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way one likes. In reality, reality, groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda violate a principle of Islamic scholarship to ‘bring the evidence and then believe, don’t believe and then The so-called Caliphate of the Islamic State in Iraq
bring the evidence.’ We might ask why sala jihadists
and Sham has collapsed, but still neo-jihadi extrem-
refrain from quoting scripture that goes against their
ists around the world adopt the platform of terrorist
preconceived desires. For example, in a hadith re-
groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS. To recruit, these
corded in the Sunan of Abu Dawood (#4242), the
extremists target their youthful audiences with black-
prophet Muhammad explained that a refugee cri-
and-white messaging, painting politics, history and
sis would occur where “people would ee and then
Islamic texts in a way that portrays the ummah as un-
there would be war,” and that thereafter a massive
der threat from a “West” aiming to destroy Islam. To
tribulation would occur, “because of a man from
achieve this, they often quote End of Times prophecy
my family, who will claim that he is from me, but
that motivates individuals to do insane things that op-
he is not from me, for my protectors and allies
pose religion and basic human nature.
(“auliya”) are al-muttaqun (people of Consciousness). Does this not t as a description of the so-called
For example, ISIS’ English-language magazine was
Khalifah, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who claims lineage
initially called Dabiq, a reference to several narra-
from the prophet (saws) but blows up innocent civil-
tions from the Prophet (saws) that discuss a war be-
ians on streets and in marketplaces around the world?
tween the Romans and Muslims at the End of Times in
One might ask why they have never cited or explained
A’maq or Dabiq Da biq (in Northern Syria). What they don’t
this narration. So, we reference this hadith as part of
understand or tell their audience is that this hadith
the reason we call this periodical Ahul-Taqwa, which
was written in a period of Umayyad history full of
means ‘people of consciousness.’
politicized and weak narrations, that other hadith related to Dabiq discuss a preceding truce between
Ahul-Taqwa Ahul-T aqwa is coordinated by the former sala jihad jihad--
the Romans and Muslims where they ‘ght togeth -
ist that wrote the lead article for the rst sala-jihadi
er against a common enemy,’ and other issues. issue s. As a
English-magazine in 2009. Ahul-Taqwa Ahul-Taqwa takes the tem-
consequence, many have thrown away their lives and
plate he helped create back (see following article). In
destroyed the lives of innocent others while believing
Islam we call groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda Khawarij Al-Qaeda Khawarij
to be acting in the name of God.
(those that exit and are extreme). Those that follow the khawarij have khawarij have fallen into a trap set for them by those
One should be cautious and refrain from overly polit-
that resemble people the Prophet Muhammad spoke
icizing religious scripture that can be explained any
of when he said, “In the last days there will appear
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young people with foolish thoughts and ideas. They will sound good (quote scripture), but they will go out of Islam as an arrow goes out of its game, their faith will not exceed their throats. So, wherever you nd them, kill them, for there will be a reward for their killers on the Day of Resurrection (Bukhari #6,577).”
Ahul-Taqwa seeks, not to kill these individuals, but to kill their false ideas and worldview. As the Prophet says in another narration about them, “They recite the Quran believing it is evidence in support of them, yet it is actually against them.” Ahul Taqwa Taqwa will document this reality in an effort to prevent preven t the youth from following this deviant path, to providing a worldview antithetical to that of the extremists, a vision that allows the addressing of injustice with means truly in line with the Quran, a book revealed to all of humanity and delivered to them by the Prophet Muhammad (saws), Rahmatul-lil-Alameen (a mercy to all mankind).
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All acts of terrorism are horrendous. However However,, events like those which which occurred throughout Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, Sunday, April 21, 2019, where hundreds were killed, killed, are particularly appalling. The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility, responsibility, but there can be no doubt that this tragedy is un-Islamic. Nevertheless, because the claim that the attacks were revenge for the murder of 50 Muslims in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15, 2019, a few Muslims will believe otherwise. It is important, therefore, to emphasize that acts in Sri Lanka have absolutely nothing to do with the religion of Muhammed (saws). ISIS and its followers believe that they are following God, that they are exacting revenge for the equally barbaric attacks in New Zealand. In response to the tragedy in Christchurch, ISIS’ spokesman Abu Hassan Al-Muhajir issued an audio recording on March 18, 2019 that suggested Westerns mourning the 50 victims of the Christchurch mosque killings were shedding “crocodile tears;” rather rather,, “the scenes of the massacres in the two mosques should wake up those who were fooled, and should incite the supporters of the caliphate to avenge their religion.” religion.” Thereafter, Thereafter, as the so-called caliphate last sliver of territory was taken in Syria (Al-Sham), the organization called on followers everywhere to exact revenge for those that were harmed in Al-Sham – despite the fact that hundreds of thousands have been killed and thousands more wallow in refugee camps as a result of ISIS’ so-called liberating actions. First and foremost, The Prophet (saws) clearly forbade killing civilians, religious leaders, destroying crops and houses of worship. Pages upon pages could be written to document this. Ibn Abbas and other companions (raa) report that the very first verse revealed regarding jihad was, “Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is competent to give them victory” (22:39).
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This verse makes clear that Muslims can only fight those who fight them, not civilians. However, However, when the entirety of the revelation is considered, it becomes clear that jihad is not just about defending mosques and Muslims, but rather all houses of worship. The verse continues, “[They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right - only because they say, ‘Our Lord is Allah.’ And were it not that Allah checks the peo ple, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might” (22:40). Actions like those in Sri Lanka should clearly transgress all bounds of reason. reason. Allah says in the Quran, “Fight in the cause of God against those who fight against you, but do not trans gress limits. Lo! God loves not aggressors... aggressors...”” (2:190). The devils of ISIS, the extremist khawarij, which Allah’s Messenger (saws) labeled “the worst of creation” and the “dogs of hellfire”, absolutely transgress the limits of jihad. The Prophet Prophet (saws) was emphatic about refraining refraining from harming the people of The Book (Jews and Christians). So much so that on his deathbed he warned against harming those of other religions (dhimmi) living in territory the Muslims controlled. The Prophet (saws) emphasized the duties of Muslims toward dhimmis, threatening anyone who violates them with the wrath and punishment of Allah. The Prophet (saws) is reported to have said, “He who hurts a dhimmi hurts me, and he who hurts me annoys Allah” (At-Tabarani). “Whoever hurts a dhimmi, I am his adversary, and I shall be an adversary to him on the Day of Resurrection” (Al-Khatib). “On the Day of Judgment, I will dispute with anyone who oppresses a person from among the People of the Covenant, or infringes upon his right, or puts a respon sibility on him which is beyond his strength, or takes something from him against his will” (Abu Dawud). Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the false caliph who claims to be of the Prophet (saws) and to follow the rightly-guided caliphs that succeeded the Prophet (saws) after his death is far from the truth of the religion. religion. Perhaps, the imposter caliph will recall the story of the second caliph in Islam, Umar bin al-Khattab, when the Muslims liberated Jerusalem. During this time, the rabbis and priests of Jerusalem knew the Prophet Muhammed (saws), “like they knew their own sons”, sons”, as the Quran claims. However,, they also possessed However possess ed prophecy that a great follower of Muhammed (saws) would come to the gates of Jerusalem. When they heard that the Muslim army outside their gates was waiting for their leader Umar, the rabbis and priests observed
