Divya Kumar Soti
Over the last few months, Jihadist terror attacks in various parts of the World, particularly in Muslim countries have provided the international community yet another occasion to acknowledge the real ideological orientation of this kind of terrorism. Though terror attacks in countries like Iraq, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia in the month of Ramadan also provided yet another opportunity to Liberals to propagate their old catch phrase: “Terrorism has nothing to do with religion”. Their old argument has been that if Jihadist terrorism had anything to do with Islam, Jihadists would not have been targeting Islamic holy places and Muslim masses. Really! Are the things so simple? Well even simpler answer is: No.
Truth is that Jihadist terrorism is a tool to impose certain Islamic religious beliefs on others. It is also a way to realize imperialist designs conceptualized on the basis of an idea of Islamic supremacy. So, when terrorists with elite family and academic background massacred hostages who were unable to recite Koranic verses in Dhaka Café attack, they were trying to impose Islamic beliefs on non-muslims in a gory but stupid manner. Those who bombed Baghdad markets just before Eid-ul-Fitr killing more than 300 people were targeting Shias because according to their religious beliefs Shias are not true Muslims.
Islamic State is committed to obliterating Shias from this planet because according to its Salafist thinkers, Shias are polluting Islam. One of the serial blasts that hit Saudi Arabia during Ramadan was aimed at targeting Shias in Qatif city. Now the remaining question is that why would Islamic terrorists try to bomb the most holy mosque of one of the most holy cities of Islam, Medina? Liberal intellectuals who raise such questions are either themselves totally unaware of the history of Jihad or are simply trying to mislead others. Such questions coming out of the Liberal camp allow radical Muslim clerics to mislead the common Muslims by saying that terrorist attacks on Islamic holy shrines and Muslim masses are masterminded by Mossad and CIA as no jihadist would do that. Due to this misinformation campaign jointly carried out by radical Islamic preachers and liberal intellectuals, common Muslims as well as non-Muslims are unable to understand the real ramifications of Jihadist ideological movement.
Actually, according to various puritan Islamic movements, bloodbath in Mecca and Medina has not been a taboo when it is needed to establish the “real Islam”. So, during 927-930 AD, Qaramatian muslims laid seize upon the routes used by Haj pilgrims and massacred them in thousands. In 930 AD, Qaramatians raided Mecca, desecrated the Zamzam pond and ransomed the Hazr-e-Aswad alleging that Haj and associated practices have pagan origins and are thus unislamic. Clearly, neither Mossad nor CIA was in existence in 930 AD. In 1979, Jihadists belonging to al-Ikhwan captured Kaba in Mecca and took many Haj pilgrims hostages, alleging that Saudi Royals were not running the country according to Islamic values.
When Saudi government asked country’s Wahabi ulema to issue Fatwas against Ikhwanis excommunicating them from Islam, they issued a Fawa allowing use of force to flush them out but stopped short of excommunicating them as most Ikhwanis had been beloved pupils of Wahabi clerics. Liberal intellectuals should appraise themselves with this very rich history. Later al Ikhwan was crushed by the Saudi government but it is believed that Jihadists influenced by its salafist ideology founded Lashkar-e-Taiba which continues to derive funds from Saudi donors.
It is important to understand that global Jihadist terrorism is directly, connected with certain Islamic beliefs, myths and issues. For instance, in 1979 Ikhwanis during the Mecca’s Grand mosque seize, declared their leader Abdullah al Kahtani as “Mahdi”. According to Sunni Islamic beliefs, Mahdi can be compared with a Messiah and liberator who will appear just a few years before the end of the world to prepare and purify Muslims for the Judgment Day. It is another matter that Kahtani was eliminated in encounter with Saudi security forces. ISIS guys are also waiting for the appearance of Mahdi. Going by certain Islamic beliefs, ISIS is waiting for Islam’s final battle with armies of Rome.
ISIS terrorists have understood Rome to be modern day Europe. So they are provoking European powers through terrorists attacks to come and fight with them. These people are fighting not just for Islamic supremacy but also to bring an end to the world. So, they even celebrate their defeats on Social media. When this Eid, terrorists inspired by ISIS attacked Bangladesh’s largest Eidgah, they were not attacking muslims but those who they don’t consider true Muslims. Islamic term for this ideology is Takfirism and it comes from within Islam. According to its practitioners, Muslims deviating from Islamic ways are a fair game in Jihadist war to establish true Islam.
These Jihadist thinkers want to impose medieval religious codes as it is on the modern world. It’s like wearing the same clothes in Africa and Antarctica. After Arab’s spring revolutions in whichever country these groups grew stronger, instability increased. Islamic codes failed to ensure the well being of Muslim societies. And today that is Islam’s biggest crisis. In Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood came to power as a result of Tahrir Square revolution. Muslim Brotherhood was for long considered by many as the only Islamist group in the Arab world which was compatible with western idea of democracy. However, Egyptian Muslims found the Shariat code imposed by Muslim Brotherhood regime to be highly suffocating.
A harassed and frustrated Egyptian Muslim society once again turned to Army for deliverance. On coming to power, General Father al Sisi posed a very pertinent question to Ulama while speaking at the Al Azhar University, which is considered as most prestigious institution of Islamic learning: “Is it possible that 1.6 billion people should want to kill the rest of the world’ inhabitants-that is 7 billion-so that they themselves may live? Impossible! I am saying these words here at Al-Azhar before this assembly of scholars and ulema-Allah Almighty be witness to your truth on Judgment Day concerning that which I am talking about now. All this that I am telling you, you cannot feel it if you remain trapped within this mindset. You need to step to step outside of yourselves to be able to observe it and reflect on it from a more enlightened perspective. I say and repeat again that we are in need of a religious revolution. You, imams, are responsible before Allah. The entire world, I say it again, the entire world is waiting for your next move…because this umma is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost and it is being lost by our own hands.”
General Sisi imposed restriction on propagating of Jihadist thoughts of radical clerics. Recently, the Egyptian government has decided that sermons of Islamic religious preachers will be vetted and if needed censored. Jordan is taking similar steps. As a result these two countries are relatively stable and calm while rest of the Arab world is burning. Other countries suffering from Jihadist terrorism have lot to learn from Egyptian experience.
(This is an English translation of a Hindi piece originally published in Dainik Jagran, https://t.co/DI1a9M1fEV )
Comments