Islam and Terrorism (13 page)

When there was an order to fight, the announcement was made at the mosque. The rulers after Muhammad continued this practice. Throughout Islamic history you can see that all movements of jihad came out of the mosque.

E
GYPTIAN
M
ILITANTS
’ U
SE OF
M
OSQUES

In modern times mosques are still used as centers of war. The Egyptian Islamic groups are a good example. In 1986 the Egyptian police received orders from Zaki Bedr, prime minister of national security, to attack different mosques in southern Egypt because militant Islamic groups were using them.

The attack against the mosques caused much anger among moderate Muslims. The following dialogue occurred in the Egyptian Parliament between Bedr, who ordered the strikes, and the opposing party representative, Mohammed Mahfoz Helmy. Helmy explained why he was questioning Bedr’s actions:

The motive of my questions is not to accuse you of doing wrong, but as a representative of the people, we demand an explanation of the action of the administration of security in southern Egypt. The way that your administration surprised Muslim worshipers inside of the mosque and arrested them was an insult to Islam.

Bedr answered by saying:

We had accurate information that these radical Islamic groups used the mosque to plan and operate an attack on the citizens and the police. To be more specific, on Friday, October 31, 1986, we monitored the members of these groups taking weapons and people to the mosque to prepare for a major attack on the citizens of Assout and the police force. As a result of these attacks, six high-ranking officers and seventeen soldiers were wounded. However, we confiscated from the mosque many illegal handguns, and we found dead bodies of the citizens. We arrested fifty-seven members of these groups. After a short investigation we released two of these fifty-seven and jailed the other fifty-five.

The prime minister of national security told the Egyptian parliament that this wasn’t the only time a mosque had been used as a military base. Five days before this invasion, another invasion was conducted.

October 26, 1986, we received accurate information about a major plan for the Islamic radicals to destroy and attack the police and the citizens right after the Friday prayer. This information was enough for us to send out some of our best forces to stop these plans and keep national security under control. Moments after the arrival of the forces they discovered the gathering of 120 members of the Islamic Group inside the mosque. These members did not allow general worshipers to enter the mosque to pray that day. We monitored them carefully and stood by to see how they would act. As soon as they made their first step to come out of the mosque and carry out their plans, we immediately attacked the mosque and arrested 121 people.

The prime minister of national security addressed the parliament by saying:

What these two incidents mean to me and my administration is that mosques are the gathering place and the centers for these radical Muslims. As long as I am in position, I will not tolerate it. We should stand together and unite in opinion to fight the threat of terrorism to our country even if they are raising the banner of Islam. I do not attempt to deny my responsibility for these attacks as my opponent’s party claimed, but as a citizen of this great nation of Egypt I call the opponent’s party to unite with our government and stand strong in the face of these threats of terrorism to keep our nation secure.
³

What we saw in this documented modern history was that the Islamic Group movement
(al-Gama’a al Islamiyya)
used the mosque as a place of planning attacks and hiding weapons—following the example of the prophet Muhammad.

SECTION IV

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN JIHAD

Chapter 13

FOREFATHERS OF TERRORISM

AD 600s to 1800s

Y
OU ARE ABOUT
to embark on a guided tour through twelve hundred years of Islamic history. Along the way you will discover the events and movements that have produced the principles of jihad that are practiced today.

This chapter, which covers the time from Muhammad to the 1800s, will explain:

•   The logic behind attacking leaders and governments who reject Islam, Muhammad, or the Quran

•   Justification for killing women and children

•   The belief that you should fight even if you know you will lose

•   The suicide mission by Muhammad’s grandson

•   Eleventh-century terrorists who got high on marijuana before going to attack their enemies

G
OOD
R
EASONS TO
K
ILL

Let’s begin our tour by taking a few snapshots from the life of Muhammad. As you visualize these scenes from Muhammad’s life, you may find it interesting to imagine
what it would have been like if Jesus had behaved the same way.

When Muhammad moved to Medina in AD 622, he found many strong Jewish clans there who resisted him. The leader of a clan called Beni Nadir resisted with words. He excelled in poetry and its use in condemning Muhammad and his teachings.

This poetry got him in trouble with a powerful and competitive Jewish clan in the area (al-Aus), which had converted to Islam. (Yes, it’s true; they converted.) When they heard this poetry, they planned to murder the author (Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf) in order to win the favor of Muhammad. They persuaded the poet’s own brother to kill him. (Their mother was Jewish, but their father was Arabian.)

Because the clans were so competitive for Muhammad’s favor, a rival Jewish clan that had also converted to Islam (al-Khazraj) looked for someone else Muhammad did not like in order to kill him as well. Abbah Rafah Salam was the second victim killed in order to keep Muhammad’s favor.

