Munir Masood Marath

A Thesis Titled Al-Qaida Apologists and the Agents: Narratives and Counter Narrative of Violence Munir Masood Marath Registration No. 02-GCU-PhD-PS-2011 Department of Political Science GC University Lahore ii A Thesis Titled Al-Qaida Apologists and the Agents : Narratives and Counter Narrative of Violence Submitted to GC University Lahore in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science By Munir Masood Marath Registration No. 02-GCU-PhD-PS-2011 Department of Political Science GC University Lahore iii iv v vi vii Dedicated to my Parents viii Acknowledgements From the very outset of my academic career, the field of my keen interest has been political Islam. From this premise, I concentrated on Islamism and violence unleashed by different militant organizations in the name of Islamic ideology. Luckily, this study came out to be my hot pursuit. It provided me with the interest and aptitude needed to initiate advanced research with the aim to crystallize my academic ambitions. Perhaps my efforts might not have been of much success, and I would have been lost in bewilderment, had I not been a Ravian whose exalted institution is indeed an embodiment of academic knowledge and experience. In this institution of high learning, I was exceptionally fortunate to have the guidance of Dr. Farhat Mehmood. I am also highly indebted to Dr. Khalid Butt, Chairman of the Department of Political Science for his invaluable cooperation during the course of this research. It would be unjust on my part if I do not say a word of gratitude to my friend and colleague Asim Gulzar whose scholarly input not only enlightened me but also triggered in me a clear perception of the project I undertook for research. I must admit that it was my wife Beelam who has been source of encouragement throughout the course of this research. She has been careful reader of the draft and has contributed in a number of ways the completion of this work. My daughters Fatima Marath and Mahnoor Marath too, helped me simply by being there. Likewise, my brother Saleem Marath and my niece Maleeha Marath have also been source of continuous encouragement for me. I must mention Shakeel Raza as well who helped me in composing the draft. I have relied on Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall’s translation of the Quranic text. I am grateful to the publishers for making this piece of translation available. Last but not the least, I am thankful to all of them, and to those as well whom I met just off and on in connection with my study, for being my well-wishers. Munir Masood Marath ix Abstract The study aims to test the hypothesis that the conflict between the militants and the west being inherently ideological involves three parties which include, the militants, the apologists and those whom Al-Qaida label as agents of the west. The conflict has serious implications internalized to the Muslim societies in terms of even changing the boundaries of faith through the interplay of socio-political variables. Though, violence emerged in the Muslim societies in terms of a means of emancipation or identity when the state became irrelevant to deal with the conflict situation. The failure of state apparatus resulted in codification of violence at individual or group level and sometimes between the states as well. The grounds for codification were secured from juxtaposition of socio-political variables with the religious beliefs. Since, the paradigms of codification were largely provided by socio-political variables, thus, these variables continued to be relevant to the espousal of the codes of war by the militants. However, the militants have always looked towards religion to seek legitimacy to their acts of violence. The study exposing the fallacy of the narratives offered by the militants, the apologists and Al-Qaida labeled agents, offers a counter narrative to unmask their true facets. The counter narrative will reinterpret the primary sources, unravel the historical and socio-political constructs, unmask the heroes and enemies, challenge the theories and dichotomy of practices, re-establish the boundaries between heresy and faith and attempts to transform the current ideological discourse. x Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ..................................................................................................... 5 1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .................................................................................................. 6 1.3 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS .......................................................................................................... 6 1.4 LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................................................. 7 1.5 RESEARCH SCHEME ............................................................................................................... 11 1.6 METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................... 12 1. FRAMEWORK FOR CONFLICT ............................................................................................ 14 1.1 IDEOLOGY.............................................................................................................................. 14 1.1.1 Religion ............................................................................................................................ 14 1.1.2 Economics ........................................................................................................................ 15 1.1.3 Sociology .......................................................................................................................... 16 1.2 ORDERS AND THE STATE FORMATION ................................................................................... 16 1.2.1 Political Orders ................................................................................................................. 16 1.2.2 Social Order ...................................................................................................................... 33 1.2.3 Religious Order ................................................................................................................ 36 2 HERESY OF IDEAS ................................................................................................................... 43 2.1 KEY TERMINOLOGY............................................................................................................... 43 2.1.1 Orthodoxy and Heresy (bida’ā) ........................................................................................ 44 2.1.2 Apostasy (irti’dād) and Ex-communication (takfīr) ......................................................... 44 2.2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................... 45 2.3 PRINCIPLES OF KHURŪJ, IRTI’DĀD AND TAKFĪR .................................................................... 47 2.3.1 Conditions for Khurūj ....................................................................................................... 47 2.3.2 Grounds to invoke Irti’dād and Takfīr .............................................................................. 52 3 POLEMICS REVISITED ........................................................................................................... 58 3.1 GENESIS OF THE POLEMICS .................................................................................................... 58 3.1.1 Right to Prophetic Inheritance .......................................................................................... 58 3.1.2 Belief in Imamate ............................................................................................................. 59 3.1.3 Right to Caliphate ............................................................................................................. 60 3.2 THEOLOGICAL EXPLANATION OF SECTARIAN DIVIDE: CLASSICAL PERSPECTIVE .................. 63 3.3 POLITICAL VARIABLES VIS-À-VIS DOCTRINAL DIFFERENCES ................................................ 65 3.3.1 Fatimid Caliphate ............................................................................................................. 65 3.3.2 Safāvīd Empire ................................................................................................................. 68 3.3.3 Rise of Wahābīsm............................................................................................................. 70 3.3.4 Iranian Revolution 1979 ................................................................................................... 70 3.4 SECTARIAN RAPPROCHEMENT ............................................................................................... 74 4 CODIFICATION OF VIOLENCE ............................................................................................ 79 4.1 VIOLENCE AND IDENTITY CRISIS NEXUS ............................................................................... 80 4.2 GENESIS OF CODIFICATION OF VIOLENCE .............................................................................. 82 4.2.1 Linkage between Violence and Collaboration with the Colonialists ................................ 82 4.2.2 Sectarian Violence due to Irrelevance of Ummah: ........................................................... 89 4.2.3 Violence

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