RELIGIOUS FATWA AGAINST TERRORISM

QUESTION: In modern times terrorism has made its presence felt in global circles. People find a camouflage of horrific incidents of militancy, violence, brutality, viciousness, discord and tyranny taking place every where. The act of bombing, hijacking of aircrafts and vehicles, suicidal attacks, kidnapping, targetting and killing of innocent people with the intention to cause death and injuries to people or damage or destruction to Government and private properties or disruption of supplies or services essential to the life of community and society as well as creating instability and insecurity in the society have become common.

Would you, religious clerics, please shade light on these subversive activities and its perpetrators? Is terrorism allowed in Islam or do the subversive activities have religious sanctions in a way on another?

ANSWER: Terrorism means the illegal transgression against the lives and property of people, creating instability and insecurity in the society and spreading violence, mischief and extremism in the land. Terrorism is characterised by invoking terror in the hearts of people and intimidating people restoring to illegal, immoral and inhuman activities.

Terrorism is carried out to accomplish certain objectivities and sometime to uphold some idealogies and principles through aggressive and cruel means against the opponents in the name of religion, race, colour or culture etc.

As a matter of fact, Islam is totally against Terrorism, terrorists and terrorising acts. Islamic Shariah does not approve it whether the perpetrators are Muslims or non-Muslims.

Islam is the fountainhead of peace and security. It is religion which ensures and promotes love, brotherhood and harmony among peoples whereas violence springs up from beastliness, barbarism and intimidation causing mass massacres and bloodshed. Islam attaches primary importance to the sanctity of human life, and the right to lead one’s life in peace and tranquillity with a sense of security and fearlessness.

Islam has given immense respect to human life. It has clarified that people who are engaged in instigating terror and bloodshed should not be spared. Islam has condemned mischief and deviltry as a more heinous crime than homicide.

Terrorism is undoubtedly unacceptable to any sensible person, let alone the believers and

Islam. It is not acceptable because it violates the provisions of the Glorious Qura’n and the Prophet’s Sunnah.

God said in the Glorious Qura’n : “On that account: We ordained for the children of Israel that if anyone slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people : And if anyone saved a life. It would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our Messengers with Clear Signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land. The punishment of those who wage war against God and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucification, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter.” (Surah Al-Maida, 5:32-33)

The above stated two verses of Glorious Qura’n stipulates Ordinances and Penalties in brief to serve as guidelines to punish criminal in accordance with the nature of crime and a righteous order of life be established on earth; an order that would provide peace and security to everyone found on earth.

Islam says that no human being, irrespective of his/her religion or community, can be subjected to capital punishment save and except two kinds of people: one, a murderer, and , the other a person who is held responsible for destroying peace in the society and country, and spreading mischief on earth.

The Glorious Qura’n has emphasised that killing a person is not the killing of only one person but is tantamount to killing of the entire human race; and similarly, saving the life of one person is giving life to the entire humanity. How grand and lofty are these teachings: It is on the basis of this one teaching that the entire humanity ought to be indebted to the Glorious Qura’n.

Almighty God further said:

“Among men there is a kind whose sayings on the affairs of the world fascinate you, he calls God again and again to bear testimony to his sincerity; yet he is most fierce in enmity. Whenever he attains authority, he goes about the earth spreading mischief and laying to waste crops and human life, even though Allah (whose testimony he invokes) does not love mischief.” (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:204-205)

The mischief makers return from sweat, all modes of endeavours, plans and apparently genuine talk, and engage in arrogant and destructive action. They stir up quarrels, and causes all sorts of mischief. They ignore Sharia’t and spread frauds and tricks, dishonesty, falsehood, treachery and breach of faith.

God again said in the Holy Quran:

“Believers! Be upright bearers of witness for Allah, and do not let the enmity of any people move you to deviate from justice. Act justly, that is nearer to God fearing. And fear Allah. Surely Allah is well aware of what you do.” (Surah Al-Maidah, 5:8)

It is not enough for believers to uphold justice

themselves : they are expected to be its standard bearers. They are supposed not merely to practice justice in their own dealings but to strive for its triumph.

