By Kaniz Fatma, New Age
Islam
19 January 2019
News reports are coming from various sources that ISIS
attack killed 19 people including four Americans in Syria on 16 January 2019.
The attack is reported to have targeted an American military convoy in the
northern city of Manbij. While the troops were inside the Palace of the
Princes, a nearby suicide attacker wearing an explosive vest blew himself up.
This attack has raised new questions about President Trump and vice president Mike Pence who declared that “ISIS has been
defeated”. To put it in simple words, ISIS has not been defeated and if it can
be defeated it is only when the world adopts the counter-ISIS narratives
presented time and again by NewAgeIslam.com.
Newageislam.com has so far posted hundreds of articles
which purposely present counter-ISIS narratives. The people around the world
can forward them among their surroundings so as to reach global trends and be
result-oriented in defeating ISIS.
I intend to present here a bouquet of ideas proffered
by NewAgeIslam.com columnists on the subject of defeating Islamism and
Jihadism.
A regular columnist of NewAgeIslam.com, Mr Naseer
Ahmed, poses a question in one of his articles, “Is Suicide
Bombing a Shi’ite Bid’at or Innovation?” and then concludes his article by
giving its answer that “Shi’ite Bid’at of Suicide Bombing Gets Adopted by Sunni
Islam”.
To reach this conclusion, Mr. Naseer Ahmad first
presents some excerpts from the paper of Bernard K. Freamon entitled
“Martyrdom, Suicide, and the Islamic Law of War: A Short Legal History” as
follows;
“The current justifications for self-annihilatory
violence are the result of a major reinterpretation of the theology and
religious law on martyrdom and the military jihad advanced by Shi'ite
theologians and jurists in Iraq and Iran between the mid-1960s and the
late-1970s. While there are great similarities between the Sunni and Shi'a
approaches to the regulation of behaviour in war, the Shi'a approach to
martyrdom is significantly different from that of the Sunnis. Husayn's example,
with its emphasis on extreme self-sacrifice and militancy as a weapon against
tyranny and injustice, has always been among the most important paradigms in
Shi'a theology, although the “Twelvers,” the majority Shi'a sect, did not
emphasize its militant aspects for over a thousand years. Beginning with the
advent of European colonialism in the eighteenth century, the paradigm of
Husayn's martyrdom began to take an increased importance as a normative
reference point for anti-colonial activities among the Shi'a. Although the
paradigm of the normative example of Husayn ebbed and flowed as a political
rallying point for over two hundred years, it ultimately reached a zenith when
an important group of Shi'a Ulema came together in the Iraqi city of Najaf in
the 1960s. This group began to robustly revive and reinterpret the paradigm in
a way that eventually led to self-annihilatory violent behaviour by Shi'a
military jihadists, fundamentally altering the Shi'a conception of the
religious law of martyrdom.
“This new Shi'a discourse on jihad and martyrdom
emerging from Najaf--led by Imam Ruhollah Khomeini and a brilliant Iraqi jurist
named Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, and later by Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah,
spiritual mentor of Hizbullah in Lebanon--rapidly proliferated throughout the
Muslim world. It became an important factor in the achievement of several
practical successes, particularly the Iranian Islamic Revolution and, sometime
later, the ejection of Israeli, French, and American forces from Lebanon. While
Sunni Islamists also worked a similar re-interpretive revival of the Sunni
sources on the military jihad during this same time in Egypt and elsewhere,
they never advocated self-annihilation and they did not achieve the kinds of
spectacular successes accomplished by the Shi'a jihadists. The Shi'a
reinterpretation of the theology and law on jihad and martyrdom, first
articulated by Khomeini and the Ulema in Najaf, and later elaborated by
Fadlallah in Lebanon, went much further than the Sunni reinterpretation and has
profoundly influenced the behaviour of all subsequent military jihadists
throughout the Islamic world.
“This revived Shi'a approach to martyrdom now
dominates all Muslim conceptions of the military jihad, whether Sunni or Shi'a.
