Mujahideen
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A Mujahid (Arabic مجاهد, Template:ArabDIN, literally "struggler") is a Muslim involved in a jihad, id est fighting in a war or involved in any other struggle.[1] The plural is Mujahideen[2] (Arabic: مجاهدين, Template:ArabDIN). The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad ("struggle"). In Islamic scripture, the mujahid contrasts with the qaid, one who does not join the jihad.
Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as Mujahedin, mujahedeen, mujahedīn, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn, and variants.
Etymology
Arabic words usually have triliterals, which are triconsonantal (three-consonant) roots. The root of mujahidin is J-H-D (ج-ه-د), meaning "effort or sacrifice" ("Jihad" can mean to struggle and "Mujahideen" can mean struggler.) However, the particular verb stem of J-H-D from which both jihad and mujahid are derived means "to exert effort against" or "to struggle". Mujahid is originally, therefore, "someone who struggles". The term has, even in Arabic, taken on meanings that are specifically religious, or specifically military or paramilitary, or both.
Like the concept and title Ghazi, it has been used in formal titles of Muslim leaders who prided themselves on (and legitimated their conquests by) Jihad bis saïf, holy war in the name of establishing Islamic rule, even at very high political level: no lesser ruler than Sultan Murad Khan II Khoja-Ghazi, sixth Sovereign of the House of Osman (1421–1451), had as full style 'Abu'l Hayrat, Sultan ul-Mujahidin, Khan of Khans, Grand Sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia, and of the Cities of Adrianople and Philippolis, including the formal title "Sultan of mujahideen"
In English, the word is recorded since 1958, in a Pakistani context, adopted from Persian and Arabic, as the plural of mujahid "one who fights in a jihad", in modern use, for "Muslim guerilla insurgent."
In the late 20th century and early 21st century, the term "mujahideen" became the name of various armed fighters who subscribe to militant Islamic ideologies and identify themselves as mujahideen, although there is not always an explicit "holy" or "warrior" meaning of the word.
Afghanistan
The best-known mujahideen, various loosely-aligned Afghan opposition groups, initially fought against the incumbent pro-Soviet Afghan government during the late 1970s. At the Afghan government's request, the Soviet Union became involved in the war. The mujahideen insurgency then fought against the Soviet and Afghan government troops during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. After the Soviet Union pulled out of the conflict in the late 1980s the mujahideen fought each other in the subsequent Afghan Civil War.
The mujahideen were significantly financed and armed (and are alleged to have been trained) by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Carter[3] and Reagan administrations and the governments of Saudi Arabia, the People's Republic of China, several Western European countries, Iran, and Zia-ul-Haq's military regime in Pakistan. The Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the interagent used in the majority of these activities to disguise the sources of support for the resistance.
The main base station of mujahideen in Pakistan was the town Badaber, 24 km from Peshawar. Afghanistan mujahideen were trained in the Badaber base under supervision by military instructors from U.S.A., Pakistan, Republic of China and Egypt. The base served as the concentration camp for Soviet and DRA captives as well. In 1985, the uprising of captives destroyed the base, but the incident was concealed by Pakistani and Soviet governments until the dissolution of the USSR.
Ronald Reagan praised mujahideen as "freedom fighters", and three mainstream Western films, the 1987 James Bond film The Living Daylights, the 1988 action film Rambo III and the 2007 biographical movie Charlie Wilson's War, portrayed them as heroic.
Afghanistan's resistance movement was born in chaos and, at first, virtually all of its war was waged locally by regional warlords. As warfare became more sophisticated, outside support and regional coordination grew. Even so, the basic units of mujahideen organization and action continued to reflect the highly segmented nature of Afghan society.[4] Eventually, the seven main mujahideen parties allied themselves into the political bloc called Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen.
Many Muslims from other countries volunteered to assist various mujahideen groups in Afghanistan, and gained significant experience in guerrilla warfare. Some groups of these veterans have been significant factors in more recent conflicts in and around the Muslim world. A wealthy Saudi named Osama bin Laden was a prominent organizer and financier of an all Arab islamist group of foreign volunteers; his Maktab al-Khadamat funnelled money, arms, and Muslim fighters from around the muslim world into Afghanistan, with the assistance and support of the Saudi and Pakistani governments.[5] These foreign fighters became known as "Afghan Arabs" and their efforts were coordinated by Abdullah Yusuf Azzam.
