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Deconstructing Ibn accepted . He witnessed the military political order as well as the Sunni strength of veteran Muslims crumble at Muslim society governed by it. Ibn Taymiyya’s Views on the hands of the newly converted, and he Taymiyya asserted that even if such Suicidal Missions despaired at the sight of soldiers fleeing people believe that they are commanding from the conventional battlefield.4 good and forbidding evil, when they By Rebecca Molloy Despite these difficult conditions, what rebel against authority they are in fact was most distressing to him was not an doing more harm than good, and they jihadist ideologues regularly advocate elusive victory in battle or the Mongols’ must be fought and stopped.8 the legitimacy of suicide attacks, and legitimacy once in power, but rather the some sectors of Muslim society accept latter’s mismanagement of the Muslim Today’s jihadists have no such claim to the authenticity of this tactic. It is, community’s affairs. Underlying fame; they are not faced with similar therefore, critical to examine the more Ibn Taymiyya’s confrontations with historical and geopolitical conditions. significant primary sources that have They rebel against authority and been misused by jihadists to formulate delegitimize Sunni Muslim society and support their arguments.1 This “Jihadists’ form of dissent in a manner that in certain regions article sheds light on a lesser known fits Islamic legal definitions is contributing to a breakdown of treatise attributed to the government and social stability theologian and scholar Ibn Taymiyya, of brigands (muharibun) (Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan). who is probably the most widely cited and rebels (bugha) Jihadists’ form of dissent fits Islamic medieval scholar by the Salafi-jihadi legal definitions of brigands (muharibun)9 trend in Islam.2 The treatise, entitled who spread terror and and rebels (bugha) who spread terror Qa`ida fi al-inghimas fi al-`aduww wa-hal yubah destruction.” and destruction. Their terror-based fiha? (A Principle Regarding Plunging into the methods and pursuit of indiscriminate Enemy, and is it Permitted?) is a short work slaughter and lawlessness are difficult comprising 48 pages in the original to distinguish from those of bandits, manuscript.3 Despite the brevity of the the authorities was “a structural such as their historical counterparts, work, it demonstrates Ibn Taymiyya’s disposition to cooperate with the the Khawarij.10 perception of inghimas (plunging into). state, and it is cooperation rather than Although his understanding of inghimas confrontation that is the keynote of Manipulating Ibn Taymiyya’s Definition of greatly differs from that of today’s his political thought.”5 Moreover, even Inghimas jihadists, they exploit his writings and when he expressed concern with the Jihadist ideologues have manipulated the concept of inghimas to justify suicide prevailing political order, Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyya’s use of the term inghimas attacks. unfailingly accepted the legitimacy of in an attempt to justify suicide bombing Sunni Muslim society. He consistently tactics.11 Their interpretation has The Context of Ibn Taymiyya’s Writings argued that the best response to unjust not been derived in accordance with Ibn Taymiyya lived in the wake of the rulers is forbearance.6 What is at stake, appropriate Shari`a procedure, and it Mongol onslaught that culminated in according to him and other scholars, is does not override explicit Qur’anic and the fall of Baghdad and the destruction lawlessness and “corruption on earth,”7 legal texts prohibiting suicide. of the `Abbasid in 1258 AD. or a complete breakdown of governance The murder of the caliph and his family and social order if certain forms of left the Muslim umma without a central dissent go unchecked. This occurs if authority. Baghdad and other centers dissenters reject the legitimacy of the of Islamic civilization were seized and 8 Taymiyya, Majmu` al-Fatawa, vol. 4, pp. 440-441, 444, destroyed. Unlike his jihadist followers, 4 Jihadists extend the conventional meaning of battle- 450-452; Minhaj al-Sunna al-Nabawiyya (Riyadh: Ibn Ibn Taymiyya coped with an enemy that field to include civilian populations, even those protected Sa`ud University, 1986), vol. 2, pp. 233, 244. was initially pagan, but subsequently under Islamic . 9 In a video in 2000, Abu Mus`ab al-Suri called jihadists 5 Michael Cook, Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong to commit larceny, murder and arson against non-Mus- 1 For a detailed account on the proliferation of suicide in Islamic Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University lims in Muslim countries. For more, see Emrullah Uslu, attacks and popularization of martyrdom, see Assaf Press, 2001), p. 150. “Al-Qa`ida Robbers Target Jewelry Stores,” Eurasia Moghadam, The Globalization of Martyrdom: Al Qaeda, 6 Ibn Taymiyya, Majmu` al-Fatawa (Madina: Majma` al- Daily Monitor 6:25 (2009). Salafi , and the Diffusion of Suicide Attacks (Baltimore: Malik Fahd li-Taba`at al-Mushaf al-, 1995), vol. 35, 10 During the battle of Siffin (657 AD), some of `Ali b. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008). p. 21 and vol. 4, p. 443; Ibn Taymiyya, Minhaj al-Sunna Abi Talib’s supporters (shi`a) rejected arbitration, on the 2 See, for example, William McCants and Jarret Brach- al-Nabawiyya (Riyadh: Ibn Sa`ud University, 1986), vol. argument that judgment belongs to Allah alone, using the man, Militant Ideology­ Atlas (West Point, NY: Combating 2, pp. 241-242; Al-Siyasa al-Shar`iyya (Beirut: Dar Ibn slogan “la hukma illa lillah.” These dissenters eventually Terrorism Center,­ 2006), pp. 7, 12. Hazm, 2003), p. 39 in Khalid Medhat Abu al-Fadl, The withdrew from `Ali’s supporters and were later known 3 This treatise has not been published in the West and is Islamic Law of Rebellion: The Rise and Development of the as Khawarij. See, for example, Cook, p. 157: “The activist currently available only in , edited and prepared Juristic Discourses on Insurrection and Insurgency and Brig- moralist believes it to be his duty to take a stand against by Abu Muhammad b. `Abd al-Maqsud, Qa`ida andage (unpublished doctoral dissertation submitted to political injustice, and to do so by recourse to arms; thus fi al-inghimas fi al-`aduww wa-hal yubah fiha? (Riyadh: the faculty of Princeton University, 1999). he ends up fighting against Muslims in the manner of the Adwa’ al-, 2002). The only copy of the manuscript 7 Accusations of causing corruption were often used be- Kharijites.” (#444) is said to be located at the Egyptian National Li- tween political rivals in Islamic history. See al-Fadl, p. 11 Jihadist lexicon does not use the term “suicide attack,” brary in Cairo. 60. rather one finds phrases such as “carrying out jihad.” march 2009 . Vol 2 . Issue 3

In Qa`ida fi al-inghimas, Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyya inextricably ties his notion Islam,16 there would have to be a clear opens the discussion with a number of of inghimas with the undesirable situation benefit to the outcome of the war and scenarios that help describe what he of confronting a numerically superior engagement in jihad, a decisive repulsion means by the term “inghimas” and where army, and the three example scenarios of the enemy’s damage to Islam, in order it would be more appropriate to carry it correctly read as cases in which a soldier to embark on a mission that would out. The author introduces the matter on the battlefield decides to carry out surely end with the individual’s death. of “an individual or group fighting an attack that will likely result in his Where it is unmistakably beneficial, [an enemy] that outnumbers them, on death. Such a mission is dangerous and then, “it is more appropriate.” Note Ibn condition there is some benefit to Islam self-destructive, and in this sense may Taymiyya’s use of the comparative in in fighting, even if the (individuals) are be considered “suicidal.”13 The idea of the last passage; it is not absolutely likely to be killed.” Next, he introduces a “suicidal mission” also appears in appropriate, merely “more appropriate” three scenarios in which inghimas Ibn Taymiyya’s Majmu` al-Fatawa where than, for example, doing nothing. This applies: he mentions the widely-cited Qur’anic places several restrictions even before story of the Companions of Pit (ashab al- reaching the statement on the relative First Scenario ukhdud). He writes: appropriateness of employing inghimas. “Like [in the case of] a man who storms In addition, Ibn Taymiyya’s repeated the ranks of the infidels and penetrates In the story [of the Companions of use of the phrase “and thus [the soldier] them. Scholars call this ‘plunging into the the Pit] the young boy is ordered fights until he is killed” connotes an enemy,’ since [the man] is swallowed up to get himself killed in order to ongoing battle, rather than a single in them like a thing that gets submersed manifest religion’s splendor. event occurring in a concentration of in something that engulfs it.” For this reason the four imams14 non-combatants. have permitted a Muslim to plunge Second Scenario into the ranks of the unbelievers, Ibn Taymiyya, like other scholars “And like a man who kills an infidel even if he thinks they will kill who deal with inghimas, is neither officer among his friends, for instance, him, on condition that this [act] implying nor legitimizing “suicide by pouncing on him publicly, if he [can] is in the interest of Muslims. We mass-murder” of non-combatant men, get him by deceit, thinking he can kill have expanded on this matter women and children. Instead, Ibn him and take him unaware like that.” elsewhere. Thus, if a person does Taymiyya offers a limited context what he believes will get him killed within which an