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from a distance as a servant led a camel mounted by a man they assumed was Umar. Yet, the man on the camel did not fit the description outlined in their prophecy, prophecy, so they paused and considered resisting Muslim occupation. occupation. “This is not the fulfillment of prophecy they they imagined.” imagined.” So, they approached approached and asked to speak with the ‘Leader of the Believers,’ Believers,’ and it was then that they realized that Umar was not the one riding the camel, he was the one leading it; he was escorting his servant and fit the prophetic description. The Rabbis and Christians Christians released the keys to the the city immediately. immediately. As Umar explored Jerusalem, Christians there, who had been oppressed by the Roman authority, authority, asked him to pray in the church, now Al-Aqsa, but Umar (raa) rejected the offer. Instead he offered his prayer outside of the church. He did not want the church torn down by followers that didn’t have a full grasp of the Islamic religion. He knew he would have to return to Arabia and govern from a distance. Muslim reign was tolerant in Jerusalem. Jews and Christians were content. Nevertheless, after a few years, the Romans, who had aggressively taxed the people in Jerusalem, moved to take back the city. To avoid bloodshed, Umar’s (raa) general, Abu Ubayda (raa) retreated. However, before leaving, he released every dinar and dihram of taxes levied while the Muslims ruled. The people in Jerusalem requested his return, and in fact, before Umar bin al-Khattab passed away the Muslims regained control of the territory. Is this the way of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi? Do we really think that Umar would’ve blown up the innocent worshipers in Sri Lanka? ISIS fanatics imagine that the attacks in Sri Lanka are justified. While ISIS gloats about the number of Westerners Westerner s it murdered in Sri Lanka, thinking it has exacted retribution, the extremism and lust for blood that runs through their veins, as the Prophet (saws) described it, causes them to neglect the negatives, the Muslims that have been killed and likely more Muslims that will be killed in the cycle of violence that perpetuates between jihadist and far-right wing extremists. The great scholar of Islam, Ibn Taymiyyah, Taymiyyah, whom the jihadists adore, described the lunacy of extremism in his book Commanding the Good and Forbidding Evil, where he said: “Enjoining right and forbidding wrong being one of the greatest obligations or commendable acts in Islam, it is essential that the benefit therein outweigh its negative consequences. This is the general spirit of the messages of the prophets and the revealed books, books, and Allah does not like chaos and corruption. All that which Allah has enjoined is beneficial, and the epitome of benefit. Allah has praised “salah” (the opposite of corruption) and the Enjoining Right & Forbidding Wrong - 8 Translated by Salim Abdallah ibn Morgan “musliheen” (reformers, or those who bring about salah). And He has praised those who believe and do good works (saalihaat), while condemning corruption (fasaad) and those who cause it in many places in the Qur’an. Thus whenever the adverse effects (mafsada) of any act of enjoining or forbidding are greater than its benefit (maslaha), it is no longer part of what Allah has enjoined upon us, even if it be a case of neglecting obligations or committing the forbidden.” forbidden.” So we ask you to look at the images of the disgusting acts, both at Christchurch and Sri Lanka, to pause and consider the need to combat such hatred. We all have a role to play in rejecting the wanton violence that marks this era. For Muslims we must make it clear that ISIS and other neo-jihadis are un-Islamic. We must educate non-Muslims non-Muslims and embrace those around the world world whose tears for innocent Muslims are far from the “crocodile tears” Abu Hassan Al-Muhajir claims. We must recognize that people of peace live everywhere. Extremists are the minority. minority. However, However, humanity seems to march on allowing the dedicated fanatics to bark the loudest. Let us replace news of war with news of antithetical consciousness. Let us promote radical love, a love that unifies Jews, Christians, Muslims and people of all faith traditions. Let us truly embody the mission of Muhammad (saws) and all of those that truly understand and follow his message.
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n April o 2009, I, then known as Younus Abdullah Muhammad, a chie propagandist or Al-Qaeda living in New York City, helped release the first glossy English-language jihadi magazine over the internet. Entitled ‘Jihad Recollections,’ the initiative represented the first in a long line o English-language jihadi magazines that would later be adopted, first by Al-Qaeda and then by ISIS. It was soon regarded as the ‘Vanity Fair’ or jihadists.
A screen capture from a video posted to to YouTube by Revolution Muslim showing Younus Abdullah Muhammad (aka Jesse Morton) preaching on 43rd and Broadway in New York City on May 1, 2010.
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As author o the lead article in the first edition and designer o the template, I have a primary responsibility responsibilit y or unleashing the bloody and heinous message o those magazines to the public. Since then, countless lives have been affected. According to Shariah, I may share in the negative ramifications as they continue to produce only animosity and destruction. As the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) explained, “Whoever prescribes a good practice and people practice it, he will reap its reward and the reward o those who do it and nothing will decrease their reward. Whoever prescribes prescribes a bad practice and people ollow it, he will suffer its heavy burden and the burden o those who practice it and nothing will decrease its burden.” oday I reject the extremist views o salafi jihadists. oday I seek to make
amends and am dedicated to combating them. Tis magazine, Ahul-aqwa (people o consciousness) will adopt the model and template I created with the help o other jihadists, such as Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, who afer five editions o Jihad Recollections moved to Yemen, embedded with Al-Qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula and continued to publish under the title Inspire. Inspire looked exactly the same as Jihad Recollections but was different in that, now, Western propagandists who had joined terrorist organization abroad could “Inspire” attacks, not just with the dissemination o the ideology but with actual recipes and instructions or killing. In act, the first edition o Inspire (launched in June 2010), was a reaction to threats my organization, Revolution Muslim, made against the writers o South Park or portraying the Prophet (pbuh) in satire. Apart rom a fatwa calling or the murder o anyone insulting the Prophet (pbuh) and other complete rubbish, the first edition o Inspire included an article “Make a Bomb in the Kitchen o your Mom.” Te recipe the article offered has been used to kill and maim innocent civilians in the West since then, and while Inspire continues unto today, the same template has been adopted by ISIS, first with Dabiq and now with Rumiyya. oday, with this initial issue o Ahul-aqwa, we take the template back and create an alternative re-
source based on principles antithetical to those that espouse hate and violent extremist ext remist interpretations. interpret ations. We’ We’re re reclaiming it, and what will become evident through each edition is that there is little to nothing the extremists will be able to say or do about it. It is time to bury the project I helped create, orever! Lie is a process o pitalls and purification. Te objective is to end it in a state o aith and sincerity. As Allah (swt) says in the Quran, “Have aqwa o Allah and do not die in a state other than as a Muslim.” Allah (swt) is the Most Merciul, as the Prophet explained, “Tose who are merciul will be shown mercy by the Most Merciul. Be merciul to those on the earth and the One above the heavens will have mercy upon you.” As the Prophet (pbuh) was a Mercy to the Creation (Rahmatul Alameen), so must we be. Te religion is based on mercy. In act, there is a divine connection between the horizontal relationship we have with the Creation (fiqh al-mua’malaat) and our relations with the Creator (fiqh al-ibadaat). But what o those that confine relations with the people to violent jihad? What o those that have made the very word jihad itsel con jure up images images o terrorism terrorism and and totalitarian conques conquest? t? Certainly jihad is a part o Islam. Tat is only denied by those that want to alter the religion. But jihad is justice. I understood prope properly rly it fits what military strategists today call ‘Just War Teory.’ Te ‘Just error actic’ articles ISIS English-magazines propose is completely barbaric and un-Islamic. Jihad has conditions and is solely confined to fighting those that fight you. As Allah (swt) says, “And fight in the Way o Allah those who fight you, but transgress not the limits. ruly, Allah likes not the transgressors (2:190).” It is clearly transgression to target innocent athers, pregnant mothers and small, vulnerable children. Tis is undoubtedly evident, and we will document this clearly while showing an alternative perspective. As we work to achieve this, the reader will see that the jihadist sympathizers sympathizers and supporters supporters will only remain remain silent, rie with ignorance. As the scholars o Islam have put it: the worst type o person is the ‘one who does not know, but does not know that he does not know.’ We ask those alling into the trap o jihadism to pause and reconsider. We do not condemn you; I was you, as were many other contributors to this initiative.
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We also recognize that many jihadis are sincere and passionate, albeit overzealous. Ahul-aqwa is not here to ridicule, though one must be tough at times. We are here to counsel and advise. As the Prophet (pbuh) put it, “Te deen is sincere advice (naseeha).”
Arab Spring was about to turn to civil war and wanton violence, I more than likely would have been one o the deceived youth that answered ISIS’ call to join their so-called Caliphate. As a consequence, I would likely be dead or imprisoned orever.