The mujahideen won when the Soviet Union pulled troops out of Afghanistan in 1989, followed by the fall of the Mohammad Najibullah regime in 1992. However, the mujahideen did not establish a united government, and many of the larger mujahideen groups began to fight each other over the power in Kabul. After several years of devastating infighting, a village mullah organized a new armed movement with the backing of Pakistan. This movement became known as the Taliban, meaning "students", and referring to the Saudi-backed religious schools known for producing extremism. Veteran mujahideen were confronted by this radical splinter group in 1996.
By 2001, the Taliban, with backing from the Pakistani ISI (military intelligence) and possibly even the regular Pakistan Army, as well as al-Qaeda which found a refuge in Afghanistan, had largely defeated the militias and controlled most of the country. The opposition factions allied themselves together again and became known as the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (Northern Alliance). In 2001 with U.S. help and international military aid, they ousted the Taliban from power and formed the new government, and gradually militias were either incorporated into the new national army and police forces or demobilized.
At present the term "mujahideen" is sometimes used to describe insurgents, including the Taliban/Al Qaeda, fighting NATO troops and the security forces of the US-backed government of Hamid Karzai and allied militias in Afghanistan, although most of the Mujahideen leaders who fought the Soviet Union later fought against the Taliban.
The Afghan mujahideen also participated in the Nagorno-Karabakh War and the Tajik Civil War.
Republic of India
Indian Mujahideen are a terror outfit active in India, who have claimed the responsibility of several civilian attacks in India.[1] Indian intelligence has stated that the India Mujahideen are terror activists who have been banned in the country, such as the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJi) and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). [2] Several recent bombings (July 25, 2008 in Bangalore and July 26th, 2008 in Ahmedabad) have been attributed to this little known organisation.
In Pakistan and the former princely state of (Jammu and) Kashmir (In British India), Kashmiris opposing Indian rule are often known as mujahideen.
In 1947, the mostly Pashtun Muslim fighters tried to force the annexation of Kashmir by Pakistan. Pakistan claimed the fighters were independent mujahideen helping a local insurgency, while India claimed that the invaders were Pakistani irregulars supported by the Pakistani Army which was still being run by British officials. The British appointed non-Muslim Hindu ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh called upon help from British Indian army and the then Indian Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru airlifted Indian troops to the region and tried to drive off the insurgents.
Several different militant groups have since taken root in Indian Kashmir. Most noticeable of these groups are Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM).[6] A 1996 report by Human Rights Watch estimated the number of active militants at 3,200.[7]
Chechnya
In the case of the Chechen-Russian conflict, the term mujahideen has often been used to refer to all separatist fighters. In this article however, it will be used to refer to the foreign, non-Caucasian fighters who joined the separatists’ cause for the sake of Jihad. In other literature dealing with this conflict they are often called Ansaar (helpers) to prevent confusion with the native fighters.
Foreign mujahideen have played a part in both Chechen wars. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent Chechen declaration of independence, foreign fighters started entering the region and associated themselves with local rebels (most notably Shamil Basayev). Many of them were veterans of the Soviet-Afghan war and prior to the Russian invasion, they used their expertise to train the Chechen separatists. During the First Chechen War they were notorious and feared for their guerilla tactics, inflicting severe casualties on the badly prepared Russian forces. The mujahideen also made a significant financial contribution to the separatists’ cause; with their access to the immense wealth of Salafist charities like al-Haramein, they soon became an invaluable source of funds for the Chechen resistance, which had little resources of its own.
After the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya most of the mujahideen decided to remain in the country. In 1999, foreign fighters would play an important role in the ill-fated Chechen incursion into Dagestan, where they suffered a decisive defeat and where forced to retreat back into Chechnya. The incursion provided the new Russian government with a pretext for intervention and in December 1999 Russian ground forces invaded Chechnya again. In the Second Chechen War the separatists were less successful. Faced with a better prepared and more determined Russian forces, the Chechens were unable to hold their ground and as early as in 2002, Russian officials claimed the separatists had been defeated. The Russians also succeeded in eliminating the most prominent mujahideen commanders (most notably Ibn al-Khattab and Abu al-Walid).