almost certainly Third Scenario in the interest of the battle (jihad), “suicidal attack” on numerically, or “And [like] a man whose comrades have even though his death is more by technologically, superior fled and so he is fighting the enemy powerful than his killing of others, enemy combatants could be rendered alone or with a few others, and yet this and if what he causes the death of “more appropriate.” There is, without is inflicting harm on the enemy, despite another for the benefit of Islam, a doubt, a difference, as Ibn Taymiyya the fact they know they are likely to be which would not occur except repeatedly states that Muslim and non- killed.” through this [act of him losing his Muslim non-combatants must not be life], and if it [constitutes what] harmed and collateral damage should The aforementioned scenarios are all staves off the enemy’s corrupting be avoided.17 “permissible according to most scholars damage to religion and earthly of Islam who belong to the four schools possessions which cannot be To justify their tactics, jihadist of law and others.” defended except by this means, ideologues have attempted to analogize then it is more appropriate.15 suicide bombings with inghimas. In The legitimacy of being outnumbered particular, they have attempted to in battle in the third scenario is further Clearly, inghimas (plunging into) pertains portray the technological superiority of highlighted on page 45 of the document to an extreme situation, as on the Western countries as justification for by comparing the notion to the events battlefield or elsewhere in the course of a 12 of the battle of Badr (624 AD). Ibn conventional war, involving combatants. 16 For example, Qur’an 4:29-30 states, “And do not take Taymiyya says: The description and language in the your own lives for God has mercy on you. And so he who passages lend themselves to a restricted does this in transgression and violation. We shall burn And know that a group is permitted context to justify missions that in all him in Hellfire. This is an easy feat for God.” to fight those who outnumber them likelihood result in Muslim casualties. 17 One example of many is Ibn Taymiyya’s interpreta- despite their weakness, and there Since suicide is absolutely forbidden in tion of Qur’an 2:190 and his stance on aggression against is no difference in this between an non-combatants: “aggression means transgressing/ ex- individual and the very few; thus ceeding a limit, and so (the Qur’anic text) indicates that one person fighting three is like 13 This is different from other meanings signified by the fighting those who do not fight us constitutes aggression, three people fighting ten. word “suicidal”: causing, intending, or relating to sui- and God confirms this and indicates that excessiveness cide. is prohibited.” See Ibn Taymiyya, Qa`ida mukhtasara fi 12 Badr was a key battle in early Islam and a turning 14 This refers to the of the four Sunni legal qital al-kuffar wa-muhadanatihim wa-tahrim qatlihim li- point in Muhammad’s struggle with his Qurayshi oppo- schools. mujarrad kufrihim (Riyadh: `Abd al-`Aziz b. `Abd Allah nents in Mecca. It is considered in Islamic history a de- 15 Taymiyya, Majmu` al-Fatawa, vol. 28, p. 540. Also see b. Ibrahim al-Zayr al-Hamad, 2004), pp. 91-92. Also see cisive victory attributable to divine intervention and the “Martyrs of Nejran” in David Cook, Martyrdom in Islam al-Sarim al-maslul `ala sahtim al-rasul (Beirut: Dar Ibn genius of Muhammad. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 20. Hazm, 1997), vol. 2, p. 513. march 2009 . Vol 2 . Issue 3 suicide-murder. The analogy, however, attacks lacks the legal reason (Ar. `illa) in their strategy book. They have been is invalid. Partial statements by Ibn identified in the case of inghimas.19 On spinning Islamic tradition and law to Taymiyya were isolated, stripped of page 36 of the inghimas text, Ibn Taymiyya suit their cause. Ibn Taymiyya and other deliberate restrictions, and elaborated says: Muslim jurists, however, have expressed on devoid of syntactic, juridical and their condemnation of those groups historical contexts.18 Ibn Taymiyya And God, the Sublime, tries the pursuing indiscriminate slaughter was obviously aware of the notion of believers in self-devotion to the and lawlessness. Thus, not only have inequality, and despite that put several point of being killed for the sake of jihadists removed themselves beyond restrictions on the applicability of God and the love of His messenger. the pale of mainstream Muslim society inghimas. Jihadist ideologues did not And so, if they are killed, they are constituting today’s Khawarij, but they follow proper Shari`a procedure, martyrs (shuhada’), and if they live, have acquired—in pursuing tactics of because if they did they could not have they are happy.20 indiscriminate murder, suicide-murder manipulated the language of inghimas and banditry—the status of brigands to suit their case. With