Geoffrey Luck : Ramadan, It’s All the Rage
On a single day, Islamists blew up the Al Sadaq mosque in Kuwait, killing 28, slaughtered 38 tourists on the beach in Tunisia, and beheaded a man in France. Religion of Peace renegades? No at all, just more of the Prophet’s followers heeding his words and example
Dabiq is the glossy, professionally-produced propaganda magazine of ISIS, the self-styled Islamic State. Regularly, it lauds the heroic sacrifices of its suicide bombers, praying that Allah will accept them. It lambasts the campaigns of the “Crusaders” of the West, calling down imprecations from convenient verses of holy writ. Every so often, it publishes a sermon by the Caliph, to inspire and energise the warriors.
So, on 25 Rajab 1436 (May 14, 2015, in our Gregorian calendar) the Caliph, Amir al-Mu’minin al-Khalifah Ibrahim, delivered an address entitled “On the Last Plot of the Apostates.” Addressing the Ummah (the Islamic world community) on a supposed new plot in the making against Islam, he had something to say about the character of Islam that is important for all of us to understand. Here is the paragraph, verbatim, from issue #9 of Dabiq::
O Muslims, Islam was never for a day the religion of peace. Islam is the religion of war. Your Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) was dispatched with the sword as a mercy to the creation. He was ordered with war until Allah is worshipped alone. He (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said to the mushrikīn of his people, ‘I came to you with slaughter’ [Reported by Imām Ahmad from ‘Abdullāh Ibn ‘Amr]. He fought both the Arabs and non-Arabs in all their various colors. He himself left to fight and took part in dozens of battles. He never for a day grew tired of war
… His companions after him and their followers carried on similarly. They did not soften nor abandon war, until they possessed the Earth, conquered the East and the West, the nations submitted to them, and the lands yielded to them, by the edge of the sword. And similarly, this will remain the condition of those who follow them until the Day of Recompense. Our Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) has informed us of the Malāhim near the end of time. He gave us good tidings and promised us that we would be victorious in these battles. He is the truthful and trustworthy, sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam. And here we are today seeing the signs of those Malāhim and we feel the winds of victory within them.
In #10, the Ramadan issue, Dabiq followed up with an historical justification for the jihadist attacks that occurred simultaneously that month. Islamic leaders around the world were quick to proclaim that Ramadan is a month of mercy, an opportunity to attain God-consciousness through fasting, good work and charity. Not though, for ISIS.
On the one day, ISIS operatives blew up the Al Sadaq mosque in Kuwait, killing 28 and wounding 200; slaughtered 38 western tourists on the beach in Tunisia, and beheaded a man in France during an attempt to blow up an American-owned chemical factory.
The justification is in the history of the Prophet, explained Dabiq. Ramadan is welcomed by the mujahideen for jihad because “Allah opens gates for Muslims in Ramadan and upon them He sends His mercy….The gates of Jannah (Paradise) are opened and the gates of Hell are closed.” Throughout history, the months of Ramadan have been days of jihad and battles.
The article went on to explain that Muhammad dispatched 73 sariyyah (raids or battles he did not lead personally) 11 of them sent out in the month of Ramadan. The Prophet himself led 28 battles (ghazawat). The two greatest – the Battle of Badr and the conquest of Makkah (Mecca) both took place during Ramadan.
The battle of Makkah was the conquest over which the inhabitants of the Heavens rejoiced. The loftiness of its honor reached the heights of the stars. The people entered into the religion of Allah.
We need to understand that is the ecstasy inspiring the Islamic State jihadists.
Geoffrey Luck was an ABC Journalist from 1950 until 1976
Comments are closed.
