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Islamists would like to be viewed as the true anti-imperialist force, pushing
the struggle a step further by resisting not only the West’s political hegemony
but also its intrusive ideas like liberalism, socialism, and secularism. (22)
Islamist Militants
In rejecting all forms of western thought and influence, for the Islamist militant, the west’s ideas of human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of press, gender equality, or the right to a fair trial are no exception. “The Taliban may have debased Deobandi traditions-but in doing so they have promoted a new, radical model for Islamist revolution” (Rashid 26). The Taliban who where first known as the Islamic Students Movement, even in their name which is a Pashtun word meaning seeker of religious knowledge, have reformulated and convoluted the Deobandi religious schools to spread their version of traditional Islamic society and jihad to the poor and uneducated Afghan youth, who make up the majority of the Taliban’s military. It is by these means that the Taliban had gained control of Afghanistan, and were able to enforce their so-called revivalism.
Taliban revivalism is not isolated to Afghanistan, and is a purist theory of revolution. Afghanistan is seen as a “success story: Islamists of many countries rushed to support their brothers against an atheistic western power, the Soviet Union” (Salame 23). That is why support for the “Taliban style” revivalism grew in other countries such as Pakistan, were “the Pakistani Mujahideen are targeting and killing thousands of civilians, violating both the Islamic “just war” tradition and international law” (Stern 120). The spread of Islamist militants and Taliban revivalism are interlinked with the goal to bring down “Western-American interventionism in the Muslim world” (Salame 22). It breathes the notion and belief of a new Jihad:
When Afghan trained Arab militants blew up the world trade center in New York, killing six people and injuring 1000 the bombers believed that just as Afghanistan had defeated one super power-the Soviet Union-they would defeat a second. (Rashid 26)
Since Afghanistan has no industrial component and lack of economic funds they are incapable of conducting modern warfare. Afghan Islamist militants have to resort to acts of terrorism to attack the West. On September 11th when they hijacked 4 planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, and the Pentagon in Washington, are examples of their offensive strategy. Since Taliban revivalism supported and fed Islamist militarization, the Islamists are now calling for a jihad “holy war”.
Misconceptions of Jihad and Jihad Culture
Another misconception of Islam along with Islamist revivalism is that of the true Islamic notion of jihad. “The once-unifying factor of Islam has become a lethal weapon in the hands of extremists and a force for division and fragmentation” (Rashid 24). Taliban extremists and Islamist militants are calling for a jihad on the West in the name of Islam. The true weapons of Islam are not “hijacked planes” or “bombs”, but as the Islamic Sufi Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhiyaddeen states, “Sabr” (inner patience), “skukr” (contentment), “Tawakkul ‘ala’ Allah” (trust in god), and finally “Al-hamdu lillah” (praise of God). Muhiyaddeen condemns the military use of the word jihad in the name of Islam because “once we understand what the true weapons of Islam are, we will never take a life, we will never even see anyone as separate from ourselves” (53). “The Taliban began as reformers, following a well-worn tradition in Muslim history based on the familiar notion of jihad-holy war” (Rashid 23). It is because jihad is a “familiar notion” but poorly understood by the uneducated youth of Afghanistan that the Taliban can use the power of religion to inspire and blind their own people. For the people of the many Muslim countries:
…Today the situation is made complicated by the fact that in may parts of dar al-Islam itself non-Islamic forces have gained a footing sometimes under the name of a foreign ideology of a western form of nationalism and sometimes even under the name of Islam itself which during the last few years has been used more and more in a clever and sometimes insidious fashion to hide the real nature of the forces in question. (Nasr 3)
In Afghanistan under the Taliban the real “forces in question” are nationalism and a form of military ruler ship where even the Afghan people “ accuse the Taliban of using jihad as a cover to exterminate them” (Rashid 24). This has become an issue of much controversy among Islamic nations, who are being run by governments or regimes that claim to be revivalist but are really violating the main principles of Islam. This is why the “Islamist militants generally receive a lukewarm reception from the traditional religious establishment of their countries” (Salame 22).
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Phillip A. Dawid
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Comments
Well done! jane | Jun 1st, 2002
I totally agree with your article and hope that everyone reads it because it really opens your eyes. I've learnt a lot of new things, especially about the religion of Islam, and hope that people won't be so quick to judge the normal every day muslim who does not agree with everything that the Taliban does.
Perfect Asma Zia | Mar 23rd, 2005
I completely agree with you. People have severely misinterpreted the term jihad and what it actually means. I'm glad, at least someone knows what's right.
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