In the meantime the prophet Muhammad ordered another man to go and kill a lady named Osama (daughter of Marawan), because she also used her poetry to condemn Muhammad and his teachings.
¹

The murder of the Jewish poet was perceived negatively among Arabs. Muhammad’s first cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was among the first followers of Muhammad, assumed the responsibility of defending Muhammad’s orders to murder. He told the people that God sent the angel Gabriel to Muhammad and commanded this man’s death. Then he wrote a poem to confirm that this murder was God’s command.

These three murders established a basic principle of behavior.

PRINCIPLE: Anyone who conflicts with, disagrees with, or does not support Muhammad and his teachings should be killed.

M
UHAMMAD
P
ERMITS
K
ILLING
W
OMEN AND
C
HILDREN

Let’s see what the prophet of Islam said about killing women and children of the enemy.

Prophet Muhammad was once asked if it was OK to kill women and children of those who were polytheistic (believing in many gods) or infidels. He said, “I consider them as of their parents.” In other words, if the parents were infidels, then it was permissible to kill their children.
²
Because the prophet of Islam believed this, this is what radical Muslims believe about killing women and children.

K
ILLING
L
EADERS
W
HO
B
REAK
I
SLAMIC
L
AW

Muhammad died in AD 632 after a long fever, according to historical records. The third leader to succeed him, Uthman ibn Affan, experienced much protest against his leadership and governing of the people. He was accused of mishandling money, moral failures, and other transgressions. A group of Muslims from many different nations surrounded his house and asked for his resignation. He swore by Allah that he would not respond to this threat and refused to give up leadership.

Within a few days they went back into the house and found him meditating and reading the Quran. They killed him there.

PRINCIPLE: It is right to murder a governor or leader who is not in compliance with Islamic law.

After his death the Islamic nation was never the same. This was the fork in the road where the Islamic faith was divided forever.

F
ALSE
T
REATY
C
AUSES
S
PLIT
B
ETWEEN
M
USLIMS

After the murder of Islam’s third leader, Muhammad’s first cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib, was chosen to be the fourth leader of Islam. Ali was revered by many because he was Muhammad’s closest assistant, like his right arm.

The governor of El-Sham (Syria) opposed this appointment. He was from the same family as the previous leader who was murdered (Uthman). So the governor of El-Sham asked Ali to arrest the people who killed Uthman and judge them. Ali replied, “There are thousands; whom am I going to arrest? Whom am I going to judge?”

This started war. The governor, Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, fought many battles with Ali.

Ali’s group became divided. Part of them opposed fighting and petitioned Ali to stop the war. They wanted to debate for a solution, choosing a representative from both sides who knew the Quran.

To make a long story short, Muawiya’s representative presented Ali’s representative with a deal to end the matter. The deal was that if Ali’s followers removed Ali from leadership, the others would remove Muawiya from his leadership. Muslims could then elect whomever they saw fit according to the Quran.

Ali’s followers kept their promise and removed Ali from leadership, but Muawiya’s representative did not keep his
promise. Instead, he declared Muawiya to be the only leader for the Muslims.

PRINCIPLE: Deceit is acceptable if it helps you achieve the goals of Islam.

M
URDER OF
A
LI BY EL
K
HARIJ

By AD 660 the Islamic world was divided into two parties—those who followed Ali and those who followed Muawiya. Ali’s followers were the Shiites, and Muawiya’s followers were the Sunnis.

A new group splintered off from the Shiites. It was known as
el Kharij
. Just like jihad groups today, el Kharij called for reform. They wanted to practice Islam just as Muhammad did.

El Kharij decided the best plan of action would be to kill them all—Ali, Muawiya, and Muawiya’s representative. By killing these three leaders they thought Muslims could go back to one leader, just as it was in the days of Muhammad.

One man was able to kill Ali even though Ali was held in great esteem among the Muslims. Immediately el Kharij’s spiritual leader claimed a Quranic passage to justify what they did (Surah 2:204, 207).

The murder of Ali is a leading example of what many radical groups believe.

PRINCIPLE: When a government or a leader is found acting not in accordance with the Quran, Muslims have the right to declare them apostate and infidel. Islam’s way of dealing with an apostate or infidel is killing.

This is another root of terrorism in the Islamic history.

El Kharij principles and beliefs have been a terrorism threat to every empire, dynasty, society, or nation since then. The Islamic militia groups we see today around the world are a continuation of el Kharij. Because this ancient group was so influential, let’s look at their beliefs.

E
L
K
HARIJ
B
ELIEFS

El Kharij
is an Arabic word that means “one who goes out.” In this part of Islamic history, el Kharij stepped out from under a leader or a government that they believed was not acting according to God’s law and the Quran.