Ahul-aqwa also aims to rectiy Ahul-aqwa rect iy and offer an alternative alternativ e pathway to healing ( tazkiyya ), to fighting the anxiety and stress that those radicalizing know afflicts them when they are alone and only Allah (swt) is watching. We’ll promote and provide services and support and grant others that have lef extremist movements an opportunity to make amends, an outlet or expression and a parallel network that can grant the same sense o meaning and purpose extremists offer recruits and adherents. Please eel ree to contact us i you’d like to write, give your artistic input, help spread Ahul-aqwa online, have us speak preventatively in your community, get us to print it or distribution at your local masjid, or i you or anyone you know might like to discuss it, peaceully as brothers and sisters.
When I was originally sentenced to ederal prison in 2012, the prosecuting attorney told the judge that, “someday, somewhere innocent people would die as a result o my creation o the English-language jihadist magazines.” I will orever remember April 15, 2013, when the sarnaev brothers utilized the recipe in the first edition o Inspire to kill three people and injure hundreds at the finish line o the Boston Marathon. Tat very moment I decided to do whatever I could to rectiy the error o my ways. Allah soon made a way out or me (makhrajan). Tus, Ahul-aqwa is part o the effort to correct my past misdeeds and to work to prevent others rom making similar errors, rom throwing away their lives or a hateul ideology and sacrificing or jihadist organizations that will orget you immediately and entirely.
Were I not arrested outside a small mosque in Casablanca on May 23, 2011, just a ew weeks afer Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad and as a altering
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Ahul-aqwa is part o a journey, into and out o extremism. Te magazine will document the passionate tales o others, cover politics, economics, society and culture in a balanced way, painting the grays between the deceitully black-and-white, black-and-w hite, warped worldviews o all extremists. It is dedicated to promoting a platorm o mercy and tolerance, documenting that a commitment to creative pacifism represents the best way to address grievances and important issues. Standing up to injustice with pacifism is not weakness. Te Prophet’s (pbuh) lie embodied this notion. He suffered or 13 years without raising a finger. He never sought to build a state, as Islamists would have it, but simply or the right to express himsel reely. His example proves that it is possible to fight against evil without taking the lives o innocent human beings. Documenting that a commitment to peaceul principles is in line with a correct interpretation o the Prophetic (pbuh) path or addressing social issues, such as an advancing Islamophobia. Ahul-aqwa is dedicated to the amilies and loved ones o those that have been harmed by terrorism. It is dedicated to the innocent men, women and children that all too ofen end up being those that suffer the most rom hate, war and polarization the likes o which the Messenger o Allah (pbuh) inormed us when he (pbuh) said, “Just beore the Hour, knowledge will be raised, ignorance will descend and there will be much senseless killing.” Te cure or ignorance is experience and knowledge. Ahul-aqwa is derived rom the experiences o one that learned to admit he was wrong and who now seeks to walk beore running. We hope that you will read on. We pray that you will join us. As the great scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzi put it,
“Te heart becomes sick, as the body becomes sick, and its remedy is al-awbah (repentance) and protection [from transgression]. It becomes rusty as a mirror becomes rusty, and its clarity is obtained by remembrance. It becomes naked as the body becomes naked, and its beautification is al-aqwa (consciousness). It becomes hungry and thirsty as the body becomes hungry, and its food and drink are knowledge, love, dependence, repentance and servitude.” We pray that Allah heals all our hearts and protects rom such sickness. And our final prayer is that all praise is due to Allāh, Lord o the worlds.
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On the first day o Ramadan, June 28, 2014, ISIS’ spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, announced that ISIS, which had just swept through a large mass o territory in Syria and Iraq, had reestablished a global Khilaah– “so that you may return as you once were or ages, kings o the earth and knights o war.” o realize this empowerment, he continued, Muslims all over should, “Come [to the caliphate] so that you may be honored and esteemed, living as masters with dignity.” A ew days afer Al-Adnani’s proclamation, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ascended the pulpit or Friday prayers in Mosul’s Al-Nur mosque and proclaimed himsel the Khaliah. “Te State is a state or all Muslims. Te land is or the Muslims, all the Muslims. O Muslims everywhere, whoever is capable o perorming hijrah (emigration) to the Islamic State, then let him do so, because hijrah to the land o Islam is obligatory,” he explained. Each and every Musl Muslim im was to obey his dictate. dictate. ens o thousands rom around the world soon responded and headed or Iraq and Syria to join them.
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In the midst o it all, ISIS anboys rallied on social media platorms – witter and Facebook were abuzz – the caliphate which the “Imperialist West” had destroyed had returned. It was to last orever. Te so-called Khilaah could not be deeated. Te first issue o Dabiq magazine, which launched on July 5, 2014, boasted: “A new era has arrived o might and dignity or the Muslims.” Yet today, only a ew years later, that dignity has been replaced with dishonor and disgrace. It is no more. Te experiment is over. Te results are in. Tey were horrific. Te territory the so-called Khilaah controlled is decimated. Bashar al-Assad remains in power, and the group ended up killing more Sunni Muslims than any o its enemies. In the process, many threw their lives away. Some now sit in prison. As the so-called Khilaah diminished, their call moved rom inviting adherents to join them to directing them to attack civilians at home “in any manner or way, however it may be.” Innocents around the world were subsequently massacred. Te image o Islam and Muslims
was severely damaged. Mothers and sisters now weep at the loss o their sons and husbands. Countless ormer ISIS fighters denounce the group rom prisons, describing the organization’s injustices, torture, and overall insanity. Nevertheless, the group continues to proclaim that the ‘Islamic State will remain.’ Te so-called Khilaah has been territorially deeated, but, a Digital Khilaah now instructs supporters and recruits to sustain ISIS’ existence by disseminating its twisted religious interpretation online and inspiring and conducting attacks against civilians in their home countries. It should, however, be clear that most that obeyed the Khaliah’s dictates died or a mirage in the desert. Te so-called Khilaah’ K hilaah’ss extremism list is lengthy lengt hy.. First, a legitimate caliphate under classical Islamic law requires the support o ahul hal-wal-aqd (those that loosen and bind) who are those ACUALLY qualified to elect or depose a caliph on behal o the Muslim community.
Te appointment o Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi wasn’t conducted by anyone with scholarly credentials. Teir leaders were ignorant. rue scholars o all types o ideological variance, including other salafi jihadists, had rejected the notion. It made no matter to the immature and ignorant that dominated the core o ISIS, nor the uninormed youth that believed themselves capable o understanding Islamic jurisprudence and interpreting the shariah. Even an American that taught himsel Arabic in an American prison was credited with convincing Al-Adnani to declare the so-called Khilaah. According to anboy Musa Cerantonio, this novel American convert with little more than a decade in Islam, “had pressed the leaders o what was then the Islamic State o Iraq and al-Sham to declare a caliphate.” Te call to the Khilaah was answered to a degree but mostly by the young and ignorant, who ound the portrayal o a promised victory and the return to a pristine past mesmerizing. A United Nations study ound that
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those that traveled to join ISIS mainly came rom disadvantaged backgrounds, had low levels o education, and “lacked any basic understanding o the true meaning o jihad or even the Islamic aith. Most saw their religion in terms o justice and injustice rather than in terms o piety and spirituality.” Yet, during the so-called Khilaah, these youth with guns acted as scholars. Tey would implement hudood (punishments) on the spot with no real religious authority. Tese and innumerable alternative examples document a prophecy ISIS’ seems to disregard that, “Tere will come towards the end o time youth with reckless and deficient intellects. Tey will speak with the statements o the best o creation…Teir aith will not even reach beyond their throats. Wherever you find them, kill them, or whoever kills them will have a reward on the Day o Resurrection.” And that is exactly what was done… by a Coalition led by Western countries where you can speak openly about Islam all day, that have protected Islamists wanted by Middle Eastern governments, even at their own expense, and that now have to address an Islamophobia that wouldn’t wouldn ’t exist were jihadists jihad ists not harming the t he image o Islam and providing evidence or or Islam’ Islam’s war on democracy democra cy and liberalism.
From an ideological standpoint, the so-called Khilaah was totally void as well. A Khilaah must have the power to deend the Muslim masses. Te political system o Islam rises rom necessity when the Muslims in general are committed to their religion. As the Quran says, “Allah will not alter the condition o a people until they alter the condition o themselves.” Te Prophet (saws) didn’t establish the first Islamic State in Medina by orce. Te Muslims he taught were so committed to spirituality and religion afer thirteen years o oppression in Quraishi society that when the laws o the shariah were revealed that prohibited alcohol, the streets immediately were running with emptied wine and liquor. When the order to wear hijab was revealed, the women immediately sought abric with which they could cover. Even when the Prophet marched on Mecca in a strength there was hardly any violence. When asked by those that once ought him, whether he would exact revenge he merely stated, “Do as you wish or I have orgiven you.” ISIS’ Khilaah rested on no such cultivation. As such, the so-called Khilaah was a disaster rom its inception. In August 2014, the so-called Khilaah swept through Northern Iraq and came across the Yazidis, a group that had resided in Iraq or centuries. Te soldiers o the Khilaah committed clear genocide, killing thousands, starving the people on siege, and putting the women into sex slavery. One o those slaves, Nadia Murad Basee aha, has explained their “kind” treatment,
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“The one who took me asked me to convert, I did not, he then one day asked me for ‘marriage’…Then ‘marria ge’…Then he one day da y forced me to dress for him and put make up, I did, and in that black night, he did it. He forced me to serve his militant squad, he insulted me by forcing me to dress improperly. And I was unable to bear more rape and torture, I decided to escape, but I failed and I was captured by the guards. That T hat night, he beat me up, forced to undress, and put me in a room with six militants.. They militants T hey continued to commit crimes to my body until I became unconscious.” unconscious.” Recovered videos now show crazed Western jihadists excited with perversions, buying and selling Yazidis as i they were property, and justiying their actions with a crazed interpretation o scriptural prophecy that suggests that one o the signs o the End o imes is that, “the slave-girl shall give birth to her mistress.” Teir argument was that the reerence had to mean that beore the Khilaah’s global conquest, slavery first had to be reimplemented. In this manner, ISIS saw its rapes as worship. Te actions against the Yazidis soon gave the West a justification or entering the conflict. As ormer U.S. President Barack Obama organized an international coalition, ISIS responded by beheading innocent journalists, most o whom were reporting the civil war in Syria as a justified uprising against a brutal regime. Te Coalition picked the organization apart since then by air, avoiding tens o thousands more deaths than a ground war would have inflicted. oday the so-called Khilaah is destroyed, but in the process, the territory, the people, and the religion they claimed to be deending have been decimated as well. Tese days, the so-called Khilaah is no more. But because o it, a tyrant, Bashar al-Assad, reasserts control in Syria as the international community was orced to ocus on those that tried to attack the citizenry on their streets. Millions o Syrian reugees linger in camps rom the destruction, most o them praying or entrance into the Western nations jihadists despise. For years, ISIS raped, mutilated, tortured, and killed anyone that didn’t pledge allegiance or anyone with whom they disagreed. Tey made Islam and Muslims look barbaric and thereby chased innumerable youth in the Middle East away rom their religion. Tis is largely due to a reliance on recruits that knew little about the religion and imagined a religious tradition as a totalitarian system dedicated, first and oremost, to global domination. It is as Shaykh ul-Islam
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Ibn aymiyya put it, “Allah will establish the just State even i it is disbelieving and will not establish the unjust State though it is believing.” oday, the so-called Khilaah is gone, but its remaining ollowers resort to assassinating ignorant Iraqi soldiers, civilians in the marketplace, Shiites, mothers, children and the vulnerable, thus proving that a true Islamic State cannot be established nor maintained with injustice. For certain, ISIS is not the only group that makes Islam itsel seem solely revealed or the sake o establishing some totalitarian system they call Khilaah; Al-Qaeda, Hizbut ahrir, the Muslim Brotherhood, and others’ call to a radicalization o Islam that is more conducive to radical-Lefism and communism than it is to the spiritual path o the Prophet Muhammad (saws). Tis leads to conusion. People adopt the egalitarianism o the ar-Lef, and then portray Islam as a social justice movement based on politics and void o the call to monotheism that propelled the Prophet (saws). It is as our beloved (saws) described, “Tere will be a huge conusion within my Community. Tere will not remain one house o the Arabs except that conusion will enter it. Tose who die because o it (by responding to their alse Jihad) are in the fire. Te harm o the tongue in it will be greater than that o the sword (disseminating ideas more harmul than lonewol actors).” Additionally, there is clearly no need to adopt a political group at all in these times o conusion. As the Prophet (saws) explained to Hudhaiah ibn Al-Yaman (raa), “Tere will be callers to the doors o the Hellfire…Tey are rom our people and they speak our tongue.’ So Hudhaiah (raa) asked, ‘And what do you order me to do i that reaches me?’ He (saws) replied, ‘Adhere to the Jamaah (majority o Muslim) and to their Imam (leader). Nut Hudhaiah was intelligent, and so he continued by saying, “And i they have neither Imam nor Jamaah?’ So the Prophet (saws) replied, ‘Withdraw yoursel rom all o those groups, even i that means or you to bite on to the root o a tree until death overcomes you while you are upon that state.” Clearly to die without allegiance to a Khilaah in a period o uncertainty is ar rom orbidden.
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In conclusion, we urge the recognition that Islam is built on patience. Allah’s Messenger has also warned that, “Haste is rom the Shaytan.” Yet, how many did we see rush to join the Khawarij-Khilaah? How many do we see continue to rush to attack innocent men, women, and children simply because they reside in the West, despite clear warning rom the Prophet (saws) about doing so? Because that message still resonates, we ask the reader to contemplate and share a story rom Imam Hassan al Basri, the great scholar rom amongst the tabi’een (first three generations o Muslims). A group o Muslims came to him and asked permission to rebel against Al-Hajjaj ibn Yuse, then the Umayyad Khaliah and oppressor who killed the great companion Abdullah ibn Zubair and others. Te master o the religion explained to them, “I this is a fitnah rom Allah, then I see no way out except patience that you should be patient. And i it is a punishment then you cannot remove it with swords.” But the youthul questioners were seeking only one answer and lef to fight regardless. Tey were soon massacred and Al-Hajjaj used the revolt to oppress the innocent and expand his power. It is not unlike the way we see the tyrant murderer Bashar al-Assad benefiting rom ISIS unto this moment. When the ate o the youth was relayed to Hassan al-Basri, he elaborated, “I the people had patience then it wouldn’t have been long beore they were granted an escape, but they rushed or their swords and so they are lef to their swords. Going to the sword without patience never brought about any good ever.” Please reflect on and share these words my dear brothers and sisters! Finally, in analyzing the so-called Islamic State and its true horrific effects, we might recall the prayers o ISIS’ own leadership. Abu Muhammad al-Adnani supplicated in a 2014 speech, spee ch, “O Allah, i this is a state st ate o khawarij, then break its back, kill its leaders, make its flag all, and guide its soldiers to the truth. O Allah, and i it is a state o Islam that rules by Your book and the tradition o Your prophet, and perorms jihad against your enemies, then keep it firm, strengthen it, support it, grant it authority in the land, and make it a khilaah upon the prophetic methodolog methodologyy.” Now, a ew years later, we should revisit this prayer that ISIS will never reer back to in its propaganda. We should question which o the two has been maniested by Allah. While many may remain stubborn and bewil-
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dered by recent claims that the ISIS will survive through the work o ‘keyboard warriors’ inciting people to drive people down in the street or behead Western tourists, this alone should be sufficient. Has the prayer not been answered? Te So-called Khilaah is dead and the answer rom Allah apparent. As Ibn aymiyyah said, “It is said that Allah allows the just state to remain even i it is led by unbelievers, but Allah will not allow the oppressive state to remain even i it is led by Muslims. And it is said that the world will endure with justice and unbelie, but it will not endure with oppression and Islam.” O Muslims, the so-called Khilaah K hilaah o ISIS is i s deeated. Yet Yet all too many Muslims remain adherent to a stagnant orm o shariah. Even moderates uphold that the reestablishment o a pan-Islamic Khilaah is an objective and that this State must have global conquest as its ultimate mission. What many o the allegedly moderate imams that hold this belie do not admit is that their t heir reerence to texts in literalist orm believes in expansio expansionary nary offensive jihad, a special tax or Jews and Christians, cutting the hands o the thie, the permissibility o slavery, stoning the adulterer, and other things that were social norms when the Quran was revealed. In historical context, Islam’s position on these matters was progressive. Te Prophet’s message paved the way or urther alterations and progress. He offered a paradigmatic shif in consciousness. Tis shif preceded any notion o organized society, its legal aspects and a literalist and stagnant interpretation o shariah. Te Medinan society reflected the hearts o the early Muslims. As the Prophet said, “As you are, so are the leaders above you.” It is not a top-down process where leadership is the objective. He (saws) emphasized this when he said, “By Allah, we do not assign the authority o ruling to those who ask or it, nor to those who are keen to have it”, and “You people will be keen to have the authority o ruling which will be a thing o regret or you on the Day o Resurrection” In ollowing articles related to this topic, we will address the general concept o Khilaah and political Islam as understood these thes e days by many, many, many Muslims. It is a means o opening up the heart and mind to an interpretation interpretat ion o Islam that ocuses less on undamentalist rule-ollowing and more on substance and spiritual connectedness. Tat is the true purpose o our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws). It was never his objective to establish a so-called Khilaah but to convey the message o monotheism and consciousness o God.
