Author: NS Rajaram
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 13, 2008
Islamism fuels jihad, integral to the vocabulary
of Islam
In response to the requests by the Governments
of Rajasthan and Gujarat to approve special laws for dealing with terrorism,
the Union Home Minister Shivaraj Patil retorted that existing laws would suffice.
This highlights a profound misconception about jihadi terrorism prevailing
in the Government and the intelligentsia -- that terrorists are lawbreakers
who can be dealt with by law enforcement authorities.
The jihadis see it very differently: they
recognise as legitimate no laws other than those sanctioned by the shariat
(Islamic code). The goal of jihad is to wage a continuous war until the whole
world is brought under the sway of Islam governed by the shariat. To fight
terrorism it is necessary first to understand this ideology and the associated
military doctrine. Terrorism is not a crime wave but an ideological war on
all fronts. We will have only ourselves to blame if we fail to see this fundamental
truth.
Dictionary of Islam defines jihad as: "A
religious war with those who are unbelievers in the mission of Muhammad (the
prophet). It is an incumbent religious duty, established in the Quran and
in the traditions as a divine institution, and enjoined especially for the
purpose of advancing Islam..."
The same point is made by Muslim authorities,
both ancient and modern. Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), arguably the greatest thinker
produced by Islam saw jihad as an aggressive war of expansion with the 'universal'
mission to convert everyone: "The other religious groups did not have
a universal mission, and the holy war was not a religious duty for them, save
only for purposes of defence... Islam is under obligation to gain power over
other nations."
According to the influential modern thinker
Sayyid Qutb (1906-66), the intellectual father of Al Qaeda: "...wherever
an Islamic community exists... it has a god-given right to step forward and
take control of the political authority... When god restrained Muslims from
jihad for a certain period, it was a question of strategy rather than of principle..."
We need look no further to understand what motivates the terrorists. It has
nothing to do with grievances over Godhra, Palestine or anything else as some
jihad apologists would have us believe.
When we come to the use of terror as an instrument
of policy, we have the seminal work The Quranic Concept of War by the Pakistani
Brigadier SK Malik to guide us. In his effusive foreword, the late General
Zia-ul-Haq wrote that the book "...brings out with simplicity, clarity
and precision the Quranic philosophy on the application of the military force,
within the context of the totality that is jihad."
This means that jihad, "the most glorious
word in the vocabulary of Islam," is nothing less than total war. According
to Brigadier Malik, "the prophet's operations... are an integral and
inseparable part of the divine message revealed to us in the Quran. ...The
war he planned and carried out was total to the infinite degree. It was waged
on all fronts: internal and external, political and diplomatic, spiritual
and psychological, economic and military."
Another point made by the author is that the
war should be carried out in the opponent's territory. "The aggressor
was always met and destroyed in his own territory." In this Orwellian
language, an 'aggressor' is anyone who stands in the way of jihad, that is
to say anyone who defends himself. Terrorism is its underlying military doctrine.
"The Quranic military strategy thus enjoins us to prepare ourselves for
war to the utmost in order to strike terror into the heart of the enemy..."
It doesn't stop here, for Brigadier Malik
assures us: "Terror struck into the hearts of the enemy is not only a
means, it is the end in itself. Once a condition of terror into the opponent's
heart is obtained, hardly anything is left to be achieved... Terror is not
a means of imposing decision upon the enemy; it is the decision we wish to
impose upon him." For justification, he cites the Quran (Anfal 59-60):
"Against them (non-Muslims) make ready your strength to the utmost of
your power, including steeds of war to strike terror (into the hearts of)
the enemies of allah and your enemies..."
One can see that the primary sources from
the Quran and the early commentators like Ibn Khaldun to modern exponents
like Sayyid Qutb and Brigadier Malik leave nothing to the imagination when
it comes to jihad and the role of terrorism -- whether the goal or the tactics
employed. India's politicians and thinkers must face up to this reality and
prepare to fight a long war against a relentless adversary.