The mainstream media has paid so much attention on extremist groups in the western hemisphere and Middle East that another part of the world has virtually dropped out of the radar screen. That part is the Asian theater of what I call the global jihadist agenda.
Now, some would disagree with the notion that extremists have any sort of coherent agenda at all. The so-called Sunni-terrorists of Iraq, for example, are fighting for very different reasons from extremists in Southern Thailand. But there is a common thread that binds almost all extremist groups. It is simple opportunism. Bluntly put, extremists are always on the lookout for some grievance or other to buttress their belief that Islam is under an unprecedented siege conducted by the “kafir” forces of America and the ever-useful public enemy, Israel.
The Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) of Indonesia is no different. In fact, because the group was so thoroughly deconstructed by intelligence agencies of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore [1], their writings, teachings and ideology remain one of the best windows into the inner workings of the worldwide phenomenon that has come to be known as Al-Salafiyya al-Jihadiyya, or Salafi-Jihadists.
One of the documents that has recently been translated (by Greg Fealy, writing for Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia) is titled: “General Struggle Guidelines of Jemaah Islamiyah”.
Al-Jama’ah Al-Islamiyah, a community of Muslims that was born and stands with other true Muslim communities in the arena of preaching and jihad int he path of God, with an eye to ensuring it abides by the straight path of Islamic principles, has compiled these General Struggle Guidelines.
The General Struggle Guidelines are an outline that can give a general picture of the community’s actions, which fuse fundamental values with precise, oriented and focused operational steps.
PRINCIPLE ONE
Our sole objective is to seek God’s blessings according to the means God and His Prophet have laid down.
PRINCIPLE TWO
Our creed is that of those who follow the traditions of the Prophet (hadith) and community using the approach of the Pious Ancestors (salaf-al-salih).
PRINCIPLE THREE
Our understanding of Islam is a comprehensive one in line with the understanding of the Pious Ancestors.
PRINCIPLE FOUR
The objective of our struggle is to have mankind submit to God alone by restoring the caliphate on earth.
PRINCIPLE FIVE
Our path is the path of faith, withdrawal (hijra) and jihad in the path of God.
PRINCIPLE SIX
Our means are:
1. Knowledge and piety
2. Conviction and resignation to God’s will
3. Gratitude to God and patience
4. An ascetic life and the giving of priority to the hereafter
5. Love of jihad in the path of God and love of a martyr’s death
PRINCIPLE SEVEN
Our loyalty is to God, His Prophet and people of faith.
PRINCIPLE EIGHT
Our enemy is Satan in the form of spirits and in the form of human beings.
PRINCIPLE NINE
The bonds linking our community are based on our common purpose, doctrine and understanding of religion.
PRINCIPLE TEN
We practise Islam in a pure and total way advancing from a community to a state based on Islam to a caliphate.
It is interesting that in addition to the Islamic religion’s Five Pillars and Six Articles, the leaders of JI found it imperative to formulate a document that would delineate for their followers another set of rules to live by. What is even more striking is how evident the modern preoccupation with completeness is in this particular creed. To summarize what are really quite obvious values in the Islamic faith into the neat number of ten principles could not have been done without some thought and more importantly, editorial acumen.
Obviously, the JI’s guidelines are based on an extremely selective choice of Quranic and hadith lessons that seems to find its climax in the creation of a caliphate. Sacred verses and aspects of tradition are mustered to establish a political retort against what they consider to be heathen concepts. In this, not even the Muslim governments of Indonesia and Malaysia are spared.
It must be mentioned that the idea of an Islamic caliphate has always been an emotional one for Muslims. In a purely historical sense, there are at least three frameworks for leadership of the Muslim ummah (community), with each framework being tied to a particular sect.
The early Sunnis, for example, believed that the post of caliph could only be held by a man from the Prophet Muhammad’s tribe of Quarish. The Shia were even harsher, only reserving the ummah’s leadership to members of the Prophet’s family (ahle-bayt). And then, there were the Kharajites, who espoused a totally egalitarian process. They proclaimed that any person, so long as he or she was a “true” believer, could be caliph.
Not surprisingly, modern Muslim groups dismiss the classical Sunni position and subscribe instead to the Kharajite position. It is the irony of this age that from a secular standpoint, the Kharajite approach is closest to what we call democracy. The nation-state setup of every modern republic has given the Kharajite approach new strength. On the other hand, just as what the Kharajites quickly progressed into, these Muslim groups eventually see themselves as little, isolated pools of true belief in a wider of body of corruption. The cancer is outside. All that is clean and pure is within. To correct the imbalance, the cancer must be excised.
More and more, Salafi-Jihadist groups like Jemaah Islamiyah are turning into the Islamic world’s very own Republican Party.
Notes:
[1] Singapore’s White Paper on Jemaah Islamiyah is highly-readable and free for download.
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Fascinatng post Sheila… I saw a program about literal/extreme Islam in Indonesia broadcast here one night, and it highlighted a number of important issues for me.
Transcripts and summaries can be found here:
Compass: Islam In Indonesia – Part 1: The Progressives
CCompass: Islam In Indonesia – Part 2: The Conservatives
Watching how the mindset ranged from the extremist to the traditional conservative, and how they dealt with competing ideas regarding Islam was interesting. It also highlighted that in some cases, there is no “talking” to such people.
A really excellent and informative post. Thank you so much for expanding our understanding.
Ya Haqq!
I didn’t know that about teh kharijites. Always wondered what they had “kharaj” from.
In sweden the salafis are slowly gaining turf. Young people mostly, cometimes they manage to lure in converts who have no other refernce on what islam is.
They sometimes hand out flyers where basically all of us muslims who are not like them, are kuffar.
Charming bunch.
Muslims will not need to fight any “white” enemy, or Israel, or USA. In the future it will be salafis against the rest of the muslim world. Unfortunately.
Hi shaykspeara
That particular group is always seeding new turf, but the experience in America and Europe is that such ‘growths’ invariably recede after some time. They are too confrontational, both in dress and manner, not to attract the attention of ’secular authorities’.