By: Qays Arthur
Source: http://www.qaysarthur.net/
O Allah show us truth as truth and grant us the ability to pursue it. And show us falsehood as falsehood and grant us the ability to avert it.
Desperation clouds judgment.
Mosul has not fallen recently to the zealot mercenaries the media claims have taken it, neither is there a threat that Baghdad will. That is so because Baghdad, Mosul, all of Iraq fell in 2003 to the Americans. It was subsequently abandoned and left to rot under petty, incompetent misfits. Now ignorant misguided zealots with guns and pick-up trucks paid for by unseen masters are overrunning the ruins and listening to and believing the delusional waswasa that they are “conquering” something of substance.
The media perpetuate the delusion, probably because the contrived drama is better for clicks and sales, and spin a yarn almost as though Iraq were a viable up-and-coming state that is only now being threatened by these apparently miraculously victorious neo-Kharijites. The reality is that the country is, and has been for some time, diseased and convulsing with death pangs from the American invasion years ago. Gangrene has now set in and some of us are so hopeless and witless that we’re mistaking that infection for an emerging Caliphate.
The group identified in the media as ISIS is a band of mercenaries whose leadership is veiled in mystery. While the noble intentions and bravery of many of their bearded members are admirable, much of their publicized methods and results certainly are not. Those methods are, to say the very least, crude and serve the enemies of the Umma far more than they do anyone within it themselves included. At best their own actions show stupendous incompetence as far as governance is concerned and appalling brutality where combat is concerned. Muslims, Sunni Muslims, are afraid of them in this part of the world and that alone says a great deal about them.
If Sunni Muslims are justified in their fear of ISIS it means that their means are too crude and brutal to be ascribed to the Sunna. And if the fear is not justified it means ISIS can’t wage a proper information war in the digital age so how on earth can they ever fight real wars (involving other than failed states and armies like post American Iraq) and become the great Caliphate they think themselves to be?
Young Muslims, especially those in the West on social media who feel compelled to support such groups just because the media props them up, need to really ask some tough questions.
Do you really think that in this age of nation states that the Caliphate will be established by tiny militias, unable to afford the shirts on their backs, that, despite their noblest intentions, end up acting like a cancer in the Muslim world that tears away at its dead flesh?
To get an idea of the scale of things happening from an international perspective consider the following. Do you think that ISIS can march into Baghdad and lay siege to any U.S. interest there? If not then what does that tell you about them? And if they did take over the city and “established the Caliphate” then ask yourself what would Erdogan of Turkey, for example, do? Give bay’ah? In the extremely likely event that he didn’t then what would the Caliph do? March on Ankara from Baghdad? And that too would be Jihad?
And what about Jihad? Is your understanding of it based on true knowledge or just emotion and entertaining stories of battle? Have you read a chapter on the subject in a traditional legal primer? Do you grasp the concept and that’s why ISIS appeals to you or are you just convinced by rhetoric and the allure of mass-media acknowledged victory and exposure?
Did you see the video where the western “mujahid” appealed for youth to join the failed state Jihad quoting Imam al-Qurtubi? Did you notice he mentioned nothing of parents despite Imam al-Qurtubi’s (and every other scholar who spoke on the subject) declaring that the permission of parents is a requirement for participation in any Jihad that is a communal obligation (fard kifaya)?
Or are such little rules of little consequence? Is this really about the Sunna then? Is it about knowledge?
If we are willing to learn our sciences and be reasonable we would see that stable, competently run states like Turkey and Jordan (both targets of ISIS indicating its almost comical illusions of grandeur) are our Umma’s best chance of achieving something that can be called an Islamic state. If we could muster the moral integrity to really uphold the sunnas of loyalty, patience, and wisdom with our existing rulers and populations we could perhaps work with existing leaders and citizens to promote strong, healthy, and uniquely modeled societies that reflect the Sunna.
How about that for Jihad?
From within stable societies, not ruined shattered shells of cities like Mosul; Tekrit; and Baghdad, religious minded Muslims could work within the law to better and perfect that very law and the attending instruments of state in a manner that reflects our social and spiritual ethos and is clearly in the interest of all – whether the rulers or the ruled without seeking power and titles (like Caliph). Yes it would be extremely difficult and require taqwa, morality, ihsan, clear-sighted long term vision, and mountains of sacrifice and stratagem. But isn’t that exactly what true Jihad is about?
Yet the images of young men with guns on pick-up trucks driving through ruined cities shouting the takbir retain their appeal. And that may well be because the palpable weakness and humiliation that the Umma faces daily can make us desperate for some immediate form of restitution and validation. It can make us very desperate.
And desperation clouds judgment.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of MuslimVillage.com.
