Abdullah Anas Tam Hussein: Jihad as a Concept of Violence and Armed Insurgency Promoted During the Cold War by USA in the Muslim World

By Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, New Age Islam 8 May 2023 To the Mountains: My Life in Jihad, from Algeria to Afghanistan By Abdullah Anas with Tam Hussein, London, Hurst & Company, Pp 345. ISBN 9781787380110 ------ Jihad as a concept of violence and armed insurgency has been promoted during the cold war by USA in the Muslim world. The Muslim intellectuals, clergy, scholars and religious theologians had already reinforced the concept about communism and socialism being anti-God, religion and threat to Islam. So, it did not take much efforts for USA to exploit this sentiment already prevalent among Muslims, against Communist world led by USSR. Thus, when USSR invaded and occupied Afghanistan, the regime in USA found a golden opportunity to balkanize USSR, by arming Afghans and supporting the call for Jihad all over the world. It helped facilitate the global Jihad, that encouraged Muslims to travel to Afghanistan and fight against USSR. Pakistan became the Launchpad for this cause. So Muslim scholars and theologians did not understand this divisive tactic of USA that consumed millions of Muslims and started a chain reaction and vicious cycle of violence in the Muslim world. The greatest culmination of this Global Jihad is manifested in the rise of ISIS that USA is fighting to decimate it on multiple levels, whereas trying to remain oblivious of the fact that it started the Global Jihad in the first place. This book as the name suggests follows the life of one such Mujahid, who also happens to be son in law of Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian who is described as the father of modern Global Jihad. Abdullah Anas’s memoir of Jihad reads like a thriller, with the exception that it is not fiction and has many serious lessons for those who believe in the futility of violence. The disillusionment with violence, the deviation of Jihad into anarchy and murder of innocents have made Anas to rethink about Jihad in our contemporary age. In the Preface of the book, Anas writes, “On one side there were men in suits who wished to sully the word ‘Jihad’, considered sacred to Muslims, and make it synonymous with terrorism. They invalidated not only my labours, rendering me ‘a terrorist’, but, by implication, also invalidated the Jihad of freedom fighters such as Omar Mukhtar and Emir Abdelkader, figures that we Muslims hold dear. Both these men fought colonialism, showed immense moral courage and were celebrated thus. Yet even these towering figures would be considered ‘terrorists’ according to some. That was something I could not and will not accept.” (p-x) He is critical of the portrayal of Jihad in wrong connotations, akin to terrorism and lambasts Al Qaeda for rendering Jihad synonymous with terrorism. Tam Hussein the co-writer of the work, observes that strayed, mediocre Muslims are responsible for creating a stereotypical violent image of Muslims that needs to be overcome “It is a great pity that these young men did not understand that the world is far more complicated than it appears. Many of them believe in foundational myths of al-Qaeda that are historically inaccurate. Some are no doubt intellectually immature, from broken families, and have neither the requisite education nor the critical tools to comprehend the world. Their world is full of uncertainties, conspiracies, cloak-and-dagger machinations and a constant battle between good and evil. Whilst I don’t deny that these things do indeed populate human experience, life cannot be boiled down to Freemasons working towards a new world order. There seems to be an urgent need in our times to return to critical thinking, the study of the humanities, literature, culture and religion to avoid the pitfalls of demagogues and the grizzled warrior with his capacity for unfettered violence. The ancients taught their warriors poetry, calligraphy, the art of rhetoric and more, for it humanized the warrior. It taught him empathy and when to sheath his sword and when not to. Empathy is an attribute that is much needed today and I hope that To the Mountains will help it to be disseminated further.” (P-xiv) But it is not to given a clean chit to West as it is demonizing Muslims while Al Qaeda is criminalizing it, “I am quite confident that those Western reformers and analysts who wish to separate Jihad from its religious tradition will fail, but those Jihadists from within the Muslim world who sully that word are the greater danger. And I believe it is incumbent on me and Muslims to defend that word from these violent groups and reclaim it and understand it fully within its context.” (P-3) Anas through this work expresses the need to recount his journey of Afghan Jihad and, “I feel we are at a critical time. Understanding what happened in Afghanistan is key to understanding what is currently going on in the Muslim world with particular reference to Jihadism.” (P-5) Anas describes about French colonialism of Algeria and how his father was arrested for being a revolutionary although he was not. Before social, political and immediate awakening about his surroundings, Anas felt the spiritual awakening. He felt dissatisfied with the Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) as it was apolitical and there was an aura