Islam is probably the only religion that necessitates the
establishment of an independent state with the religion as its constitution.
Because unlike other faiths, Islam is an ideology and it encompasses every
aspect of human life, from individual to the society. An overwhelming majority of
Islamic scholars are in agreement that it is obligatory for Muslims to struggle
for the establishment of an Islamic state if there is none. This is the concept
that is nowadays the magnet that attracts Muslim devotees from all around the
world towards organizations like TTP.
The concept has gone global, consolidating a number of
different groups under its umbrella, giving birth to a worldwide movement for
the establishment of an Islamic state, known as “the Global Jihad”. It’s not a
single organization, nor is it an alliance of different organizations. It’s a
phenomenon that has given a direction to various Islamist groups, many of which
have in the past been lost without purpose and thus were on the verge of
extinction. The apparent aim of the Global Jihad initially was to retaliate
against the invading Western nations, but now the focus has shifted mainly towards
acquiring a land first, where the fundamentalists can create a state and later
on use it as a launchpad to wage a Jihad against the West. Some groups, like “Islamic State in Iraq and
Levant (ISIL)” have this concept embossed in their name. It can be said that this
concept is nowadays the ideological backbone of the global Islamist movement.
There is, however, a hole in the theory that the terrorists
have been using to provide an ideological basis to their actions.
Focusing on Pakistan, the general idea is that Taliban are
attacking the country because it was founded in the name of Islam but has now
drifted far away from it. The Taliban want to restore the country to its actual
status; that of a proper Islamic state. Many Pakistanis are in fact in favor of
making Pakistan an Islamic state. The difference only arises when it comes to
the diversity in the interpretations of Sharia. Each group of Muslims prefers
its own interpretation and thus there has been a lot of difficulty in bringing
the constitution any closer to Sharia. There have been other obstacles as well,
for example the dependence of Pakistan on Western powers which are clearly allergic
to the interference of religion in politics. Taliban are thus supposed to be
the reformers who have waged a Jihad to fulfil the fundamental obligation of
Islam against the will of imperialist powers.
Islam tells its followers to take guidance from the Prophet
of course. So, the method of establishing the Islamic state must have been
somewhere among his actions as it is the most important duty of Muslims as an
‘Ummah’. And so it is. The Prophet had established the city state of Medina,
which is the first ever Islamic state. Let’s take a look at how the Prophet
created it. When the Prophet and a handful of his followers were persecuted and
threatened in their hometown, Mecca, they migrated to Medina which was a
thriving town North of Mecca. People of Medina were more open minded and there
the Prophet was able to preach the nascent religion with more freedom and less
hostility. Gradually the Prophet converted a vast majority of the population to
Islam and subsequently those verses of Quran were revealed that contained the
laws which required the Prophet to be in a governing position in order to
enforce them. Thus a welfare state was established which had Allah’s
revelations as its constitution and the Prophet as its leader. Afterwards the people of Medina flourished
like never before and their humble town became the birth place of a whole
civilization.
Now, the aforementioned historical fact indicates two
things:
- People were not forced to turn their city into an Islamic state.
- Not a single person was killed in the process of establishment of the Islamic state.
Presumably there is no need to further elaborate the
point, but still, are not the Global Jihad organizations totally working in the
opposite direction?
According to South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), 18076 Pakistani
civilians have been killed in terrorist violence in the past decade. It is not
even comparable to the death toll of the citizens of Medina when the Prophet
turned that city into an Islamic state, because that toll is zero. Similarly, the terrorists are trying to force
their interpretation of Sharia over a population that disagrees with them. This
is again totally opposite to how the Prophet worked his way towards an Islamic
state. So, the actions of the terrorists are not justifiable according to Islam unless the terrorist chief has more authority than the Prophet of Islam himself as it is the least that is required for claiming to be the savior of a religion while defying the ways of its Prophet. Insurgency for the creation of an Islamic state
is in itself against Islam.
It can be seen that Muslims were not called for Jihad by
Allah before they had acquired a state. That means, Jihad has to be sanctioned by the
leader of an Islamic state. Waging Jihad for acquiring the state is a paradox. Jihad
comes from the state, the state doesn’t come from Jihad.