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Once upon a time in 750 A.D., a young prince named Abdur Rahman quietly lef his home in Damascus, capital o the Umayyad Caliphate. He was the last Umayyad prince, perhaps in his late teens or early twenties. His ellow royal heirs had been slaughtered as the Umayyads were losing control over the Caliphate to the Abbasids. When the Abbasids offered a truce to the Umayyad ruling amily, they held a banquet, invited them all, ed them well, and then had them assassinated, that is except or Abdur Rahman. Instead, the last Umayyad prince stealthily wove his way or five years westward beore eventually settling at the urthest expanse o the Muslim world, in what is now southern Spain, which a group o North Arican Berbers and Umayyad-led Arabs had conquered in 711. Te land, which the Muslims called Al-Andalus, was named afer the Vandals, the Germanic tribe that had previously ruled the territory. Te last Umayyad prince soon settled in Cordoba, a city originally named afer a Roman who had ruled beore the Visigoth conquest. Al-Andalus was the arthest the Muslims had expanded into what would go on to become Europe. On his ather’s side, Abdur Rahman was a descendant o the companions o the Prophet (saws), yet his mother was Berber. Tis combination made it easy or him to unite the Berbers and Arabs and take control o the territory, thus orming one cohesive Al-Andalus in the Iberian Peninsula, with the exception o some territory Christians retained control over in the North. Uniying the territory was only the beginning however. Soon, an “Andalusian-Enlightenment” added contributions to society such as libraries, schools, universities, public bathrooms, literature, poetry, and architecture. Tis work was developed through the unification o people and thinkers o all aiths and ethnic origins.
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For 300 years, the rule o Abdur Rahman’s descendants in what is now called Spain would represent a key notch on the historical timeline o human progress, a representation o reason and religion, o scientific and artistic excellence, o respect, tolerance and learning that would go on to birth the Renaissance and leave residues that would eventually contribute to the Enlightenment. oday, many have lost track o this history and instead adopt a Clash o Civilizations paradigm and global war on terror paradigm that tends to highlight differences between an Orientalist East and Occidental West. Tis paradigm perpetuates conflict and the notion o the “Other”. Yet, a return to Muslim-Christian-Jewish Spain hearkens to a historical peak representative o a shif in consciousness and society. Tis historical peak documents that civilization, in a singular sense, is not the product o a single region, race, or religion but rather a collective effort o all o humanity and history.
Te Andalusian-Enlightenment Al-Andalus would flourish. Abdur Rahman would establish the basis or a society that would last 800 years and that when united rivaled today’s globalism and multiculturalism. Tere was economic prosperity, an increase in population, and unprecedented cultural exchanges. At the time o Abdur Rahman’s resettlement, less than one percent o the Christian population in Al-Andalus was Muslim. Yet, within a ew generations, most o the Christians had converted and intermarriage had intermixed people o all ethnic and cultural origins, rom Hispano-Roman, Berber, Arab and others. Te offspring o Abdur Rahman and his heirs to the throne in Cordoba were almost always conceived with Christian mothers rom the North, or example. Teir blue eyes and pale skin were constant lures o attraction when citizens o the Eastern Islamic Empires would visit Al-Andalus in subsequent centuries. Te intermarriage between different cultures was key to the development o Al-Andalus and its identity. Al-Andalus was home to Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and, or the most part, there was harmony and tolerance. Tis period, known as La Convivencia (Coexistence), has been described as one o the “rare periods in history” when the three religions did not either keep “their distance rom one another, or were in conflict.” It was a culture o spiritual and scientific learning. By the time Abdur Rahman’s great grandson came to rule, he housed a library o 700,000 volumes while the rest o Europe’s largest library contained no more than 700. Arabic became the lingua ranca and soon Christian youth aspired to imitate Arabic poetry in the same way people all over the world embrace American music or other entertainments currently. As a Christian thinker, Paul Alvarus, phrased it 100 years afer Abdur Rahman made his home in Cordoba, “Te Christians love to read poems and romances o the Arabs; they study their theologians and philosophers, not to reute them but to orm a correct and elegant Arabic.” It was these Christians that would go on to bring the ascinating intellectual tradition they were immersed in to Europe and revive Christian intellectualism. Te Greek philosophers the Arabs had translated in the East made their way to Al-Andalus and were translated into Latin. Tis helped induce the Renaissance and eventually the Enlightenment. Al-Andalus was home to public bath houses, running water, aqueducts, and sewage. It’s
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cities had paved and well-lit streets. Cordoba hosted thousand o shops, and an innumerable number o mosques. Architectural advancements were phenomenal. For example, the Great Mosque o Cordoba, which started to be built in 784 on top o a Christian temple, still stands today. Alhambra, the Red Mosque in Granada, still stands today. It’s structure, built on a small plot o land, harmonized the space and was constructed on a divine proportion that sought to give the impression o heaven on Earth. “It was a triumph o mathematics as much as it was aesthetics.” Agricultural advancements, imported rom the Muslim world, increased trade and diversified products. Rural areas adopted agricultural techniques, such as irrigation, and imports added new items such as sugar and coffee. Mediterranean routes o commerce previously used by the Romans were reconfigurated and expanded. Easy trade between Cordoba, capital o the Andalusian caliphate, and Baghdad allowed or the latest trends rom the eastern metropolis to be introduced in Andalusia. Te initial history o Al-Andalus, thereore, documents that, contrary to what Christian undamentalists or white supremacists consider a solely European civilization reeing mankind rom a preexistent barbarism, European civilization is itsel largely an outgrowth o Islamic Spain, and Islamic Spain itsel a representation o the Asian, Persian, Persia n, Arican, Indian and other cultures that preceded its rise and that were absorbed during t he initial period o Islam’s expansion out o the Arabian desert afer the Prophethood o Muhammad (saws) had concluded. Yet, it is important to recognize that while Muslim control in Al-Andalus lasted 800 years, the 300-year period o Umayyad rule is where it experienced most o its splendor. Te entire 800 year period has been cause o nostalgia among Muslims. Afer the attacks in Barcelona on August 17th, 2018, two ISIS supporters released a video calling or the reconquering o Spain as part o the Muslim Empire: “Allah willing, Al-Andalus will become again what it was, part o the caliphate. Spanish Christians, don’t orget the Muslim blood spilt during the Spanish inquisition.” However, moderate imams also hearken to the age o Islamic Spain as i all o the West is indebted to it or as i it embodies all o what contemporary liberal democracies offer their citizens. Tat is not exactly the case however. Any revisiting o Al-Andalus will only assist in improving the modern world i it is understood absent idealisms. In reality, the era o Andalusian Enlightenment started to ade in 1009, afer the death o ruler Abdul Malik al-Muzaffar and the abolition o Umayyad control over Al-Andalus in 1031. Te once unified territory divided into smaller taias (city states) that attempted to reproduce the Cordoban Caliphate at a smaller scale. Tese localities, organized under different and disagreeing princes, started to initiate civil wars and infighting between Muslims. Soon, Berbers were opposing Arabs. Fragmentation in the internal state o Al-Andalus altered its status as a consistent and unified territory and started to create the divisions necessary necessary or the reassertion o Christian domination. As Muslim historian Sulayman Nyang put it, ragmentation into city states was, “the source o disunity and later the collapse o Muslim power in the Iberian Peninsula.” He elaborates, “Tese different kingdoms that were created by by the Arabs fighting each other and some o them will align with some Christians against some Arabs, and some Christians will unite against the Arabs with some other Arabs…Later on when the ideology o the Crusades developed these dynastic and personal interests began to be less and less and you began to see polarization against Christians and Muslims.”