Muslims are asked not to retaliate or return evil for evil. The hatred of the wicked does not justify hostility on their part. They have to help each other in righteousness and piety, not in perpetuating feuds of hatred and enmity. This must be in spirit of justice and righteousness to save hundreds and thousands of innocent lives and public and private properties from destruction.

God said in the Holy Quran:

“Surely God, enjoins justice, kindness and the doing of good, to kith and kin, and forbids all that is shameful, evil and oppressive. He exhorts you so that you may be mindful.” (Surah An-Nahl, 16:90)

This directive of justice provide the basis for the sound ordering of human society. Justice wards off the bitterness of discord and disharmony from human life. God forbids transgression. This stands for the exceeding on anyone’s part one’s proper limits and usurping the rights of others.

God further said:

“And those who annoy believing men and women undeservedly, they bear (on themselves) the crime of slander and plain sin.” (Surah Al-Ahzab, 33:58)

The Holy Prophet (may blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) said:

1.         “Every thing belonging to another

Muslim, his blood, his honour and his property is sacrosanct to another Muslim.” (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim)

2.         “A Muslim is a person who does not harm another Muslim with his tongue and hands.” (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim)

3.         “A believer remains within the scope of his religion as long as he does not kill anyone unlawfully.” (Reported by Bukhari)

4.         “God has no mercy for one who has no mercy for other people.” (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim)

5.         “A Muslim is the brother of another Muslim; do not hurt him, or look down upon him or bring shame on him.” (Reported by Muslim)

6.         “Your lives, your honour and your property are as sacred to each other as the sacredness of this day, in this your month, and in this your city.” (Reported by Muslim)

The above stated Verses of the Holy Qura’n and sayings of the Prophet clearly state that spreading mischief, violence, bloodshed, atrocity brutality, targetting and killing innocent people, committing oppressions, bombing, suicidal attacks, hijacking aircrafts and vehicles, destroying public and private properties, disrupting supplies and services essential to the country and society, creating instability and insecurity in the society, contradict the fundamentals of Islam and, therefore, are against Islam.

Islam has given immense respect to human life and commanded to strive hard to keep stability and security in the society. The perpetrators

of these subversive activities violate the teachings of Glorious Quran and Prophet’s Sunnah. They have no religious sanctions in any way. In short terrorism or subversive activities are against Islam.

Those who commit such criminal acts and those who support them in any way or form whatsoever can in no way claim to be Muslims.

Islam aims at building an integrated human

community which has only one concern: to build and develop the human life. How then can it permit such mischievous acts that contradict its basic rules?

(Issued by Jamiate Ahle Hadeeth, Hind, 4116 Ahle Hadeeth Manzil,

Jama Masjid, Delhi - 110006) Dated: March 18th, 2006

Historic Islamic Edict (Fatwa) on Joining ISIS/ISIL

By Islamic Supreme Council of Canada
Dated: March 11, 2015

This Fatwa has been issued in order to help Muslims especially youth to understand what Islamic laws and ethics stand for and how ISIS/ISIL is violating those laws and ethics. The consistent and constant misinterpretation and misuse of the verses of the Holy Qur’an and Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) by the ISIS/ISIL to control Muslim lands and people should be exposed and condemned.

Reference:
file:///C:/Users/INTERNET/Desktop/08.04.2019/Historic-Fatwa-on-joining-ISIS.pdf

Deradicalisation and Rehabilitation: Way Forward for Returnees

By Sabariah Hussin,

RSIS, Singapore

April 08,2019

SYNOPSIS

Countries continue to struggle to arrive at a cogent policy approach towards the thousands of Islamic State “returnees” – citizens who have joined the transnational terrorist group and who wish to return or are returning to their home country. It is crucial that the accepted returnees be placed in deradicalisation and rehabilitation programmes where the involvement of the community is key.

COMMENTARY

AS THE last pockets of the so-called Islamic State’s (IS) caliphate in Syria collapsed, the United States-backed coalition pushed for captured IS-affiliated foreigners to be returned to their home countries. Several cases have made international headlines, including those of British national Shamima Begum and US-born Hoda Muthana – both women left their respective countries to join IS in Syria and Iraq from late 2014 and are now trying to return.

Several Western governments continue to fiercely debate whether to accept these returnees. The US and United Kingdom have adopted a “hard-line” approach – both Begum and Muthana were refused re-entry. France has said it will tackle the issue on a case-by-case basis, and indicated that the estimated 130 French nationals held in Syria on suspicion of supporting IS will be repatriated and made to stand trial. Other countries have said they will accept child returnees − Russia has already repatriated 27 children and Belgium is working to bring back child citizens.

Individualised Approach

More than 7,000 of the estimated 40,000 foreign fighters that IS recruited have reportedly returned home or relocated elsewhere. One argument for accepting the returnees back is that a refusal of return or stripping them of citizenship could be counter-productive for the long-term security of countries. A “hard-line” approach can play into the hands of extremists and fuel further radicalisation among vulnerable Muslims.

Other than ideological affinity, former militants cite a variety of motives for turning to extremism, including seeking a sense of belonging or acceptance, an escape from poor living conditions and political disenfranchisement in their home countries.

In their recruitment propaganda, transnational groups such as IS regularly tout narratives in which Western governments are accused of mistreating their Muslim citizens. Refusing their return or stripping them of their citizenship would add fuel to fire.

How to Re-integrate Returnees

Even if the decision is to accept their returnees, the question of how to reintegrate and disengage them from extremism is a challenge for many countries. One issue is the difficulty in gauging what IS fighters were exposed to while living in conflict zones such as Syria. Such assessments are critical to determine the extent to which an individual should be prosecuted. They are also crucial to determine their level of security risk and to tailor an appropriate deradicalisation programme.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that returnees can suffer from severe mental trauma that distorts their defence mechanism. This can severely hinder their ability to function normally in society.

Some also return with families whom they have travelled with, foreign wives or children born in conflict. The varied backgrounds and experiences of returnees mean that a one-size-fits-all approach to rehabilitating and reintegrating them into society may not be effective.

An individualised approach to rehabilitation and reintegration, although resource-intensive, can go a long way in addressing the complexities in resettling foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs), particularly combatants, who may not only retain a strong commitment to IS but also be psychologically affected by their battlefield experiences.

Southeast Asian Experience

In Southeast Asia, where estimates suggest more than 1,000 fighters have travelled to the Middle East to join IS since 2014, both Malaysia and Indonesia have been accepting returnees on a conditional basis.

In Malaysia, 102 Malaysians are reported to have joined IS to date. According to law enforcement officials, Malaysian FTFs are believed to have participated in both combat and non-combat roles for IS. Returnees are subjected to investigations, prosecutions in the more serious cases and have to undergo mandatory rehabilitation. It also has an aftercare programme to reintegrate returnees into their communities.

On 12 March 2019, Malaysian authorities announced a formal request from 13 citizens in Syria to be allowed to return home. Among a previous batch of 11 returnees, eight – all males – were tried in court. The remaining three – one female and two children – had to undergo a mandatory one-month rehabilitation programme as a condition for (to) their return. There are currently at least 51 Malaysian nationals believed to still reside in Syria, including 17 children.

Indonesia, which is estimated to have 600 FTFs, has similarly prosecuted returnees, but it also takes a holistic approach with returning FTFs to best prepare them for reintegration into their communities. A range of rehabilitation programmes is run involving the government, civil society groups and the local community. Together, they attempt to comprehensively address the causal factors that contribute to a person being radicalised, including feelings of disenfranchisement, weak family ties, poverty and ideology.

Community Engagement

To effectively tackle the issue of returnees, countries need to ensure they are well equipped to handle the various reintegration challenges. This requires strong political will, adequate resources and the involvement of the wider community. An underappreciated aspect of the reintegration process involves community engagement.

Firstly, community engagement can serve to reinforce or complement official rehabilitation efforts. Community actors such as civil society organisations, the religious community as well as friends and family serve as gatekeepers of social and religious norms underpinning social harmony and peace.

Community-led programmes which attempt to strengthen such norms in returnees and their families, who have been imbued with IS’ warped values and religious misinterpretation, are necessary to overcome misperceptions that rehabilitation is a securitised enterprise by the government. The effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes can be undermined by such misperceptions.

Secondly, the community also acts as a monitoring mechanism on the ground in ways that the authorities cannot, as they tend to have close personal connections and are hence likeliest to notice behavioural changes in returnees and vulnerable community members. Upstream, early intervention through community rehabilitation programmes can help mitigate the risk of recidivism among returnees.

Effective reintegration requires that returnees be willing to reject extremism and embrace mainstream values of peace and tolerance. Conversely, the community needs to pull together to support and engender a sense of belonging in returnees to mitigate the risk of recidivism. Successful reintegration of returnees is largely premised on their acceptance back into the community.

About the Author

Sabariah Hussin is a Research Analyst at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

Reference:

https://www.rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/icpvtr/deradicalisation-and-rehabilitation-way-forward-for-returnees/#.XKsiKdIzbIW

What the fall of the last ISIS village in Syria means

By Nirupama Subramanian

The Indian Express

Dated: April 01,2019

A three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and multiple award-winning journalist Rukmini Callimachi and currently foreign correspondent with The New York Times, draws on her experience covering ISIS to explain how far the loss of territory will restrict the group, but stresses that it continues to exist.

How important was territory to the IS, and what does the loss of that territory mean for it?

ISIS has been in Iraq since the 2000s. For a long time it held no territory at all. But it was a no less deadly or destructive force then. In many ways, the Caliphate period is an anomaly, an outlier if you look at the arc of the group’s history. Starting in 2014, it took large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, and that was the time when it declared itself the Caliphate. At one time, it was literally the size of Great Britain.

It collected taxes from millions of people and that allowed them to become the world’s richest terrorist group. It used that safe haven to make a number of innovations including learning how to manufacture their own weapons, their own rockets and mortars. That made it self-sufficient. So territory was crucial to the height they reached as a terrorist organisation.The loss of territory means they no longer have the ability to collect taxes, they no longer have the most visible symbol of their brand which allowed them to recruit tens of thousands of foreign fighters.

But ISIS lives on and today it is much stronger than it was in 2011, when American troops pulled out of Iraq and the group was considered defeated. At that point, CIA estimated that the group had just 700 fighters. Now according to General Joseph Votel [the top US general overseeing military operations in the Middle East], it has tens of thousands of fighters, and is present as a physical insurgency in Iraq and Syria and remains as deadly and as destructive a terrorist forces as it was.

When I was in Syria in February [to report on the battle to liberate Baghuz, the last piece of land under ISIS control], we had to travel 100 miles over a highway that had been liberated years ago to reach Baghuz. And yet every week, there are ambushes and IED attacks on that road by ISIS. My driver was more scared to drive that highway that had been liberated than he was of going to the frontline in Baghuz.

When the coalition forces liberate an area, there’s a honeymoon period when ISIS fighters retreat, and there are no attacks. But after coalition forces withdraw, it becomes an area of insecurity, it becomes an area that is under threat from the ISIS. They may not be able to hold a city, but they threaten a city; they may not be able to hold a road, but they threaten a road.

In December of 2017, the Prime Minister of Iraq declared ISIS had been defeated. In just the 10 months since then, there have been over 1,270 attacks in Iraq.

What reaction from ISIS can we expect to this loss? A regrouping to take back territory? Is it capable of that? Or does it decide now that it is far easier to be an amorphous organisation with members, franchises all across the world?

In the way people seem to think about ISIS, there is this dichotomy — that ISIS is either territory, or it is an idea in people’s heads. That misses the piece in between. ISIS continues to exist as a physical insurgency, in Iraq and Syria.

It has lost its territory but it still has thousands of ISIS fighters just in Iraq and Syria. And that’s not counting their presence outside Iraq and Syria. ISIS’s Khorasan province, its province in East Asia in the Philippines, ISIS’s West Africa province, are not ideas in the heads of people. These are groups that are robust on the ground and there is enough evidence to suggest that there is connective tissue between the affiliates and ISIS’s core group in Iraq and Syria.

A claim of an attack in Afghanistan put up by ISIS’s affiliate uses the same template as a claim of attack by ISIS in Iraq or Syria. That shows that ISIS is at a minimum coordinating the media output of its far-flung branches.

Where is ISIS strongest now outside of Iraq and Syria?

ISIS’s presence is strong and growing in Afghanistan, in the Philippines and in West Africa. Anecdotally we are seeing evidence of some foreign fighters travelling to these outposts instead of Iraq and Syria, suggesting a pattern. The estimates we have in Afghanistan is that they have 2,500 fighters, according to a recent United Nations report. They are present from Nangarhar to Kunar and Kabul.