about various people associated with Jihad like Ahmad Shah Masud, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. He explains the factions of Mujahideen and context of Afghanistan. So as a first stop at Karachi, towards his journey into Afghanistan he witnesses disparities in wealth among various sections of people. Also being unaware about Persian was an additional shortcoming for Anas. Sectarianism and the rising prices of bread in Shia dominated Hazara area of Mazar e Sharif, were new to him. So was the food and problem of not being able to blend in. He wanted to meet Ahmad Shah Masud, but his point of contact Amir Zabiullah was killed, so the chances diminished. Anas tried to use reconciliation and diplomacy to stop the sectarian war that was looming large among the different factions of Mujahideen. Anas then describes his relationship with Ahmad Shah Masud and how he received little help from USA or Pakistan and alone subdued Russians as he did not like to take orders from anyone. Getting help was surrendering the decision-making power to these countries. Masud had a different vision, strategy and believed in reconciliation. Arab Mujahids like Anas were trying to build a liaison between Masud and Hekmatyar. Anas describes how Masud treated the prisoners very well and he details how his men were indulging in actual war. There were efforts for reconciliation between Mujahideen factions who were hell bent on killing each other. The tussles starting in Peshawar among various factions led to actual fighting on ground although Pakistan wanted to control the Mujahideen. Masud did not want a civil war but he was retrograded and side-lined, while other leaders of some factions declared themselves as Caliphs while coercing the women into oblivion. The internal bickering, personality and ego clashes among Mujahideen did more damage to the Afghan society, than the occupation of USSR. Even as they left Afghanistan, the internecine wars became more violent and frequent, as Anas confesses, “It is easy to destroy and expel an enemy but building your country, creating stability, healing souls- that was the greater challenge that was the greater Jihad.” (P-128) There were the factions led by Hekmatyar, Rashid Dostum and Shitte Hizb e Wahdat who were fighting each other. So after the rise of Afghan Arabs he left in 1993 when the internecine bloodshed was at its peak. In journalistic reportage there is an exaggeration about the number of Arabs and non-Afghans trained in Western military training camps. Some of the trained ones like Khattab and Zarqawi were not too important then, but later assumed a strong cult status. Arab services Bureau (Maktabat al Khidmat) - MAK was set up to keep the Arab fighters neutral as the bloody tussle was going on among the various factions of Mujahideen. Anas was one of its founders. The Takfiri elements were prevalent at that time too, as is depicted by the Al Jihad magazine. Most of the Arab fighters were not ideological but impressionable and could be moulded or led in any way. Many among them returned back when they witnessed the infighting. Anas describes the process of fund raising for Jihad, how Ulema were in contact and later how MAK was broken and then conceived as a precursor to Al Qaeda, although that is far from truth. He then describes the adventures and acquaintance with Osama bin Laden, and how he grew closer to the Takfiri elements and not to Abdullah Azzam, who did not believe in Takfir instead was always working for unity and reconciliation among the Mujahideen ranks. However, it is a sad reality that the personality of Abdullah Azzam was appropriated by Al Qaeda, otherwise they indulged in his Takfir and even did not offer prayers behind him. Ultimately, he was assassinated, with conspiracy still raging around his death, although the role of ISI Pakistan cannot be discounted. Then Anas left for Algeria where Takfiri elements created intolerance and he tried to act as a peace maker and pacifist, because now he believes that brokering peace is the greatest Jihad. Also, violent Jihad is not enough, as he acknowledges, “Only in hindsight, only after 200,000 souls had perished in my own country in 1992 did I realize that Jihad, martyrdom is not enough. It needs political maturity and process. We saw this failure in Afghanistan, in Algeria and now in Syria.” (P-134) This book explains the need for change and looking beyond violence as that will change and correct a lot of issues that Muslims are currently baffling. It is an essential read to understand the insider account of the internecine battles among Mujahideen factions and what propelled them. It should be read by anyone who is driven by an urge of violence in the name of Islam to take a step back and reflect, and understand how lack of preparation and unity of goals leads the sacrifices go in vain. The worth of Abdullah Anas’s memoir is its relevance, because in every Jihad Muslims had to face the internecine wars, however the triggers have been different. This work needs to be read to understand the structural violence that violent Jihad conceives and prepares Muslims to kill each other, while indulging in Takfir. ---- M.H.A. Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir. URL: https://newageislam.com/books-documents/anas-hussein-jihad-violence-insurgency-usa-muslim/d/129723 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism