Jihad in the Great White North
A few months ago the Canadian security services broke up an Islamist plot. Most people up north seemed surprised. They needn’t have been, nor should they the next time.
Let’s visit with the website of “Young Muslims Canada-Wide.” What’s their stated goal? Look under “About Us.”
Who are we?
An Islamic organization working for and through the Muslim youth in Canada. Our aim is to share the message of Islam in its entirety with all Canadians such that they may come to appreciate it better. This we hope to achieve through Dawah (invitation to Islam), Tarbiyah (education & training), Tazkiyah (personal development), and community involvement and activism.
Our activities include youth study circles (halaqas), lectures and workshops, camps and sports events, a weekly Islamic mailing list (YMFN), online quiz competitions, a comprehensive online library, and one of the top rated internet websites.
We work in cooperation with a variety of Islamic organizations in US & Canada.
Well, there’s nothing threatening about that. But what if we start looking around the site? Can we find material that suggests that the members of YMCW have an intention of spreading the word about Islam through anything other than peaceful means?
Start under “Articles.” You can find there a link to “People of Islamic Revival.” You’ll find biographies of several Muslims prominent in the revival of the religion, including Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood; Syed Abul Ala Maududi, a Pakistani and one of the first proponents of international jihad back in the 1920s; and Sayyid Qutb, author of Milestones—considered the “Godfather of the Jihadists.”
Admittedly, these authors all wrote extensively on Islamic subjects, and not solely on jihad. But let’s move on to the “Online Library” section and look under “Islamic concepts.” Here we find some of the selections offered to website visitors authored by al-Banna, Maududi, and Qutb. Some deal with the Qur’an. But others address the “Islamic concept” of jihad.
For example, there’s Hassan al-Banna’s Jihad.
Jihad is an obligation from Allah on every Muslim and cannot be ignored nor evaded. Allah has ascribed great importance to jihad and has made the reward of the martyrs and the fighters in His way a splendid one. Only those who have acted similarly and who have modelled themselves upon the martyrs in their performance of jihad can join them in this reward. Furthermore, Allah has specifically honoured the Mujahideen with certain exceptional qualities, both spiritual and practical, to benefit them in this world and the next. Their pure blood is a symbol of victory in this world and the mark of success and felicity in the world to come.
Note that the jihad al-Banna is talking about is not some internal, spiritual struggle, but one that involves martyrdom, fighting, and blood.
We also find links to the entirety of Qutb’s Milestones. You can read my post of 14 August for a glimpse of what Qutb was arguing in his book.
You’ll also find Maududi’s Let Us Be Muslims. Maududi’s work covers all aspects of Islam, but the seventh and final chapter is entitled “Jihad.” He writes:
Brethren-in-Islam!
I have repeatedly referred to this point in my previous lectures that Salah, fasting, Hajj and Zakat, which Allah has made obligatory for you and made them pillars of Islam are not like the 'Ibadaat of other religions comprising such rituals as pooja
pat, nazr-o-niaz and jatra etc., that you just perform them and have Allah pleased with you. The truth of the matter is that these functions were made obligatory to prepare you for a big purpose and to train you for a great task. Now that I have enlightened you in detail about this training and the mode of its preparation, the time has come to tell you the purpose for which all this training is required.Real objective of Islam
Briefly speaking, it would be enough to state that the real objective of Islam is to remove the lordship of man over man and to establish the kingdom of God on Earth. To stake one's life and everything else to achieve this purpose is called Jihad' while Salah, fasting, Hajj and Zakat are all meant as a preparation for this task. But as you have since long forgotten this objective as well as the task entrusted to you, and because all 'Ibadaat have been turned into mere Tasawwuf, the meaning I have tried to convey in one small sentence will be regarded by you as an enigma. Therefore I shall present before you an elucidation of this objective.
Is Maududi talking about a spiritual struggle or a physical struggle? Here’s a clue.
And when Islam prepares its men in this manner, then it tells them: “Now you are the most pious slaves of God on the surface of earth. So go ahead and fight, and remove the rebels of God from the government and take over the powers of caliphate." "Ye are the best community that has been raised up for the guidance and reformation of mankind. Ye enjoin righteousness and forbid evil; and ye believe in Allah." (Al-Qur'an 3:110)
Now, I do not mean to imply that the website is filled with jihadist materials. It’s not. But there is a significant amount of that material on the site, material that does not support the claim that the Young Muslims up in Canada are only interested in “Dawah (invitation to Islam), Tarbiyah (education & training), Tazkiyah (personal development), and community involvement and activism.”
Imagine if in the midst of the Second World War an organization of German students had a website with a section on the works of German “revival” writers, including Schiller, Goethe, Kant, Hitler, Goebbels, and Julius Striker? Would it be unreasonable to suspect that some of the students were Nazis?