Where is all the money that ISIS collected?

No one really knows, but some of the ISIS operatives that were caught fleeing ISIS’s last territory in Syria were carrying huge amounts of cash, like $20,000. There are also reports that ISIS has invested some of its cash in local businesses.

And where is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and how strong is his hold over ISIS now?

No one really knows where Baghdadi is but the working theory is that he is somewhere in Iraq and Syria. He is the Caliph of the Islamic State, and he is the person to whom every fighter pledges his allegiance and so he remains an important symbol for the group.

Is it correct that ISIS not been able to grow in Afghanistan because of a pushback from the Taliban? And in a situation where the Taliban may well be in power in Kabul, are governments now dependent on the Taliban to keep Daesh out of Afghanistan?

I am surprised that you think ISIS has not grown in Afghanistan. Remember, in 2011, according to the CIA there were only around 700 ISIS fighters in Iraq. There are several multiples of that in Afghanistan today. The Taliban and ISIS are groups that are at odds, and the Taliban has been fighting ISIS for some time. This is not a new development.What about India? The country has the third largest Muslim population in the world, yet it has managed to keep ISIS down to less than 100. Do you think in its post-territory phase, ISIS would be looking at India?

India is in many ways an example of countering radicalisation. You have close to 200 million Muslims and less than 100 persons have travelled to join the group in Iraq and Syria. Compare that to Tajikistan, a country that has a Muslim population of 9 million. And over 1,300 of them have travelled to join ISIS.

There have been of late numerous acts of violence against Muslims in India as well as the BJP rhetoric against Islam — which creates fertile ground for radicalisation, but to me the low numbers clearly point to the fact that despite the difficulties, the country still seems to be doing something right. It speaks to the plurality of your society that the ISIS message has not seeped down.

There have been frequent arrests of ISIS suspects…

There were media reports of arrests made late last year [in December] and though I have not read the intelligence reports on that, the plot had a sophistication that suggested that the Khorasan province must be looking at India.

You have written about how the so-called lone wolves arrested in India in 2016 were not really so, but were being mentored and guided extensively down to arranging weapons by their online recruiters.

The style of the attacks that were being plotted in Hyderabad was entirely remote-controlled, by ISIS operatives based abroad. That style of attack seems to have been contingent on a safe haven in the Islamic State somewhere in Syria. It was a low-risk, low-cost manoeuvre. How the loss of territory affects that kind of operation, we have yet to see. We have evidence that they have moved resources to Khorasan and Libya. Is the remote-controlled style of attacks going to find another safe haven somewhere else?

ISIS is always pushing a narrative of Muslim victimhood, but one of the ironies is that their message has been most receptive amongst Muslims that have experienced little or no discrimination themselves. Take Huzayfah, the Canadian recruit profiled in Caliphate, who explains that he and his family were treated well in Canada, and yet he decided to join the group. By contrast, Muslim communities that have experienced real trauma and true discrimination have been almost immune to ISIS recruitment. I do not know of a single Rohingya Muslim that has joined ISIS and the number of Uighur Muslims from China that have joined ISIS are miniscule.

This is where I think ISIS propaganda falls flat. So while the Rohingya and the Uighurs are experiencing great suffering and hardship, I have not seen anything to suggest that ISIS has made any real inroads there.

How serious is the ISIS threat in Kashmir? There have been ISIS flags on occasion, but also the feeling that Daesh does not pose a threat in Kashmir…

In most of the countries that have had an ISIS attack, local authorities initially deny the ISIS presence. Take Bangladesh. The attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka was by the Islamic State and we know this because as the attack was ongoing, the militants were able to send photos from inside the venue directly to ISIS’s central media apparatus. The wholesale denial of ISIS’s role by Bangladesh, even though the attackers were posting in real time on ISIS’s official media, is just ludicrous. On the Telegram chatrooms that I am in — these are authentic ISIS chatrooms — I have seen the ISIS flag being displayed in Kashmir. While the extent of ISIS’s support in the Valley is unclear and the amount of coordination they have with ISIS’s central organisation is unknown, I think denying the presence outright would not be correct.

Reference:

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/isis-syria-iraq-loses-ground-but-little-else-5651757/