Although the region has since been far from stable, separatist activity has decreased and although some foreign fighters are still active in Chechnya. In the last months of 2007, the influence of foreign fighters became apparent again when Dokka Umarov proclaimed the Caucasus Emirate, a pan-Caucasian Islamic state of which Chechnya was to be a province. This move caused a rift in the resistance movement between those supporting the Emirate and those who were in favour of preserving the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
Former Yugoslavia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mujahideen came in Bosnia during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war after the massacres committed by the Serb forces on Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) civilians. They intended to wage a holy war against the perpetrators. The number of volunteers is estimated by some newspaper reports to have been about 4,000,[8] but some recent research discards such claims estimating 400 foreign volunteers.[9] They came from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt and Algeria; to quote the summary of the ICTY judgement:[10]
The evidence shows that foreign volunteers arrived in central Bosnia in the second half of 1992 with the aim of helping their Muslim brothers against the Serbian aggressors. Mostly they came from North Africa, the Near East and the Middle East. The foreign volunteers differed considerably from the local population, not only because of their physical appearance and the language they spoke, but also because of their fighting methods.
It is alleged that mujahideen participated in some incidents considered to be war crimes according to the international law. However no indictment was issued by the ICTY against them, but a few Bosnian Army officers were indicted on the basis of superior criminal responsibility. Amir Kubura and Enver Hadžihasanović were found not guilty on all counts related to the incidents involving mujahideen. Furthermore, the Appeals Chamber noted that the relationship between the 3rd Corps of the Bosnian Army headed by Hadžihasanović and the El Mujahedin detachment was not one of subordination but was instead close to overt hostility since the only way to control the detachment was to attack them as if they were a distinct enemy force.[11]
Kosovo and Macedonia
Around 500 or more Mujahideen fighters from Bosnia and around 2,000 from the Middle East and other parts of the world later joined the ranks of KLA in its fight against Serbian and Macedonian authorities in Kosovo war 1997–1999 and Macedonia conflict, some joined the KLA other formed their own units with Albanian leaders who spoke fluent Albanian and Arabic, the greatest involvement was in conflicts around the border of Kosovo and Albania and a vast about of foreign Mujahideens alongside Albanians took part in the Battle of Koshar which was the greatest Albanian success against the Serb forces. After the Kosovo war a several hundred Mujahideens when to Macedonia to assist the Albanians again in their conflict there against the Macedonian forces. After the wars most Mujahideens went back to their home countries or other conflict zones very few remained in Kosovo and Macedonia where they became citizens.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]
There is still no concrete number about the actual size and the structure of the Kosovo Liberation Army but the number is frequently put at around 20,000 troops. The clandestine group first emerged in 1996, when it claimed responsibility for a series of bomb attacks in Kosovo against Serbian police forces.
Members of the KLA were rarely seen in public until late last year, when three heavily-armed and masked men appeared at a funeral of a Kosovo Albanian teacher murdered by Serbian police in the school for teaching in Albanian. The KLA says it has captured a large amount of military equipment, including a helicopter also destroyed 3 helicopters and several dozen armored vehicles and tanks during clashes with Serbian police and army units.
Iran
While more than one group in Iran have called themselves mujahideen, the most famous is the People's Mujahedin of Iran. Currently an Iraq-based Islamic Socialist militant organization that advocates the overthrow of Iran's current government. The group also took part in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Iraq-Iran War, and the Iraqi internal conflicts. They advocate the ideology that socialism and religion can live side by side, however they claim that they also advocate a separation of religion and state.
Another mujahideen was the Mujahedin-e Islam, an Islamic party led by Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani.[26] It was a component of the National Front (Iran) during the time of Mohammed Mosaddeq's oil nationalization, but broke away from Mosaddeq over his allegedly unIslamic policies.[27]
Iraq
The term mujahideen is sometimes applied by sympathizers and regional experts to the Iraqi insurgency against the U.S.-led allies whose invasion destroyed Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist republic, and against the subsequent Iraqi regimes in need of allied military support, while the insurgents comprise a wide, incoherent spectrum of forces, with or without crucial Islamist ideology. There is also a number of foreign fighters from the other Arab countries, in many cases acting as a suicide attackers.
