The Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism
Before I provide the details of what Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism is and how it works, I need to go back in the day to furnish the entire history about how Islamism/Jihadism (Political Islam) was devised to accomplish the political ends by the western and some regional Islamic powers. This is part one of the topics of The Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism.
It was the era when the Soviet Union (USSR) invaded the state of Afghanistan and posed a direct threat to the Europe, the US, Muslim countries and the state of Israel. The Western world was competing with communism which had been a rising threat to the western capitalism for the past 60 years.
After World War-II, the western world was too exasperated to open another front in the near borders, so the power of capitalism was directly shifted from Europe to the US. The US was thought to be capable enough to counter the ideology of communism, which was rapidly spreading all around the world, especially in the West.
The Capitalism and the Communism were not only political but were also non-religious and economic ideologies. In the time of communism, the people’s power and wealth were shifted from upper class to lower class and that was not acceptable for the western world because the ideology of capitalism was based on securing the capital of the rich class. The West was in a worse situation from fighting with communism for nearly 60 years in war, from political conflict to the military and ideological ones, and they wanted this war to end but as victorious not defeated.
The USSR intelligence network was extremely strong and powerful, and it was also deeply rooted in the CIA and MI6. The higher-ranking officers in the CIA and MI6 became double agents and started working and sharing intelligence with the USSR. The KGB became an uncontrolled dog and even Israeli intelligence network was not at par with the KGB. It successfully maintained its intelligence network in Asian countries, particularly in South Asian states such as India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. There was no remaining threat left for the USSR, so they were able to invade Afghanistan without any western confrontation.
It was such a great rout for the Western powers that the USSR broke successfully into the region, and they could not do anything other than waiting and watching. The local Afghan fighters were fighting with the USSR, but it was inconceivable to defeat the red bear without a strong backup support. It went on and on for years and suddenly the western countries realised after seeing the Afghans’ fight with the USSR without any military and financial support that they should step into the war and train Afghan fighters to crash the enemy.
Although Afghans were completely oblivious of the fact that it was not a religious war but an ideological one, the western powers realised that the Afghans were successfully fighting with the most powerful enemy without any sophisticated weapons and the only weapon they were using at the time was religion, the name of Islam. Now, the western powers actualised that they could change the game of chase if only they were able to turn this into a religious war.
Though Capitalism and Communism themselves were ideologies, they were completely non-religious, and the countries had been fighting for nearly 60 years, but the USSR was not defeated yet. This time, however, they concluded that they needed to create a very strong and powerful ideology that could consume the ideology of communism. That ideology was Islamism (the political Islam, the Jihadism) and the slogan of Jihad against the communism, as an atheist regime.
The war between Islam and kufr had started. There were four major contributing countries that blatantly fuelled the war, and their entire objective was the collapse of Communism. Those four countries whose national interests were to destroy the USSR were the US, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the State of Israel. Israel’s role was very limited because her prime goal was to defeat her old enemy (USSR) without directly jumping into war. The USSR sustained Palestinian organisations to destabilise the state of Israel, so it was now time for Israel to take revenge; therefore, her role in this war was pretty much understandable.
Western Jihadists were sent to Afghanistan to fight a holy war to protect Islam from the atheist USSR. It was a huge success
Islamist militants from all around the world were welcomed, trained, financed and supported on the Afghan soil with the help of the CIA, ISI, GIP (KSA Intel agency) and the Mossad. The Mossad role was to provide arms and training along with the CIA. The Pakistan’s ISI role was the same as well as to deliver financial support and accommodate these militants from all parts of the globe. Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) role was to provide finance and manpower into the war. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia along with Pakistan not only invented this Islamist militant ideology but spread it all around Pakistan by opening seminaries, mosques and they appointed these militant scholars into such mosques. Also, they spread the fatwas (religious decree) in relations to legitimise the Jihad against communism (USSR).
The Islamist ideology (Political Islam) was now at its peak; Islamist militants from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were granted multiple visas of the western countries including the UK and the USA. They were invited to not only give sermons on Jihad in local mosques but were allowed to build their mosques, seminaries and social or charitable organisations on the western soils. The official sermons from the western leaders were given in favour of the militants and meetings were arranged between the American President, the UK Prime Minister and the militant leaders.
Osama Bin Laden (later the Al-Qaeda chief), Jalaluddin Haqqani (later the chief of Haqqani Network), Hafiz Saeed (later the LeT chief) and other infamous militants were given the right to the freedom of assembly (human rights article 11) and the freedom of expression (human rights article 10) all around the European countries, particularly in the UK and in the US.
The western Jihadists were sent to Afghanistan to fight the holy war in the name of Islam and to protect Islam from the ‘infidels’ (USSR). The global Islamist militancy was successfully generated and the Muslim nations proudly participated in the holy cause. The Muslim states warmly welcomed the western powers into the war and helped them sustain their presence in the region. I personally asked one of the Islamist leaders a question while I was in Afghanistan in the early 90s; why did they support and welcome western powers against the USSR though both are non-Muslim regimes? And the answer was: “We needed dogs to defeat the pig”. So, in this case, it was not a Jihad but a Western Jihad in the name of Islamism which was sustained and deeply rooted in Islam by none but Muslim countries themselves to achieve their political objectives.
Pakistan became the hub of global jihadists. US delegations conducted official visits at the Pak-Afghan borders and planes were landing with ammunitions and dollars to fuel the jihad against infidels of the time, the USSR. The western world called these jihadists freedom fighters. Osama bin Laden was called to the US to attend briefings and was given a mission to accomplish before leaving for Afghanistan.
Many new Arab and non-Arab jihadist organisations were immediately formed and maintained offices all around Pakistan. School syllabi were changed and jihadi verses and religious texts were added to them.
This was the foundation of all subsequent generations of jihadists and extremists, as the country went through a transformation. Pakistan’s president and dictator, General Muhammad Ziaul Haq enforced strict sharia laws in the country. TV programs were changed, modernisation was banned, clubs were shut, prayers were made compulsories for all governmental employees and Friday sermons started discussing topics like jihad.
Militant training centres were also operational in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The local religious parties started to ask their students to take part in jihad, and their affiliated newspapers circulated news of the mujahedeen’s successful operations against the USSR. People were keen to join the Afghan jihad, and their only wish was martyrdom. The country’s atmosphere was completely changing as numerous sharia laws were introduced into constitution that soon became mandatory for everyone in the country.
Jihadist leaders had more freedom of movement in Pakistan than security officials. Extremist clerics became the decision makers of the country. They were able to make internal and external decisions regarding Pakistan
Every single person was talking about jihad and sharia; everyone seemed to be involved in the jihadist mission. Religious parties’ workers were collecting donations for jihad by knocking on every door, whether it was an office school or mosque. Millions of dollars were collected throughout the country, to be added to the considerable amount of money being poured into the country by the western block, as well as several other Muslim nations. Those who were being killed in the Afghan jihad were granted the title of ‘Martyrs’ by the Muslims, and a fund was established for the widows and orphans of the mujahedeen.
The goal to promote jihad increasingly picked up speed and print and electronic media was constantly used to fuel this radicalisation. The jihadist ideology was bred in every government department and guns became easily accessible. This led to the gun culture prevalent in our country today. Crime became the culture. The law-and-order situation began to lose its grip in the country.
The state of Pakistan was successfully handed over, or I can say, hijacked by Islamists whose core ideology was to promote and propagate jihad all around the world with the help of Islamic and western powers
Every individual wished to make some contribution to the jihad being waged against the soviets. Some provided finance and others their children to participate in the holy cause. Arab jihadists started landing in Pakistan and they went on to open mosques and seminaries. Osama bin Laden, along with his jihadist mentor Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, arrived in Pakistan and opened an office with Pakistani, American and Saudi Arabian support. Sheikh Azzam, who is referred to as the father of global jihad, was a Palestinian Islamic and theological cleric, and a founding member of Al-Qaeda. He founded the Maktab al-Khidmat, a prominent jihadist organisation that was later turned into Al-Qaeda and was succeeded by Osama Bin Laden after Azzam’s assassination in Peshawar, in 1989.
In a few years’ time, the current generation was ready to participate in the Islamic holy war, and the future generation was successfully indoctrinated via their educational and social system. The media and Islamic seminaries played a very crucial role in spreading jihadist doctrine around the country, even causing some religious parties and organisations to become stronger than the government itself. The jihadist leaders had more freedom of movement in Pakistan than the security officials. The extremist clerics became the decision makers of the country. They were able to make internal and external decisions regarding Pakistan.
In this case, the state of Pakistan was successfully handed over, or I can say, hijacked by Islamists whose core ideology was to promote and propagate jihad all around the world with the help of Islamic and western powers.
Published: Daily Times, Pakistan (2018)