This transformation of religious doctrine, championed by the Shi'a Ulema and
emulated first by Hizbullah, then by the Palestinians and later by Al Qaeda,
resulted in the appearance of a new norm of jihadist battlefield
behaviour--self-annihilation--a norm that is now accepted as a valid discharge
of religious obligation under the law of the military jihad by a great many
Muslim jurists, Sunni and Shi'a. This conclusion effectively debunks the
conventional wisdom, popular in many quarters, that self-annihilatory violence
by the Palestinians and by operatives of Al Qaeda flows from either a
nihilistic sense of despair growing out of the Israeli occupation of the West
Bank and Gaza or from adherence to Wahhabism. Wahhabism actually has very
little do with the current jihadist use of self-annihilatory violence, and that
Arab and Muslim despair, while an important factor, cannot provide a
satisfactory explanation for such violence. Rather, it is the Shi'a theology
that provides the linchpin for such behaviour.”
He then concludes saying, “The Sunni militants dropped
the use of the word “suicide” and re labelled their attacks “martyrdom
operations” (‘Amaliyat Istishhadiyaa), since Islam forbids suicide. By calling
suicide bombing “martyrdom operations”, they have achieved the difficult task
of legitimizing suicide as legitimate, legal, and laudable” (see: “The Politics of Religion and the Changing Concept of Shuhuda over the
Years”
First we should know which sects of Sunnis are these
that are calling their suicide attacks “martyrdom operations”. We know there
are different sects in Muslim community; with two major ones being Shia and
Sunni. There are many sub-sects among Shias. There are groups who call
themselves Sunnis. The sect whose members and followers are committing
terrorism around the world feel pride in calling themselves “Salafi”, “Ahle
Hadith” and “Sunnis”, while they are widely known as “Wahhabis”. Another sect
whose members say they are the mainstream Muslims and are real “Sunnis” and
real followers of “Salafs” and “Ahadith” while sometimes they call themselves
“Sufi-Sunni followers or Sufis” and thus are also known as “Sufis” or
“Barelvis” in Indian sub-continent.
What is meant by the “Sunnis” committing suicide
bombings or “martyrdom operations” is “Wahabis” as per the popular term used in
mainstream media.
Our concern of problem is that these Wahabi suicide
bombers or attackers are trying to give “Islamic justification” to their
suicide attacks or “martyrdom operations”. Their labelling suicide attacks as
“martyrdom operations” can’t be justified.
Suicide attacks or bombings, even if they are called
“martyrdom operation”, are forbidden in Islam in all cases, even in wartime.
The Quran and Sunnah have asked the people not to go for suicide attacks.
Allah says, “Do not kill yourself” (Quran 4:29).
The verse “do not kill yourself” has general
application and means that suicide is forbidden both in public and in person.
Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi
interpreted this verse (4:29) and wrote:
“This verse, “And do not kill yourselves”, prove that
it is unlawful for one to kill someone else or oneself unjustly” (Al-Tafsir
al-Kabir of Imam al-Razi, 57:10)
Allah Almighty says:
“But
whoever will do that through transgression and injustice, We shall soon throw
him into the Fire (of Hell) and that is very easy for Allah” (4:30).
Here Allah
makes the law of punishment for the suicide attackers. From the general
application of this verse we learn that suicide bombing is forbidden in all
circumstances and anyone who justifies it in certain circumstances as a war
tactic is violating Islam and for such a terrorist is punishment of the
hell-fire.
Allah Almighty also says:
“And do
not cast yourselves into destruction with your own hands; and adopt
righteousness. Verily, Allah loves the righteous” (2:195)
Islamic jurists (Fuqaha) and exegetes (Mufassirin)
quote this verse as evidence to prove that killing oneself or perpetrating
suicide attacks by any means is forbidden.
Imam al-Baghawi quoted the verse 2:195 while
interpreting the verse 4:30 and said, “It is said that He mentioned the Muslim
who kills himself”. (Tafsir al-Baghawi also known as Ma'alim at-Tanzeel: 1:418)
There are a number of Ahadith in which the Prophet has
condemned suicide attack and made it forbidden (Haram) under all circumstances.
Please see some of them as follows;
The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) said,
“The one who commits suicide will go to Hell, and will
keep falling into it and will abide there forever” (Sahih Bukhari, The book of
Medicine, Chapter: Taking poison and using it for medical treatment or using
what may be dangerous or impure)
“Whoever stabs himself to death will continue to stab
himself in Hell. And whoever throws himself off a cliff will continue to throw
himself off a cliff in Hell. And whoever hangs himself will continue to hang
himself in Hell”. (Sahih Bukhari, The book of Funeral Rites, Chapter: What has
come to us about someone who kills himself’?)
“Whoever swears by a religion other than Islam (i.e.
if he swears by saying that he is a non-Muslim in case he is telling a lie),
then he is as he says if his oath is false and whoever commits suicide with
something, will be punished with the same thing in the (Hell) fire, and cursing
a believer is like murdering him, and whoever accuses a believer of disbelief,
then it is as if he had killed him.” (Sahih Bukhari, The Book of Good Manners,
Chapter: If Someone calls his brother a disbeliever without any legitimate
grounds, then he himself is what he said’, Sahih Muslim)
“Whoever purposely throws himself from a mountain and
kills himself, will be in the (Hell) Fire falling down into it and abiding
therein perpetually forever. And whoever drinks poison and kills himself with
it, he will be carrying his poison in his hand and drinking it in the (Hell)
Fire wherein he will abide eternally forever; and whoever kills himself with an
iron weapon (stabbing himself), will be carrying that weapon in his hand and
stabbing his abdomen with it in the (Hell) Fire wherein he will abide eternally
forever.” (Sahih Bukhari, The book of Medicine, Chapter: Taking poison and
using it for medical treatment or using what may be dangerous or impure)
It is reported that:
“The Prophet peace be upon him, dispatched an army and
appointed a man their commander. Then the man-made fire and said (to the
soldiers), "Enter it." Some of them intended to enter it while some
others said, 'We have run away from it (i.e., we have embraced Islam to save
ourselves from the 'fire')." They mentioned that to the Prophet, and he
said about people who had intended to enter the fire. ''If they had entered it,
they would have remained in it till the Day of Resurrection.'' Then he said to
others, "No obedience for evil deeds, obedience is required only in what
is good."
(Sahih Bukhari, [The Book of Accepting Information
Given by a Truthful Person, Chapter, Acceptance of the information given by one
truthful person in about all matters, and Sahih Muslim, [The book of
leadership]
“There was amongst those before you a man who had a
wound. He was in [such] anguish that he took a knife and made with it a cut in
his hand, and the blood did not cease to flow till he died. Allah the Almighty
said: My servant has himself forestalled Me; I have forbidden him Paradise”.
This Hadith has been narrated in Sahih Bukhari [The
book of the prophets, chapter: What has been mentioned about the children of
Israel], Sahih Muslim [the book of faith, chapter ‘the severe prohibition of
killing oneself and if someone commits suicide with something, he will be
tormented with the same in the Hellfire] and Ibn Hibban in al-Sahih)
“During one of his Ghazawat, the Prophet peace be upon
him encountered the pagans, and the two armies fought, and then each of them
returned to their army camps. Amongst the (army of the) Muslims there was a man
who would follow every pagan separating from the army and strike him with his
sword. It was said, "O Allah's Messenger peace be upon him! None has
fought so satisfactorily as so-and-so (namely, that brave Muslim). "The
Prophet said, "He is from the dwellers of the Hell-Fire." The people
said, "Who amongst us will be of the dwellers of Paradise if this (man) is
from the dwellers of the Hell-Fire?" Then a man from amongst the people
said, "I will follow him and accompany him in his fast and slow
movements." The (brave) man got wounded, and wanting to die at once, he
put the handle of his sword on the ground and its tip in between his breasts,
and then threw himself over it, committing suicide. Then the man (who had
watched the deceased) returned to the Prophet peace be upon him and said,
"I testify that you are Apostle of Allah". The Prophet peace be upon
him said, "What is this?" The man told him the whole story. The
Prophet peace be upon him said, "A man may do what may seem to the people
as the deeds of the dwellers of Paradise, but he is of the dwellers of the
Hell-Fire and a man may do what may seem to the people as the deeds of the
dwellers of the Hell-Fire, but he is from the dwellers of Paradise."
(Sahih
al-Bukhari [The Book of Military Expeditions led by the Prophet (pbuh)
(Al-Maghaazi) Chapter: Ghazwa of Khaibar], Sahih Muslim [The Book of Faith »
Chapter: Clarifying the emphatic prohibition against killing oneself; The one
who kills himself with something will be punished with it in the fire]
We have read above in the Quranic verses and Ahadith
that suicide attack is categorically forbidden under all circumstances and that
the suicide attackers will reside in the Hell forever. Therefore, those who
think that by suicide attack they will enter Paradise are at wrong. So, they
should immediately go for repentance and disassociate themselves from the
militants or terrorists who justify suicide bombing, otherwise they too will be
the part of this heinous crime.
For detailed refutation of Jihadist concept of Suicide
attacks, please read Mr. Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi’s article entitled “Suicide Attacks By ISIS or Any Other Muslim Militants Are Brazenly
Un-Islamic and Categorically Forbidden [Haram] Under All Circumstances:
Evidence from the Quran and Hadith”
As for the jihadist terming suicide attacks “martyrdom
operations”, it is absolutely wrong and can’t be supported on the basis of
claim.
Mr Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi,
an Islamic scholar and regular columnist of NewAgeIslam.com, has
written a very good article on the concept of martyrdom. Here are some excerpts
from his article.
“The Quran calls martyrs as Shuhada. This word is the
plural of Shaheed and is derived from the Arabic verbal root Shahada, which
means: to 'see', to 'witness', to 'testify', to 'become a model and paradigm'.
The Qur'an uses the word Shaheed (witness) primarily for "those who bear
witness to truth” (Quran 16:89) and those who lay down their life fulfilling a
divine commandment, and secondarily for those who have died fighting and
defending their faith or family. In Islam, a Shaheed (in the sense of a martyr)
is ‘a person who bears witness to the truth’ and stands by it firmly, so much
so that not only does he testify it verbally, but he first struggles
peacefully, and then, if the situation does not change for the better, he gives
up his life for the truth, and thus attains martyrdom.
“There is no denying the fact the martyrdom has a
great place in Islam. But the true Islamic martyrdom is completely different
from the self-styled jihadist concept of martyrdom, which is synonymous with
wanton killing of innocent civilians. For quite some time now, terrorist
organizations like Taliban, Al Qaida, and Boko Haram and their theological
ideologues belonging to radical strains of thought have been misusing the
Islamic doctrine of martyrdom in a bid to further their nefarious ends. They
lure poor, naive and gullible Muslim youth and indoctrinate them into believing
that serving as human bombs against non-Muslims in general as well as ‘deviant’
Muslims will earn them the lofty position of martyrs in the sight of God and
that they would be accorded the same great rewards as promised for the martyrs
of Islam in the Quran.
“Such extremist ideologues mobilize religious
sentiments by misusing the term Istishhad (‘seeking martyrdom’) in order to
seek false legitimacy for suicide-bombing, which is not only Haraam (strongly
forbidden) but also akin to Kufr (infidelity) in some cases.” (See: Understanding the Islamic Concept of Martyrdom (Shahadat) in the Ongoing
Islamic Month of Muharram)
8:12 AM
Moderate Islamist here
0 comments:
Post a Comment