Some insurgent groups actually use the word mujahideen in their names, like Mujahideen Shura Council (an umbrella group run by al-Qaeda in Iraq) and Mujahideen Army.
Philippines
Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) is the smallest and most radical of the Islamic separatist groups in the southern Philippines. It is best-known for a series of kidnappings of Western nationals and Filipinos, for which it has received several large ransom payments. Some ASG members have allegedly studied or worked in Saudi Arabia and developed ties to mujahideen while fighting and training in the war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[28] Abu Sayyaf always pro-claim themselves as mujahideen but are not provided support by many people in Moroland including Muslim clerics. Abu Sayyaf is thought to number fewer than 500 core fighters, but the group continues to present enough of a problem to lead the government to launch occasional major offensives in an effort to wipe the rebels.
Myanmar (Burma)
A sizable number of mujahideen are present and concentrated in the province of Arakan, Myanmar.[29] They were much more active before the 1962 coup d'etat by General Ne Win. Ne Win carried out some military operations targeting them over a period of two decades. The prominent one was "Operation King Dragon" which took place in 1978; as a result, many Muslims in the region fled to neighboring country Bangladesh as refugees. Nevertheless, the Myanmar mujahideen are still active within the remote areas of Arakan.[30] Their associations with Bangladeshi mujahideen were significant but they have extended their networks to the international level and countries such as Pakistan, Malaysia, et al, during the recent years. They collect donations, and get religious military training outside of Myanmar.[31]
Somalia
The Somali Civil War (2006) changed radically due to Ethiopian involvement. Before their entry into the conflict in July, 2006, the struggle between the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and the warlord-based Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism and the fledgling Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was an internal struggle between Somali Muslims, particularly those who preferred a secular state to one ruled by sharia law. Now faced with the presence of forces from the historically Christian Ethiopia, the ICU began to frame the war as one of jihad, and called its citizens to rise in arms to throw the Ethiopians out of the country.[32]
In July 2006, a Web-posted message purportedly written by Osama bin Laden urged Somalis to build an Islamic state in the country and warned western states that his al-Qaeda network would fight against them if they intervened there.[33] Foreign fighters began to arrive, though there were official denials of the presence of mujahideen in the country.
Even so, the threat of jihad was made openly and repeatedly in the months proceeding the Battle of Baidoa.[34] On December 23, 2006, Islamists, for the first time, called upon international fighters to join their cause.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). The term mujahideen is now openly used by the post-ICU resistance against the Ethiopians and the TFG.
Other
The Pakistan Army National Guard is know as "Mujahid Force". Unlike the above examples, these are persons who are enlisted or commissioned in the army of a nation state and they are thus regular soldiers.[35]
History
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See also
Persons:
- Sayyid Qutb
- Hassan al Banna
- Yusuf al-Qaradawi
- Khurshid Ahmad
- Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi
- Javed Ahmed Ghamidi
Notes and references
- ^ Oxford American Dictionary
- ^ Also spelt Mujahedin in a minority of articles.
- ^ Freedom Next Time, by John Pilger, p. 275
- ^ The Path to Victory and Chaos: 1979-92 - Library of Congress country studies(Retrieved Thursday 31, 2007)
- ^ Maktab al-Khidamat; www.globalsecurity.org
- ^ "Kashmir Militant Extremists". Council on Foreign Relations. 2006-07-12. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "VII. Violations by Militant Organizations". Human Rights Watch/Asia: India: India's Secret Army in Kashmir, New Patterns of Abuse Emerge in the Conflict. Human Rights Watch. May 1996. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- ^ Bosnia Seen as Hospitable Base and Sanctuary for Terrorists
- ^ Radio Free Europe (2007)- Vlado Azinović: Al-Kai'da u Bosni i Hercegovini - mit ili stvarna opasnost?
