Exclusive: How terrorist groups use the Quran to recruit children suicide bombers
The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Table of Contents
I) Introduction
II) Jaish-e-Muhammad’s Teaching Of Jihadist Verses In Pakistani Towns
III) Pakistani Militant Maulana Masood Azhar’s Interpretation Of Verses On Jihad
IV) The Interpretation Of The Koranic Verses Regarding Battle
V) The References To Koranic Verses On Suicide Bombings
VI) The Justifications For Bombings Of Churches, Synagogues, And Mosques
VII) The Verses Regarding Moderation/Compulsion In Religion
VIII) The Targeted Killings Of Shi’ite Muslims In The Name Of Islam
IX) The Interpretation Of Verses On Media Jihad
X) The Interpretation Of Verses Regarding Financial Jihad
I) Introduction
This paper examines how jihadi organizations are using verses from the Koran to advance the cause of jihad and influence Muslim youth. In doing so, it sheds light on how liberal arguments regarding Islam, jihad, and Prophet Muhammad’s historical role are being countered by the jihadi organizations, which cite verses from the Koran and early Islamic traditions in their support.
In an editorial published in July 2013, Daily Outlook Afghanistan, a Kabul-based newspaper, warned that the Taliban are using Koranic verses to influence and prepare child suicide bombers. It observed: “Over the last decade, children, who are as innocent as angels, have increasingly been used for executing terror attacks in Afghanistan, mainly for suicide attacks. The trend, which was actually initiated by Al-Qaeda, has gained greater focus of the Taliban in the recent years. The Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan are bribing starving children as young as eight-years-old to plant deadly roadside booby traps, be decoys in ambushes, and even act as suicide bombers…
“There are 224 children in prisons in just Helmand and Ghazni who were arrested by government forces for planning or carrying out attacks. Here is another example of how the Taliban brainwash the children to use them in launching suicide attacks: they are given amulets containing verses from the Koran by Taliban commanders, who tell them they will be protected from the explosion.”
In April 2013, the Al-Saadiqeen Production Center of the Toora Bora Front, a constituent of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban umbrella organization led by Mullah Mohammad Omar), released a video of jihadi commander Ustad Khwaja Maqsood Mukhlis, who urged Muslims to take part in “jihad against Jews and Christians.” He stated: “Allah Almighty has ordered us [in the Koran], as for prayers, fasting, and Hajj, to be ready to fight against enemies of Islam, and get knowledge of every technique [in fighting] more than the infidels, because the war between Islam and kufr [unbelief] will continue until doomsday…”
Mukhlis added: “There are many Muslims who have not seen weapons and have not fired a shot… It is such a shame, especially when all the infidels, particularly the Jews and Christians, are united and have come against us. They know the use of all kinds of weapons to wipe out Muslims. But mercy on the condition of a Muslim who is afraid to even see a weapon,” Mukhlis said, adding: “[A Muslim] will ask us about the Koranic verse on jihad. My message is particularly for those clerics who deliver Friday sermons and prayers at funerals and recite these [jihadi] verses of the Koran, but are afraid to take up arms.”
The Afghanistan Islami Tehreek Fidayee Mahaz (the Martyrdom Front of Afghanistan’s Islamic Movement) is a splinter group of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban umbrella organization. The Islamic Emirate doesn’t recognize the Mahaz but the latter does exhort its fighters to follow Mullah Omar. In April 2014, Haji Omar Khattab, the emir of the Mahaz, urged his followers to wage jihad in the light of the Koran and Hadiths (sayings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad). In a Pashtu-language statement, he cited the Koran’s Chapter Al-Tawbah, Verse 111: “Surely, Allah has bought from the believers their souls and wealth in return for Paradise for them.” He explained the meaning of the verse: “The aforementioned verse shows that those waging jihad for the supremacy of Kalmat-ul-Allah [the word of Allah] will be given paradise. Entering paradise is a big success which can only be achieved through jihad. A Muslim who wages jihad is bestowed with two titles – hero or martyr. Both positions are esteemed.”
The militant commander noted that Allah orders in the Koran: “And continue your fight until there does not remain any disruption, and Deen (Islam) is devoted to Allah alone (Chapter Al-Anfal: Verse No. 39).” He added: “Jihad is as mandatory on the Muslims against the hypocrites as it is mandatory against the infidels, because both the infidels and hypocrites have the same aim of enforcing the satanic system, paganism, cruelty, and vulgarity on the earth. Jihad is obligatory against both these groups so that Allah’s system can be enforced on the face of the Earth… Some stupid people say that jihad is legitimate only against foreigners [in Afghanistan], but that the killing of internal Afghans who are working for the government is wrong. We say that the Koran and Hadiths must be consulted [in this regard]. The Afghans who are supporting the slave administration, call the foreigners as friends, or use the word ‘terrorist,’ are hypocrites, and jihad is obligatory against them…”
In the context of this paper, the term “jihad” is used to mean armed fighting, not striving for reforming one’s character and soul. The Koranic verses have been interpreted by different Islamic scholars, and there are some variations in their interpretations depending on the circumstances in which the verses were revealed. This paper is not an attempt at an interpretation of the verses on jihad. Relying mainly on South Asian jihadi media sources, it examines how terrorist groups interpret some of the verses regarding jihad to influence Muslim youth. The meaning of verses cited in this paper, therefore, is the meaning attached to those verses by the Islamic terrorist groups.
In doing so, this paper brings to light how the militants are using verses and prophetic traditions to answer some key questions such as: Is it justified to bomb mosques? Did Prophet Muhammad’s companions opt for suicide attacks? Are Shi’ites infidels? Does Islam teach armed fighting? Does Islam stand for the elimination of all other systems of living and governance from the Earth? Does the Koran advocate ‘no compulsion in religion’? In what manner should journalists be killed for not conforming to Islamic teachings? Did Prophet Muhammad grant amnesty to everyone, as it is generally claimed, on the day of victory of Mecca?
It is also pertinent to mention that several Islamic groups point to verses which promote social harmony. For example, the World Muslim Congress said in 2013 that it will respond to anti-Islam Christian pastors like Terry Jones with a pacific response and “cited a Koranic verse that says, ‘To overcome evil with good is good, and to resist evil by evil is evil,’ and said it is also strongly enjoined in the Koran in the same verse 41:34 that ‘Good and evil deeds are not equal. Repel evil with what is better; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend.'” However, as jihadi terror attacks continue in several Islamic countries, the message of peace offered by liberal interpretations of Koranic verses seems to be lost. Although liberal commentators argue that jihadists are inspired by radical Egyptian teacher Sayyed Qutb and Pakistani cleric Maulana Abul Aa’la Maududi among others, it doesn’t appear that the jihadists are quoting these writers; most of the jihadist literature essentially cites the Koran and the Hadiths.
II) Jaish-e-Muhammad’s Teaching Of Jihadist Verses In Pakistani Towns
Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) is a Pakistani terrorist organization founded by Maulana Masood Azhar, who along with two other militant commanders was freed by India in exchange for the passengers of an Indian plane hijacked to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in 1999. Under titles like “Tours For Explaining The Jihadist Verses,” Jaish-e-Muhammad organizes a series of lectures and competitive events for school-age students across Pakistan every year.
In the summer of 2010, the JeM-affiliated group Majlis-e-Dawat-ul-Quran (The Assembly On The Preaching Of Koran), organized lectures in Pakistani towns about the verses on jihad in the Koran. Haftroza Al-Qalam, a JeM weekly Urdu-language magazine which is openly sold in Pakistani towns, published a report titled “2,060 Students, 13,105 People Took Lessons In Jihad.” Excerpts from the report include:
“The visits [of senior JeM clerics to teach] interpretations of the verses on jihad have concluded across the country in three stages. These visits were organized in 18 big cities of the country. As per the information received, more than 2,000 students and common people participated in these meetings regularly and [were instructed in] lessons that taught translation and interpretation of more than 558 verses on jihad…
“It should be mentioned that in the cities of Faisalabad and Tando Allahyar, in addition to the [male] students of madrassas, female students also attended the sessions and were taught the jihadist verses. The teaching sessions on the [Koranic] verses on jihad were organized over six days. Translation and interpretation of all the jihadist verses was taught from Saturday morning through Thursday afternoon… The number of participants was the highest in Karachi at 500, while the cities of Bahawalpur and Faisalabad had the second and third highest number of participants with 280 and 240, respectively.
“The details of the figures for the visits [in the following cities were]: Gujranwala – 80; Mirpur in Azad [Pakistani] Kashmir – 40; Sukkur – 70; Haveli Lakha Okara – 40; Peshawar – 80; Wah Cantonment Rawalpindi – 150; Swabi – 80; Nawabshah – 25; Quetta – 15; Bahawalpur – 280; Faisalabad – 240 including 80 female students; Karachi – 50; Mansehra – 35; Bannu – 25; Tando Allahyar – 200 including 80 female students; Kohat – 110; Sargodha – 40; whereas in [the tribal district of] Khyber Agency, 50 students took part in the teachings and interpretations. Overall, during the 18 visits, 2,060 people took lessons in the interpretations [of the jihadist verses] and 13,105 people benefitted from the concluding sessions of these teachings.”
In June-July 2011, the JeM organized a similar lecture tour by its clerics in various Pakistani towns. The following are excerpts from a report titled “Verses On Jihad In The Koran,” published in Haftroza Al-Qalam: “The prime objective of tafseer [interpretations of the Koran] is to connect the ummah with the Koran, to get them ready for jihad. Syed Ahmed Shaheed [the jihadi leader who fought against the British] has well said: ‘In these times, the most important religious movement is jihad in the path of Allah.’
“It is a yardstick to differentiate between a true and pseudo believer. Allah is spreading the message and desire of jihad of Syed Ahmed Shaheed through Emir-ul-Mujahideen [Maulana Masood Azhar] (may Allah protect him), and in this connection the series of tafseer sessions is a revolutionary step which is a living miracle of the Emir-ul-Mujahideen (May Allah protect him), and those benefiting from these courses are the blessed ones… This year, 21 annual tafseer sessions were held in several big cities of the country. The sessions started on June 18, while the final session began from July 16 and ended on July 21… Praise be to Allah! The light of the Koran’s grace and echoes of jihad’s invitation are having effects on Muslim society. The paranoids and fears spread by hawks and ringleaders of infidel forces are coming to an end. Allah willing! The light of the Koran will have to illuminate the entire world.”
In 2012, the JeM, which has its headquarters in the town of Bahawalpur, organized similar lessons on jihadist verses. According to a report in Haftroza Al-Qalam: “It is perhaps the incident of the Thursday night [sometime in March or April 2012], when there was transaction of billions of dollars in the entire world to wipe out jihad. Millions of soldiers with lethal weapons were at the borders to wipe out the Muslim ummah. Thousands of TVs, nets, and radio channels were speaking against jihad. At that time, the Masjid Usman-o-Ali [mosque] in Bahawalpur was resounding with persuasion to jihad. There was a speech contest on the topic ‘History Of Jihad.’ There were 36 speakers representing Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan, NWFP [now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa], and unoccupied [Pakistani] Kashmir.”
Sometime in the first quarter of 2012, the JeM organized a 40-day course “Dawat-o-Rukniyat Muhim” (Preaching And Membership Campaign) aimed at recruiting men to the fold of jihad. The campaign was followed by an eight-day course for women, with both the events being organized by Al-Rehmat Trust, the charity arm of JeM. A report titled “A Lovely Campaign For Muslim Women” noted: “According to Emir-e-Jamaat [the Emir of Jaish-e-Muhammad] and Emir of the Mujahideen Maulana Masood Azhar, the objective of the 40-day ‘Dawat-o-Rukniyat Muhim’ was to raise the ‘Laskhar-e-Ghaza’ [army of jihadi fighters] – an army of victors, valiant and mujahid – and now the aim of this eight-day ‘Al-Mominaat Muhim’ is to raise the Lashkar-e-Dua [army to pray, or women who will raise jihadist youth in the homes].”
In 2013, similar short courses on jihad were organized by the JeM’s Al-Rehmat Trust in various Pakistani towns. In November-December 2013, it organized a series of such courses on the “Concept Of Jihad In Islam” in Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, and Lahore; similar lectures on the interpretation of jihad based on verses in the Koran were organized in Peshawar and Sialkot. Sometime in September-October 2013, it organized a conference on the “Wars Of The Prophet,” in which the importance of jihad “in the light of the Koran” were explained by JeM-associated clerics in Peshawar; its clerics made trips to various mosques in the region of Faisalabad to explain the jihadi cause; similar events were organized in the towns of Larkana, Nawabshah, Kohat, Mehrabpur and Sukkur; and special meetings for clerics were also organized in Sahiwal, Multan, and Rawalpindi to explain the JeM’s mission ( the details of these events are too many to narrate here). As the government turns a blind eye to their activities, numerous such lectures are being organized regularly by the JeM as well as by other terrorist groups throughout Pakistan.
III) Pakistani Militant Maulana Masood Azhar’s Interpretation Of Verses On Jihad
Maulana Masood Azhar, an ideologue of jihad
The first volume of the English-language magazine Al-Rashideen, which was published in March 2013 by Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and its military arm Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (SSP-LeJ), contained excerpts from a book on jihad written by Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, who cited several Koranic verses to explain the jihadist mission in Islam.