false premises, Indubitably, Ibn Taymiyya sees the (muharibun), people who disrupt social their improper analogy might take the possibility of coming out alive from order, with all the Shari`a consequences form of the categorical syllogism: such a mission even when advocating of that distinction.23 Jihadists have martyrdom in the cause of God. He blurred the line within Islamic law a. [All] Endangering oneself to harm the neither asserts that the lone fighter between expression of bravery and anti- enemy is permissible. will be killed, nor argues that the Shari`a, deviant criminal behavior. b. Endangering oneself by inghimas success of the mission depends on the includes taking one’s own life. fighter’s death. This is crucial, since Dr. Rebecca Molloy holds a master’s degree c. Definition of enemy includes Shari`a- the possibility of surviving is absent and a doctorate degree in Arabic and Middle protected groups. when considering the state of mind of a Eastern studies from New York University. d. Therefore, taking one’s own life to suicide terrorist, up to and during the She taught Arabic as an adjunct assistant harm Shari`a-protected enemy groups is act of taking his or her own life.21 professor at Queens College (SUNY) and permissible inghimas. New York University, and continues to On page 37, Ibn Taymiyya commentates privately prepare doctoral candidates This barely qualifies as weak inductive on the Qur’anic verse 2:54 where he for their proficiency exams in Arabic. reasoning. For one, as seen above, reconstructs ellipses in the Qur’anic Research interests and expertise involve endangering oneself to inflict harm on text to explain its meaning. He uses medieval Arabic linguistic theory, Islamic the enemy is permissible on condition the verse to show that it is prohibited legal reasoning, and Qur’anic exegesis. Dr. there is a benefit to the outcome of the to kill sinners among one’s own people Molloy has been involved in projects for West as it is tantamount to being killed “at Point’s Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) one’s own hands.” It is best and entails since 2005. As an FBI Fellow at the CTC, “The promotion of suicide- greater reward, explains Ibn Taymiyya, she designed the curriculum for the CTC’s murder as a legitimate “to die for the sake of God at the hands Arabic Familiarization course, Arabic Name of the enemy, not at the hands of one Analysis and Phraseology. She has experience case of inghimas is an another.” in intermediate training of advanced FBI unfortunately successful agents and JTTF training. Other professional Conclusion experience includes serving as a Non- name-game and an evasive The promotion of suicide-murder Commissioned Officer for security auditing legal device.” as a legitimate case of inghimas is an of technical encryption facilities for the unfortunately successful name-game Israeli Defense Force’s Central Command, and an evasive legal device.22 With and translation. false legal reasoning and a manifold war and a decisive repulsion of the decontextualization of a historical term, enemy’s damage to Islam. Even the jihadist ideologues have managed to worst wave of suicide bombings has apply the word inghimas to a staple tactic not accomplished that. Second, inghimas applies to armies in the heat of battle, of 19 On the concept of `illa, see Nabil Shehaby, “`Illa and which their Shari`a-protected victims Qiyas in Early Islamic Legal Theory,” Journal of the Amer- are usually not part. Third, in the more ican Oriental Society 102:1 (1982): pp. 27-46. acceptable “suicidal missions,” one dies 20 Ibn Taymiyya, Qa`ida fi al-inghimas fi al-`aduww wa- at the hands of the enemy, not by one’s hal yubah fiha? (Riyadh: Adwa’ al-Salaf, 2002), p. 36. This 23 Ibn Taymiyya stated his opinion on the legal conse- own doing. In this respect, the jihadists’ refers to the Qur’an. quences: “Scholars have disagreed whether or not (the case for their brand of martyrdom 21 Dr. Boaz Ganor, “The Rationality of the Islamic Radi- murderer) should be killed by reason of (his) brigandage, cal Suicide Attack Phenomenon,” International Institute but the stronger (argument) is that he should be killed as 18 In fact, Ibn Taymiyya himself criticized those who for Counter-Terrorism, March 31, 2007. a punishment for killing because killing for the sake of use partial statements of Ibn Hanbal (d. 855 AD) thereby 22 On prohibition of evasive legal devices, see Dr. Ahmad general corruption is a hadd crime, similar to the one who ignoring the complexity of his juridical opinion. See al- al-Raysuni, Al-Shatibi’s Theory of the Higher Objec- steals money having his hand cut off and like withhold- Sarim al-maslul (Saudi Arabia: al-Haras al-Watani al- tives and Intents of Islamic Law (Herndon, VA: Interna- ing their rights.” Ibn Taymiyya, al-Siyasa al-Shar`iyya Sa`udi, undated), vol. 2, pp. 483-484. tional Institute of Islamic Thought, 2005), pp. 56-57. (Beirut: Dar , 2003), p. 63.