- ^ ICTY: Summary of the judgement for Enver Hadžihasanović and Amir Kubura - [1]
- ^ ICTY - APPEALS CHAMBER - Hadzihasanović and Kubura case
- ^ "Bin Laden's Balkan Connections". The Centre for Peace in the Balkans. September 2001. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Excerpt from the book Osama Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America (Rocklin CA: Prima Publishing Co., 1999, ISBN 0-7615-1968-8)
- ^ The New York Times, December 18, 2001, by PHILIP SHENON (NYT); Foreign Desk: A NATION CHALLENGED: THE MONEY TRAIL; U.S.-Based Muslim Charity Raided by NATO in Kosovo
- ^ Report: Bin Laden linked to Albania
- ^ Al Qaeda's Balkan Links, Wall Street Journal Europe | November 1, 2001 | Marcia Christoff Kurop]
- ^ The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- ^ The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- ^ Yossef Bodansky: Some Call It Peace (Part I)
- ^ The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- ^ The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- ^ The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- ^ The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- ^ The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- ^ The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- ^ The Essential Middle East: A Comprehensive Guide by Dilip Hiro
- ^ Abrahamian, Ervand, Iran Between Two Revolutions by Ervand Abrahamian, Princeton University Press, 1982, p.276-7
- ^ "Abu Sayyaf History". U.S. Pacific Command. September 21, 20006.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ [http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CJ10Df01.html THE ROVING EYE Jihad; The ultimate thermonuclear bomb by Pepe Escobar] Oct 2001, Asia Times.
- ^ Global Muslim News (Issue 14) July-Sept 1996, Nida'ul Islam magazine.
- ^ [http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CJ10Df01.html THE ROVING EYE Jihad; The ultimate thermonuclear bomb by Pepe Escobar] Oct 2001, Asia Times.
- ^ Somali 'jihad' on foreign troops BBC
- ^ Bin Laden releases Web message on Iraq, Somalia USA Today
- ^ Somalis vow holy war on Ethiopia BBC
- ^ http://202.83.164.26/wps/portal/Mod/!ut/p/c0/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os_hQN68AZ3dnIwML82BTAyNXTz9jE0NfQwNfA_2CbEdFAA2MC_Y!/
- ^ Sephardim
- ^ Kraemer, 2005, pp. 16-17.
- ^ The Forgotten Refugees
- ^ The Almohads
- ^ Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain: The Order of Merced on the Christian-Islamic Frontier
- ^ The Shade of Swords Jihad and the Conflict between Islam and Christianity M. J. Akbar
- ^ Durant, Will. "The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage" (page 459).
- ^ Elst, Koenraad (2006-08-25). "Was there an Islamic "Genocide" of Hindus?". Kashmir Herald. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
- ^ Rees Davies, British Slaves on the Barbary Coast, BBC, 1 July, 2003
- ^ Richard Leiby, Terrorists by Another Name: The Barbary Pirates, The Washington Post, October 15 2001
- ^ Usman dan Fodio (Fulani leader)
- ^ Kim Hodong, Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877. Stanford University Press (March 2004).
- ^ US Library of Congress, A Country Study: Sudan
- ^ Civil War in the Sudan: Resources or Religion?
- ^ Slave trade in the Sudan in the nineteenth century and its suppression in the years 1877-80.
- ^ Islam: History, Society and Civilization
- ^ Saladin 1138-1193 Sultan of the Muslim Forces During the Crusades
- ^ Sufism in the Caucasus
- ^ The Middle East during World War One
- ^ The Destruction of Holy Sites in Mecca and Medina
- ^ Saudi Arabia - THE SAUD FAMILY AND WAHHABI ISLAM
- ^ Nibras Kazimi, A Paladin Gears Up for War, The New York Sun, November 1, 2007
- ^ John R Bradley, Saudi's Shi'ites walk tightrope, Asia Times, March 17, 2005
- ^ Amir Taheri, Death is big business in Najaf, but Iraq's future depends on who controls it, The Times, August 28, 2004
- ^ Imam Shamil of Dagestan
- ^ Tough lessons in defiant Dagestan
- ^ Life Span of Suleiman The Magnificent, 1494-1566
- ^ Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World, by Justin Marozzi
