Category: Islam

Check out my new post at al-Wasat: "On Flags, Islamic History, and al-Qa’ida"

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

After writing my post on Libya, AQIM, and the spotting of a flag that appeared to be al-Qa’ida in Iraq’s (AQI) hanging over a court building in Benghazi there has been much written over the past few days regarding this flag as well as one waved at a rally also held in Libya that showed the Islamic State of Iraq’s (AQI’s successor group) flag.[1] Earlier this morning, it sparked an interesting debate between Ed Husain and Will McCants on Twitter. The flags in question were the following two:

al-Qa’ida in Iraq’s flag. This was the one that appeared on top of the court house in Benghazi. Islamic State of Iraq’s flag.

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Husain contended that one should not describe this flag as an “al-Qa’ida flag,” stating: “By calling it AQ flag we give them what is not theirs. The Prophet used those colours in his raids against pagans.” On the other hand, McCantsargued that Muhammad may have used similar colors (i.e. black and white), but no other Islamic movement uses the exact same styled flag as the Islamic State of Iraq. Husain mentioned Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) as a counter example, yet that does not hold up to scrutiny, see:

Hizb ut-Tahrir’s flag

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Indeed, in the case of the AQI and HuT flags they both use black as the background and contain theshahada (Islamic testament of faith: ‘There is no God, but God; and Muhammad is the Messenger of God’). While the Islamic State of Iraq’s only has the first half of the shahada at the top while on the bottom is the seal that Muhammad used in official documents. They all differ a bit though since they have different styled typeface. Further, if one were to contend as Husain did that “we” are giving al-Qa’ida something that is not theirs then we should look back and see what flags the Muslim prophet Muhammad actually used as well as the Rashidun Caliphate, Ummayad Caliphate, and the Abbasid Caliphate.
Click here to read the rest.

Abū Muṣ'ab al-Sūrī's book "Muslims in Central Asia and The Coming Battle of Islam?" was translated into English

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

NOTE: Muṣṭafā Setmariam Naṣar (Abū Muṣ’ab al-Sūrī) is considered “the most articulate exponent of the modern jihād and its most sophisticated strategies.” He is most famous for his 1600-page book The Global Islamic Resistance Call (Da’wat al-Muqāwamah al-Islāmīyyah al-‘Alāmīyyah) which appeared on the Internet in late 2004. He was captured in the Pakistani city of Quetta in late October 2005 and it has been speculated that he was one of the prisoners held at the US ghost prisons. It is believed he was renditioned and currently in a Syrian prison. “Muslims in Central Asia and The Coming Battle of Islam?” is about the history of Central Asia, its Muslims and analysis on the Muslim nature of these countries. al-Sūrī tackles many issues, such as nuclear weapons that are stored in Central Asian countries and the indigenous Muslim jihadist movements.
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Abu Mus’ab al-Suri — Muslims in Central Asia and The Coming Battle of Islam
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Articles of the Week – 6/26-7/2

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

Saturday June 26:
“The Muslim Past- Book Review of “Faith and Power” & “Muhammad and the Believers”” – Max Rodenbeck, The New York Times: https://nyti.ms/blRwDG
Sunday June 27:
“Endless war, a recipe for four-star arrogance” – Andrew J. Bacevich, The Washington Post: https://bit.ly/cFmDcd
Monday June 28:
“Prisons and Terrorism: Radicalisation and De-radicalisation in 15 Countries” – Peter R. Neumann, et. al,  The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence: https://bit.ly/9Rt4a2
“Counterinsurgency Under the Microscope” – Andrew Exum, Abu Muqawama Blog: https://bit.ly/bfzrgr
“From Sayyid Qutb To Hamas: The Middle East Conflict and Islamization of Antisemitism – Bassam Tibi, Yale University Working Paper Series: https://bit.ly/ctPYMF
Tuesday June 29:
“Abu Yahya al-Libi’s Long, Lonely Journey” – Jarret Brachman: https://bit.ly/9Hfmv9
“How Tribal Are the Taleban? Afghanistan’s Largest Insurgent Movement between its Tribal Roots and Islamist Ideology” – Thomas Ruttig, The Afghanistan Analysts Network: https://bit.ly/aR36Hl
“Estimates for Hezbollah’s Arsenal” – David Schapiro & Katherine Zimmerman, IranTracker: https://bit.ly/cWCC3S
“Islamist Radicalism in Yemen” (Updated) – Deborah Jerome, Council on Foreign Relations: https://bit.ly/aFe361
“Views of Pakistani Religious Leader Dr. Israr Ahmed (1932-2010) Regarding the Structure of an Islamic Caliphate” – The Middle East Media Research Institute: https://bit.ly/bG8mQF
“An Al-Shabaab Narco-Terrorism Connection?” – Investigative Project on Terrorism: https://bit.ly/cRXkoG
Wednesday June 30:
“The Haqqanis and al-Qaeda” – Anand Gopal, Mansur Khan Mahsud and Brian Fishman, The AfPak Channel: https://bit.ly/9NdXYM
The reason why the new al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula magazine “Inspire” was corrupted & then taken down from the forums – Internet Haganah: https://bit.ly/alZhaR
“Pakistani Terror Group Lashkar-e Tayyiba Extends Tentacles in United States” – The Investigative Project on Terrorism: https://bit.ly/dtNEvn
Thursday July 1:
“Al-Qaeda in Iraq: Eliminating Leaders Will Not Necessarily Cut Lifelines” – Omar Ashour, Arab Reform Bulletin: https://bit.ly/avX3u1
“Tariq Ramadan: Exposing the Irrelevance of His Defenders in America” – Dr. Robert D. Crane, The American Muslim: https://bit.ly/aS5SZs
“Four Questions for Yemen Scholar Gregory Johnsen” – The Atlantic: https://bit.ly/a8ApNC
“Counting al-Qaeda” – Brian Fishman, The AfPak Channel: https://bit.ly/aYVvqN
“Top Twenty Plots to Know since 9/11” – The Center on Law and Security: https://bit.ly/9QfVz2
Friday July 2:
“Ruminations on the AQAP magazine and its ridiculous coverage” – J.M. Berger, IntelWire: https://bit.ly/akv4Rz
“Hiding In Plain Sight- Terrorists in Punjab Province” – Ahmad Majidyar, Foreign Policy: https://bit.ly/9lW9f6

Ḥizb ut-Taḥrīr publishes new article: "Islamic Ruling on Military Alliances with Non-Muslim States"

Posted on by Aaron Y. Zelin

NOTE: Ḥizb ut-Taḥrīr (The Party of Liberation) is a Sunni pan-Islamist movement whose goal is to unite the Muslim ummah (community) and reinstate the Caliphate (al-khilāfah). Once the Caliphate is reinstated, the government would be ruled by Islamic law (sharī’ah) with the Caliph (khalīfah) being the head of state elected by a shūrā (consultation) council. Ḥizb ut-Taḥrīr was founded in 1953 in Jerusalem by Taqī ad-Dīn al-Nabhānī who was an Islamic scholar (‘ālim). Currently, Ḥizb ut-Taḥrīr is located in more than forty countries and is especially active in the United Kingdom and maintains a branch in the United States. The article is unedited below.
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Today, we find Muslim countries making military alliances with the kuffar and fighting alongside them. Turkey is a member of NATO and has sent troops to Afghanistan under the UN International Security Assistance Force.
Pakistan has entered a military alliance with America to fight Muslims in the tribal areas and support the Afghan war.
Many Muslim countries participate in numerous other military alliances and collective security agreements.
Historically, the Khilafah entered in to military alliances with kafir states at certain times.
In America and Europe we find a small minority of Muslims joining the western armies and being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan with some scholars even issuing fatwas that this is permissible in Islam.
The Islamic ruling on military alliances and their permissibility is given below. This is taken from the bookShakhsiya Islamiyya (Islamic Personality) Volume 2 by Sheikh Taquideen an-Nabhani. The extract below is based on a draft translation from Arabic.
“Al-hilf” linguistically means covenant (‘ahd) and friendship. It is said “halifuhu” derived from “‘ahiduhu” (he covenanted with him). However, the technical definition of the word “al-hilf” specifically means military alliance.
Military alliances are the alliances contracted between two or more states that make their armies fight together with a common enemy, or exchange military intelligence and weapons between them, or if one of them enters in to war they will consult with the other state to enter war with them or not according to the interests they see.
These alliances could be dual treaties (mu’ahadat thinaiyya) contracted between two, three or more states, but they do not consider aggression upon one state as an aggression against all of them. Rather if aggression occurs upon one of the treaty states, the other states with which it has a military alliance have the option of joining the war alongside the state facing aggression or not according to what is in their interests.
These alliances could also be collective alliances in which aggression against one of the treaty states is an aggression against all of them. So if war occurs between one treaty state and another state then the other states with which it has a military alliance will enter the war alongside it.
All of these alliances, whether they were dual, collective or other than these, necessitate that the army fights with its ally to protect it and its entity whether there were numerous leaders or a single leader.
These alliances are void from their basis and are not contracted legitimately in Islam. The Ummah is not obliged to follow them even if the Muslims’ Khaleefah contracted them since they contradict the Shar’a. This is because these alliances make the Muslim fight under a kafir leadership, under a kufr banner, in order to preserve a kufr entity, all of which is haram. It is not allowed for a Muslim to fight except under a Muslim leadership and under the Islamic banner.
There came a prohibition in the sahih hadith against fighting under the disbelievers’ banner and their leadership.
Ahmad and An-Nisa’I narrated from Anas who said: The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: “Do not seek light with the fire of polytheists.” i.e. do not make the polytheists’ fire a light for you.
The fire is an indication of war. It is said the “fire of war was kindled” (awqada nar) i.e. its evil and violent passion was called into existence. The fire of fright (tahweel) is a fire the Arabs in jahiliyyah would kindle during alliances. The hadith alludes to war with polytheists and adopting their banner, so the prohibition of war together with polytheists is understood from it.
Alliances would also make the disbelievers fight with Muslims while preserving their entity i.e. they would fight as a state and not individuals. The Messenger prohibited seeking assistance of the disbelievers as an entity.
It came in the hadith of Adh-Dhahhak (RA), “that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم went out on the day of Uhud, when all of a sudden there was a good squadron or a harsh squadron so he صلى الله عليه وسلم said: ‘Who are these?’ They said: ‘The Jews of so and so.’ So he صلى الله عليه وسلم said: ‘We do not seek assistance of disbelievers.'”
Al-Bayhaqi said: The authentic report is what Al-Hafidh Abu Abdullah informed us via a chain leading to Abu Hameed as-Sa’idi who said: “The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم went out until he left behind Thaniyya al-Wada’, and all of a sudden there was a squadron. He said: ‘Who are these?’ They said: ‘Banu Qaynuqa and they are the people of Abdullah bin Salam.’ He صلى الله عليه وسلم said: ‘Have they embraced Islam?’ They said: ‘Rather they are on their deen.’ He صلى الله عليه وسلم said: ‘Tell them to return for we do not seek assistance of the polytheists.”
The Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم rejected assistance from the Jews and said in general manner: “We do not seek assistance of the disbelievers…We do not seek assistance of the polytheists.”
One should not say that we seek assistance with disbelievers against our enemy and seeking assistance with the disbeliever is allowed because the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم consented to Quzman fighting together with him in Uhud and he was a disbeliever, and he صلى الله عليه وسلم accepted assistance from some Jews of Khaybar in war. One should not say this because seeking assistance with disbelievers is allowed if they are individuals under the Muslims’ banner. Those whom the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم sought assistance from were individuals not an entity or state.
When Banu Qaynuqa came to the messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم they came as a tribe with their own leader, and they were like a state that previously made a treaty with the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم. They came to fight with the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم and they were upon this situation and it was said to him: “They are the company of Abdullah bin Salam” so he refused to seek assistance from them due to this. Accordingly it is not allowed to seek assistance from a kafir army and under the banner of their disbelieving state.
Imam As-Sarakhsi said in ‘Al-Mabsut’ in the book of ‘Siyar’: “From the hadith of Adh-Dhahabi (ra) ‘that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم went out the day of Uhud where there was a husna squadron or he said khushna. So he صلى الله عليه وسلم said: Who are these? They said: The Jews so and so. So he صلى الله عليه وسلم said: We do not seek assistance of disbelievers.’ Its interpretation (ta’weel) is that they were powerful in themselves not fighting under the Muslims’ banner. For us, we only seek assistance from them if they were fighting under the Muslims’ banner whereas if they come independent with their own banner then we do not seek assistance from them. This is the interpretation of what was narrated when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: ‘Do not seek light from the fire of the polytheists’ narrated by Ahmad and An-Nisa’I via the way of Anas and he صلى الله عليه وسلم said: “I am free (bariu) from every Muslim who fights together with a polytheist’ meaning if the Muslim is under the polytheists’ banner.”
From this it becomes clear that military alliances with disbelieving states are haram in the Shar’a and they are not contracted.
It is not allowed for the Muslim to shed his blood in the way of defending the belligerent disbeliever. Rather the Muslim only fights people so that they enter into Islam from disbelief (kufr). As for fighting disbelievers to enter from kufr into kufr and to shed his blood for that, this is also haram.