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In response to the civil conflicts, two Islamist groups, the Murabitoon and Muwahedeen, Berber soldiers rom the Sahara, arrived to the Iberian Peninsula with the intention o uniying the divided Andalusian territories. Yet, they brought along a literalist and rigid interpretation o Islam that was largely a reflection o a stagnation in ree thinking in the rest o the Muslim world where traditionalist scholars were rejecting the philosophy and logic rom scholars like Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and Abu Sina, authors that would go on to have dramatic influence amongst uture Christian thinkers. Te vivid multiculturalism in Islamic Spain during the first ew hundred years represented a paradigm shif in intellectualism, consciousness, science and political identity. It induced a shif in coexistence and interaith relations, but that started to alter with the t he turn o the millenium. Jews and Christians were originally originally unrestricted in social lie but tolerance in Al-Andalus gradually depleted. Non-Muslims were persecuted and considered “second class” citizens. Tey paid a tax ( jizya) which, it must also be said, exempted them rom military service. Eventually, Christians and Jews were orced to work menial jobs Muslims determined themselves unfit or. As stated in a 12th century ruling: “A Muslim must not massage a Jew or a Christian nor throw away his reuse nor clean his latrines. Te Jew and the Christian are better fitted or such trades, since they are the trades o those who are vile.” At times, they were even massacred, such as when Jews were collectively slaughtered in Granada in 1066. While the core o Al-Andalus ragmented, up north, the first Crusade in 1096 sparked a ervor in the Christian population that was based primarily upon a narrative on the necessity o taking back Jerusalem and the Holy Land rom barbaric barbari c and pagan Muslims. Te Crusades were themselves t hemselves a call to a “Clash o Civilizations” Civi lizations”.. Christians Christi ans had not only benefited rom the previous advances o Muslim Al-Andalus, but they had achieved a similar sentiment o ummah (community) and also came to understand the concept o jihad as holy war. Tey soon reinterpreted it as such through Christian scripture. Te ideology o the Crusades was adopted by the Christians in Northwestern Spain as they also viewed Islamic Spain as a Christian terrain that needed reconquered, and Muslim civilization as representative o the barbarism the Church was propagating. While Al-Andalus’ “rich web o attitudes about culture, and the intellectual opulence that it symbolized” was largely responsible or the arrival o learning and tolerance on the Iberian peninsula, it was the spread and ultimate clash between the “determinedly crusading orces rom Latin Christendom and the equally anatic Berber Almohads” that spelled the end or medieval Spain’s culture o tolerance. Tis turn prepared the Muslim world or decline. Christians gradually took back territory in what was termed the Reconquista. Warare ensued until, in 1492, the last stronghold o Islamic Spain was conquered in Granada. Tat day, October 12, 1492, has been described by Christian nationalists as “the most distinguished and blessed day there has ever been in Spain.” With the final
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conquest in 1492, Judaism was banned. Anti-Semitism ran rampant. A ‘Holy Inquisition,’ which sought to identiy heretics and Muslims and Jews that had converted insincerely, led to witch hunts. Christianity was ofen enorced through torture and imprisonment. Forced conversions, which betrayed the religious reedom granted to Muslims by the reaty o Granada signed in 1492, culminated in the eradication o Muslims rom Spain by 1501. Encouraged by the success, Queen Isabella issued an edict in 1502 which banned Islam or all o Castile. Tese practices continued. Influenced by the Crusader mentality and based on the threat posed by the urks, Moriscos (Muslims who had been orceully baptized) were completely expelled rom Spanish territory between 1609 and 1613. It was a period driven by principles o intolerance and not unlike those that extremists on all sides endorse today, principles that perpetuate conflict and prevent civilizational tolerance and cooperation.
Te New Clash o Civilizations Te story o Al-Andalus is ascinating yet airly orgotten. In many ways, the story o the society Abdur Rahman established is particularly relevant today, especially as we enter into the 18th year o the global war on terror, an international paradigm that resembles much o the complications associated with the decline o Al-Andalus and the Christian Reconquista. Reconquista. Tis period tracks well with events that occurred at the end o the Cold War in the early 1990’s and a theory called the “Clash o Civilizations.” In 1990, as the U.S.S.R. was crumbling and the bipolar Cold War order was disintegrating, then U.S. President George Bush announced the birth o a New World Order, “a new era — reer rom the threat o terror, stronger in the pursuit o justice, and more secure in the quest or peace.” He made his statement in the context o the onset o the first Gul War which prevented Saddam Hussein’s invasion o Kuwait, ended in the swif showing America’s unrivaled orce and soon seemed to confirm a commitment to “an era in which the nations o the world, East and West, North and South, can prosper and live in harmony.” Soon thereafer, political scientist Francis Fukuyama boldly pronounced an ‘End o History.’ “What we may be witnessing is not just the end o the Cold War, or the passing o a particular period o post-war history, but the end o history as such: that is, the end point o mankind’s ideological evolution and the uni versalization versalizatio n o Western liberal democracy democracy as the final orm o o human human governmen government, t,” he said. However, this perspective had its detractors. For others, the end o the Cold War was only the beginning o an alteration in the nature o conflict. Samuel P. Huntington, Fukuyama’s teacher, proposed that we would rather enter into an era marked by a Clash o Civilizations where “uture wars would be ought not between countries, but between cultures.” Challenger civilizations, such as the Chinese and Islamic, represented a new threat to the international liberal order. In the minds o many, the hammer and sickle o Communism would be replaced repla ced with ear o the “bloody borders” o the Muslim-majority world and a “green peril,” a reerence to the green crescent o political Islam. According to Huntington and his supporters, the West and Islam were destined to engage in a long and violent struggle over control o the Middle East, including its oil resources. Te Clash o Civilizations hypothesis was seemingly confirmed on September 11, 2001, with the Al-Qaeda Al-Q aeda led plane hijackings that brought down the t he World World rade rade Center and
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hit the Pentagon. Soon thereafer, the Clash o Civilizations mentality was reflected in what became a ‘Global War on error.’ In the afermath o 9/11, President George Bush III understandably issued a warning. “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are are with us, or you are with the terrorists,” terrorists,” he said. He emphasized while mourning the victims o 9/11 that “this crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while.” Te global war on terror narrative was soon embraced by leaders around the world including Osama bin Laden. Sitting on a mountaintop in October 2001, Al-Qaeda’s leader soon endorsed the Clash o Civilizations model. Bin Laden exploited the situation and explained that or America’s President, “the world has to be divided in two: Bush and his supporters, and any country that doesn’t get into the global crusade is with the terrorists. What terrorism is clearer than this?” He crafily drew rom the principle that ‘one man’s terrorist is another’s reedom fighter’ and attempted to galvanize Muslim youth explaining with twisted interpretations o Islamic scripture that those who supported President Preside nt Bush, “even “even with one word,” word,” were in act ac t not Muslim at all, a doctrine do ctrine o takfir (excommunica (excommunication) that has continued to metastasize to the degree that Muslims killing Muslims in the Middle East has become all too normal and commonplace. Meanwhile, Mohammad Khatimi, president o Iran rom 1997–2005, introduced the theory o “Dialogue Among Civilizations” as a response to t o Huntington’ Huntington’s theory. Tis doctrine doctr ine ostensibly endorsed endorse d dialogue dialogu e over conflict. However, embracing the concept o civilizations, in the plural, plur al, lends itsel to a conception o dialogue dia logue that merely means talking, and in the case o Iran, with an implicit sense that Islamic civilization under Shiite rule is not only superior to all others but destined to conquer the world in prophecy that drives decision-making. Tis is embodied in innumerable statements o those affiliated with the Iranian regime, such as Khatimi’s successor Ahmed Ahmadinejad’s statement in 2007 that, “In the world, there are deviations rom the right path: Christianity and Judaism. Dollars have been devoted to the propagation o these deviations. Tere are also alse claims that these [religions] will save mankind. But Islam is the only religion that [can] save mankind.” Tat is not an open-minded position. Eighteen years in and there remains no end in sight to the global war on terror. ISIS’ caliphate has lost all its terrain and Al-Qaeda and its supporters are on the run, but jihadists are in no way deeated. Te aliban see victory on the horizon in Aghanistan. Four times as many salafi jihadists as there were on September 11, 2001, remain active on battlefields in dozens o countries. Almost every day, terrorist attacks continue to harm innocents caught in the crossfire o the Clash o Civilizations. Online jihadist propaganda continues to motivate attacks all over. Te protracted War on error paradigm has enhanced anti-American sentiment in the Muslim-majority world. As the U.S. and its allies have remained embroiled in conflict, Russia, Iran, China, and other authoritarian regimes have benefited. Now, Bashar al-Assad remains in control over most o Syria and the creeping authoritarian threat ad vances as China,-Russia, China,-Russia, and Iran Iran look look to rebuild and exert additional additional influence in the Middle East. All this endanendangers the uture o a liberal world order that in no way is perect, but that certainly is preerable to totalitarianism or World War III. Still, most do not notice. Tese authoritarian regimes have been exploiting the long wars in Iraq, Aghanistan, and elsewhere in ways similar to how the United States lured Russia into the 10-year long Soviet-Aghan war that preceded the all o the U.S.S.R. In the West, support or ar-right wing parties and anti-Islamic sentiment create exclusive, anti-immigrant, and Islamophobic sentiments, while lef-wing reactions grow increasingly radical and even extreme. Around the globe, reactionary and populist politicians tap into the Clash o Civilizations mindset and create internal and external us-versus-them perspectives that hyperpolarize their societies. Hate and extremism are on the rise everywhere, but ew trace it back to the onset o the War on error. It is time or a paradigm shif in the Clash o Civilizations paradigm, and one o the mechanisms or acilitating such a shif is a return to a proper understanding o the distinctions that marked the onset o Islamic Spain and its culture o tolerance and consciousness-raising. Far rom a Clash o Civilizations, the 300-year legacy o Abdur Rahman’s Umayyad Muslim Spain represented a ‘Dialogue o Civilization,’ in the singular. Collective mankind was evoked as a single tribe, which the Quran calls
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Bani (tribe o) Adam, where coexistence and engagement centered more around spirituality and less around religious dogma and literalism. o be certain, lie in Al-Andalus was ar rom idealistic. However, it was in Al-Andalus that Jews would rediscover and reinvent Hebrew; Christians embraced Arabic language, dress, education, philosophy, architecture and the like; men like Abelard, Maimonides and Ibn Rush had little problem investigating science or philosophy and logic with members o other religions. In that same manner, today’s interconnected world would benefit rom cooperation and collaboration with the other and understanding that true dialogue necessitates the understanding that all o mankind are in this together and that civilization is a product o all cultures, races, languages and the consciousness o mankind collectively. I we are to rescue ourselves rom civilizational decline akin to the disintegration o Al-Andalus and the consequential Crusade and Reconquista, we must extract principles o tolerance akin to the ormulation o a new Andalusian Enlightenment.
oward a New Andalusian Enlightenment Te British writer Rudyard Kipling amously wrote that, “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” Many critics o western “imperialism” have pointed in part to this line as evidence or Kipling’s racism and endorsement o an Oriental East in need o liberation by way o orce rom the Occidental, Western empire. Tis would seem to confirm an overwhelming support over the ages or a Clash o Civilizations perspective. Few, however, quote the stanza in context. In reality, Kipling wrote:
“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet. ill Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!” While it is not at all uncommon or writers and thinkers to be quoted out o context, the distinction between reading the stanza in isolation and reading it in entirety is representative o the core complications that currently perpetuate global and local conflicts. aken together, it is apparent that Kipling was describing that the “Other” can seem very different when viewed rom aar and rom the lens o religious dogma and doctrine, but that when people interact ace to ace, in real-time with those they differ rom, there is more commonality than division. It is that same sentiment, along with an opposition to the general misquoting that predominates today, that can preserve humankind’s progress and civilizational advancement without regression. Divisive polarization, hate, and extremisms that perpetuate the Clash o Civilizations perspective today are largely a consequence o lacking dialogue and real-lie engagement. Similar to quoting Kipling out o context, nostalgia or Islamic Spain today can be liberating or help perpetuate civilizational division. Te history o Islamic Spain can be interpreted through divergent lenses. For Muslims, Islamic Spain was a perect society based in tolerance. Jihadists call or the retaking o Al-Andalus while traditionalists in general ignore that Islamic Spain was tolerant with historical considerations in mind but hardly in comparison to modern norms that respect equal rights under the law or all citizens. Fundamentalists Christians look at the reconquest o Spain as the onset o emancipation rom ‘creeping sharia.’ Tey use it to justiy Islamophobia and support or anti-Muslim policies on issues such as immigration. Jews relate the intolerance o Christian Europe and Spain’s reconquest as the onset o an anti-Semitism that culminated in the atrocities o the Nazis, yet many undamentalist Jews ofen times perpetrate similar resentment against Palestinians. When understood correctly, the tolerance and coexistence induced by Abdur Rahman’s Al-Andalus represent an avenue to a new Andalusian Enlightenment that might acilitate a shif rom the Clash o Civilizations into a dialogue o civilization paradigm. o effectively induce a new Andalusian Enlightenment, progress resting on principles antithetical to extremism, bigotry, hate, and extremism must pose alternatives to conflict and violence.
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For decades, Islamists have criticized authoritarian regimes, aulted democracy and blamed Western imperialism or the ailure o governance in the Muslim world. For political Islamists, “Islam is the Solution,” but they have not defined and outlined what that solution is. Tey ofen point to Islamic Spain as evidence o Islam’s tolerance. Nevertheless, they rerain rom explaining that they still call or jizya (tax o Christians and Jews), restrictions on their propagation o the aith and many other discriminatory positions, like restrictions to serve in government positions. For Islamists, the spirit o Al-Andalus represents a nostalgic and utopic past, a time when they dominated over others. It is a past they hearken back to with requent threats to one day impose their rigid 7th century literalism by orce. For certain, they know little o Al-Andalus’ substance, its art, architecture, creativity and the philosophy they requently kill their ellow Muslims or upholding these days. In reality, most extremists o the day would categorize most o the residents o Al-Andalus as heretics and apostates. Were they to travel back in time, they would no doubt abhor Al-Andalus’ cultural and creative essence. Where Islamists or jihadists have come to assume authority, their rule has been marked by inefficiencies and oppression that turns populaces against them. Prophet Muhammad (saws) came with a paradigm shif that elevated the Arabs above tribalism, united them around a spiritual path, and led to an expansion within 100 years that covered Al-Andalus in the West to China in the East. oday’s Islamists see a revolutionary platorm asserted with orce rom above, not the kind o bottom-up conceptions that allowed tolerance and coexistence first in Medina with the first so-called Muslim “State,” and then extensively in Al-Andalus. Conditions today necessitate a paradigm shif in human consciousness, a society based not on materialism and sel-seeking narcissistic behavior but the reassertion o a conception o culture that taps into a shif in awareness akin to that which developed in Abdur Rahman’s Spain, a lie centered around intellectual pursuit, scientific progress, and dialogue amongst all citizens o differing backgrounds and creeds. Unortunately, the Clash o Civilizations paradigm only assumes that conflict is inevitable, that there is something that distinguishes Western, Islamic, and Chinese civilizations and that conflict must continue because war has been commonplace in history. Once conceptions shif so that civilization is understood in the singular, dialogue and consciousness can shif so that the history o progress and development is gradually viewed as the product product o all humanity humanity.. A new Andalusian Enlightenment would advance the lessons o Islamic Spain and apply them to the current situation. We currently live in a world blanketed by nation states but also one where advancements in technology and communication put us in touch with people around the globe. oday we are all interconnected however,where we thought things like the internet and social media would democratize our ideological influences, we exist polarized on nearly every single issue. We communicate only in circles and echo chambers on and offline with those with whom we agree and we demonize rival sides based only on the inormation o influencers and hardly ever afer dialogue with those on the opposite end o the spectrum.
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For certain, the history o Abdur Rahman’s Al-Andalus is not the only society that represents a period where tolerance and inclusivity led to social and spiritual development. However, in an age o intersecting extremisms, where jihadists point to right-wing extremists that believe in a concept o civilization that begins in the West, and where extremists in the West point to jihadists to justiy their claim that Muslims residing in Western countries cannot possibility assimilate and instead hold covert ideas o a creeping shariah, it is important to create a widespread acknowledgement o this period in an effort to shatter such divisions. Albert Einstein once said that, “No problem can be solved rom the same level o consciousness that created it.” oday science is evolving so that we can see the benefits o spirituality and the similar experiences o those that pray and meditate. People are shifing in consciousness everywhere, redefining religion and rule-ollowing with spiritual exploration and openness. Unortunately, the global war on terror did indeed attack the problem posed by jihadist terrorism rom the same level o consciousness that created it. As we rest on the threshold o a period o civilizational decline, there is an ever increasing reassertion o authoritarianism akin to the way Islamic Spain ractured into conflict and divide and then paved the way or a bloody and intolerant period o declination. Going back to the uture and organizing a new Andalusian Enlightenment is a gateway to transormative change, both at individual and collective levels. Future editions o Ahul-aqwa and articles on LightUponLight.Online LightUponLight.Online will will explore the prospects and document the role in detail, revealing how the Dialogue o Civilization is a paradigmatic shif in consciousness. People o Consciousness everywhere are encouraged to adopt the position and notion that we all have a duty to address these concerns, to rise above the reductionist paradigm promoted by the Clash o Civilizations model, and to thereby do something to preserve an international order that could only benefit and perhaps advance with a new Andalusian-Enlightenment.
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QUOTABLES
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INTERVIEW
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Can you give us a bit of background about yourself? My background is a young convert to Islam, or should I say revert? I reverted at the age of 19 years old, which was 14 years ago today exactly, December 27, 2004. I reverted in the city of Memphis at a masjid called called Salam (Peace). Yet, I took a war path in Islam But the beginnings were peace. A[n] Imam from India a sufi gave me shahada. The sufis were my first teachers. They taught me peace, love. Yet, Yet, i moved to another city, met salafis and went with them. I was taught love-hate, love all salafis; hate everyone else, including other Muslims. This group has a strong following in Yemen, Yemen, particularly Damaj, in Sa’ada. It was there that I met other salafis from around the world. I grew discontent with the non-violent salafis, or pseudo-salafis, and I met violent violent salafis who taught that hate is to be added with violence. I grew to hate whom I saw as aggressors to Muslims, and the violent salafis, also known as jihadis or terrorists, directed my hate to a specific target: the U.S. military. Back in America I attacked the target, was captured, tried and sentenced to life without parole. You were one of the first so-called ‘lone wolf’ attackers. Since You Sin ce your arrest, lone wolf attacks have become new norm. Many attacks have been perpetrated in the same manner. Can you reflect on how you feel now? Are you haunted by what you’ve done? I have been called the first of the ‘lone wolf’ attackers. I feel that is not entirely true. Yes, Yes, I may have attacked alone. But I was directed to a particular target by others; I have lived in prison 24 hours of every day for the past 9 years and a half years. The haunting of what I did is reminded to me by my surroundings every day. You’ve been in isolation for some time now in prison and as a You’ve ‘lifer’ have no incentive to deradicalize. So, how did you do it? As a ‘lifer’ I had no incentive to deradicalize and no intention to do so. Yet, as the realization of the ultimate jihadi goal was materialized with ISIS, I started to doubt the violent salafist ideology. ISIS accomplished what Al Qaeda and the Taliban dreamed of. ow it operated, things they did and how theyfell was a major contribution to my deradicalization. I said to myself: “If they were in the right, no force on earth could stop them.” But they were. Can you describe the difference between yourself now and the person you were when you proudly proclaimed that you acted on behalf of Al-Qaeda? I have remembered the love-peace, spiritual realization aspect of Islam I was first taught back in 2004. I renounce the salafist ideology in totality now. That’s the major difference between now and then.
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INTERVIEW
How did you come to realize you were wrong for supporting the interpretation of jihadists? Like I said, things ISIS did. The rapes, the murders, the killings of other jihadists, the bombing of mosques, the setting prisoners on fire, the beheading of children... It all hit me like a ton of bricks. This can’t be Islamically justified. Can you tell others the most important lesson you’ve learned from your experiences experiences? ? The most important lesson I learned is that Islam is about peace. Yet when there is a war as jihad, Muslims have certain guidelines from the Prophet (PBUH) to follow. If these guidelines are not followed, then the cause, the jihad, is not just. I joined an unjust war, and that was a very important lesson I learned while in prison. It cost me my life, but I learned it before it was too late, meaning death. How has Allah blessed you to see the light of the Islam you follow now? By allowing me to see the signs He set for me at the outstart. . The first translation of the mushaf I read was by a Sufi, Abdullah Yusuf Ali. I’ve come to see the truth of the Sufi path in Islam. Yet, I’m not a sufi. The only label I accept is Muslim. Butthe spiritual realization the Sufis teach has showed me a new purpose in life, the goal to overcome my lower self. A jihad al nafs (struggle of self) is the jihad I participate in now. Can you tell us the most amazing spiritual story of your time in prison? Has something happened that stands out as a time when despite the difficulty you realize peace and contentment? After my earlier morning dhikts and meditations, I feel the evolution evolution of my spirit. I feel inner peace, calm and tranquility, tranquility, nearness to Allah. Even though I’m in a maximum security prison I feel a force within and around that I can’t explain. Is there anything else you would like to say about your experiences, thoughts or feelings now? I think I’ve said it all. It’s more than politics, more than religion, more than philosophy. It can’t be limited to one aspect. It’s a complete way of life that Allah has set for the universe, so its destruction is impossible. Although the powers of darkness try tr y to destroy Islam’s image reputation and adherents, it’s impossible. The spiritual awakening I’ve experienced in prison makes all the trials and tribulations worth it. Can brothers and sisters reach out to you for advice, to support you and an d to benefit from your experiences. If so, how can they contact you? Yes. Anybody wishing to reach out can write me directly at Abdullah Hakim Muhammad ADC # 150550 EARU MAX UNIT P.O. Box 970 Marianna, AR 72360
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