Jihad Revised

Imagine you are a radical Islamist leading a war against the infidels from the badlands bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan. In front of you is the statement, "We are prohibited from committing aggression, even if the enemies of Islam do that." You are Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second highest leader of al Qaeda, and this thunderbolt comes from your comrade, longtime spiritual and intellectual leader of your group, and a former fellow medical student in Cairo University.

Around 1977, the author of the statement, Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, joined Egypt's Al Jihad terrorist group, formed by Zawahiri. Sharif (known in the underground mainly as Dr Fadl) and Zawahiri were two of the original members of Al Qaeda, whose formation dated back to Aug 1988 when they met with Osama bin Laden in Peshawar. This was shortly after the Soviets had announced plans to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Earlier, Dr Fadl escaped arrest when thousands of Islamists were rounded up after the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat by soldiers affiliated with Al Jihad. Zawahiri suffered torture in prison. He was released after three years hardened and thirsting for revenge. His reputation suffered in prison as he divulged the names of his comrades under torture. Dr Fadl during this time moved to Peshawar to join the Afghan jihad. There he worked as a surgeon for the injured warriors.

Jihadis needed guidance through a text on real objective of fighting battles, which was not just the victory over the Soviets but martyrdom and eternal salvation. Fadl's The Essential Guide for Preparation appeared late for the Afghan war but later became one of the most important texts for jihadis' training.

Lawrence Wright, the Pulitzer prize-winning journalist (his articles are my main source), notes that the Guide begins with the premise that jihad is a natural state of Islam: Muslim must always be in conflict with nonbelievers. Fadl asks that peace is recommended only in moments of severe weakness. Otherwise every Muslim must seek divine reward through sacrificing his life for Islam and thereby bring about an Islamic state.

After 1989 Zawahiri and most of Al Jihad moved to Sudan. From there they watched with envy the Islamic Group wage a vicious war against the Egyptian state. The Group launched a social revolution ransacking video stores and cinemas. They demanded women to wear the hijab and bombed the churches of the Coptic minority. One of the founders of this Group was Karam Zuhdy, who was rounded up in the aftermath of Sadat's killing and ended up living in prison for two decades along with about twenty thousand Islamists. During the 90s the Group killed more than twelve hundred in terror attacks, including the stabbing of Nobelist Naguib Mahfooz.

In 1994 while in Yemen still working as a surgeon, Fadl wrote the thousand pages long book The Compendium of Pursuit of Divine Knowledge. In it he declares war on the rulers of Arab states and considers them infidels who should be killed. The same punishment is to meted out to those who serve them, and others who work for peaceful change. For him religious war, not political change, is the sole mandate. The Compendium gave Al Qaeda the mandate to murder all who opposed it. This is just the book that Zawahiri wanted, but it went a bit too far. Fadl was livid when he learnt that parts of the book had been removed and the title change and published under Zawahiri's name. The two have not spoken since, despite Zawahiri's apology.

With so many years wasted in prison, the leaders of the Islamic Group in prison since 1981 started reading books and analyzing their past. They came to realize that they had been manipulated into pursuing the violent path. Zuhdy, the Group's founder, found that any such discussion led to strong opposition within and outside the prison. Meanwhile secret talk continued with the Egyptian government until they became known in 1997. Zawahiri was disappointed of this move away from violent jihad, which to him was the main galvanizing force for his movement. He therefore, along with Islamic Group leaders living outside Egypt arranged to have enlist six men who carried out the murder of sixty two tourist near Luxor. He hoped that this move would derail the rapprochement between the Group and the state. The Group's leaders countered by issuing a statement condemning the act following up with writing a series of books and pamphlets collectively known as "the revision" in which they explained their new thinking. Zuhdy publicly apologized to the Egyptian people for the Group's violent deeds, beginning with the murder of Sadat. The government responded by releasing over twenty thousand members of the Group, many of them shattered by their decades in prison.

Meanwhile Fadl who had landed in a Yemen prison was smuggled onto a plane and taken to Cairo in 2005. It is from his cell – where he receives special treatment – that he wrote his latest book, Rationalizing Jihad, which was excerpted in Nov 2007 by two newspapers on the tenth anniversary of the Luxor massacre. To avoid the charge that he had been tortured or coaxed into writing it, a majority of the Al Jihad members in prison signed the manuscript. To exclude the possibility of coercion, an editor interviewed Fadl extensively.

Here's a summary of some of the controversial points raised which clearly will not go down well with radical Islamists such as Zawahiri: (a) There is nothing that invoked the anger of God like the unwarranted spilling of blood and wrecking property, (b) The limitation placed on jihad restrict it to extremely rare circumstances, (c) It is forbidden to kill civilians – including Christians and Jews – unless they are actively attacking Muslims, (d) Indiscriminate bombing such as blowing up of hotels, building and public transportation is not permitted, (e) There is no legal reason for harming people in any way, (f) You cannot decide who is Muslim or who is an unbeliever, and (g) The end does not justify violent means.

Zawahiri responded with a 200-page rebuttal on the internet. He warned that Fadl's revision of the jihad concept placed restriction on action which, if implemented, would destroy the jihad completely. Zuhdy commented that this exchange between the Al Qaeda ideologues shows that the movement is disintegrating due to such serious internal dissent.

Pakistan, which is being torn apart by jihadists from within and across its border, needs to make this latest work by Fadl available widely in translation. Let it be studied in madrassas and discussed on the media. Who knows what reformation this could bring about?