The Islamic State, Islamic jihad’s mutated and most violent yet, weapon of war against kuffars, has ventured into the realm of print media with its new manual for jihad in Bharat, SAWT al Hind or Voice of Hind. For the Islamic State, Hind encompasses Bharat, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The IS has published three issues so far; the latest being the Ramzan special edition which, within the IS’ definition of Hind, is Bharat and Hindu specific. 

The subject content of issue 2 & issue 3 pose very grave threats to National Security and Internal Security and this report analyses these two jihad documents from the National and Internal Security perspective. One serious obstacle to understanding the true nature of jihad as defined and described by politically powerful Muslims in government and military, is the propensity of the rest of the world, raised on Western notions of liberalism, including Bharat’s ruling and intellectual elite, to whitewash the truth of Islam’s political objective.

Islam’s political objective:

The very core of the religion of Islam is to conquer the world for Allah. Muslims who live by the word of the Quran are mandated by their religion to bring Islam to power in all territorial states around the world. Territories thus conquered by the sword of Islam will be directed and administered by Islamic law or Islamic jurisprudence, the Sharia.

Central to jihadist politics is the claim that, after Allah’s Army of Islam conquers nations, nation-states and territorial states as mandated by Islam, Allah will reward them by making jihadists the successors to the former rulers of the conquered countries and territories. “Allah has promised those among you who believe, and do righteous good deeds, that He will certainly grant them Succession to (the present rulers) in the earth, as He granted it to those before them, and that He will grant them the authority to practice their religion, that which He has chosen for them (i.e Islam).” (Chapter 1, Prerequisites for victory, SAWT al Hind, Issue 2)

If it is understood that the Army of Islam will confront determined resistance from the people, rulers and armies of those countries, states and territories which are under attack, then we can also understand why Allah, Islam and Prophet Mohammed had to perforce justify use of force and violence either through conventional war or through jihad which was hybrid war using terror as method. 

“As a perfect divine document, the Holy Quran has given a comprehensive treatment to its concept of war. The Book defines and determines all aspects of the use of ‘force’ in inter-state relations. The Quranic injunctions cover the causes and object of war; its nature and characteristics; limits and extents; dimensions and restraints. The Book also spells out a unique and distinctive concept of strategy, and prescribes its own rules and principles for the conduct of war.” (Introduction, The Quranic Concept of War by Brigadier S.K Malik)

Malik, when he wrote the book in 1978, one year before the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, was a serving career military soldier in the Pakistani army who was also well-informed about Western military theory and therefore well equipped to place jihad in the military context and present it as the noblest of Islamic military doctrine. 

“The continued relevance of The Quranic Concept of War is indicated by the discovery by U.S militaty officials of summaries of this book published in various languages on captured and killed jihadist insurgents in Afghanistan. This is hardly a surprising development as Malik finds within the Quran a doctrine of aggressive, escalating and constant jihad against non-Muslims and the religious justification of terrorism as a means to achieving the dominance of Islam around the world – dogmas that square with the Islamist ideology driving terrorism worldwide.” (Patrick Poole, Mark Hanna, Publisher’s Preface, The Quranic Concept of War)

Article 8 of the Hamas Covenant illustrates the convergence of religion, theology and politics in Islam: “Allah is its goal, the Prophet is the model, the Quran its constitution, jihad its path, and death for the sake of Allah, its most sublime belief.” Ultimately however, the Islamic State like the Prophet Mohammed, the Muslim League in India in 1946-47, the Afghan Mujahideen, the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood will reject, redraw or remove altogether the borders and boundaries separating territorial states or nation-states to create a borderless, seamless Islamic Caliphate. 

“After the demise of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), the Muslims were compelled by circumstances to fight a simultaneous war against the Romans and the Persians. Under the rising sun of Islam, the Persian Empire disappeared from the map of the world by 680 AD. By about that time, the Muslims had conquered Syria, Egypt, Anatolia, Cyranica, Tripolitania and Armenia from the Romans as well.” (Chapter 2, Historical Perspective, The Quranic Concept of War by Brigadier S.K. Malik) 

“Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This is a promise from Allah to His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that He will cause his ummah to gain authority in the land, i.e., become leaders of people and rulers over them, and by means of them the people’s affairs will be put right and the people will submit to their rule, and after having being afraid of the people, they will enjoy security and will rule over them. And He, may He be glorified and exalted, did indeed do that, may He be praised. The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not die until Allah enabled him to conquer Makkah, Khaybar, Bahrain, the entire Arabian Peninsula and all of the land of Yemen.” (Chapter 1, Prerequisites for victory, SAWT al Hind, Issue 2)

Islam rejects the idea of nation-states or territorial states and therefore rejects the very roots or the basis of the ordering and organizing tenets of international relations – national sovereignty and sovereign equality of nation-states. The seamless global caliphate which is the political, religious and theological objective of Islam, and the borderless Ummah of Prophet Mohammed cannot be realized within the modern framework of Sovereignty of Nation-states.

Since conquering the world for Allah is Islam’s core purpose and jihad is the path and the weapon by which nation-states and territorial states will be destroyed to craft the borderless Caliphate or Khalifah, Islam rejects modern notions of political thought like democracy, secularism and nationalism. Most importantly Islam rejects all non-Islamic national constitutions.

“However, the Taliban of the present era being headed by the nationalists, seculars, democrats and apostates earned the wrath of Allah SWT and enmity of Muwahideen through their recent actions of entering into alliance with crusaders, apostates, rawafidah and other polytheists…..They promised the Kuffar to implement the non-sharia laws in the land of Afghanistan on the democratic basis; which would do them no good. The oil and dirt in the Muslim lands reject the legislation other than Islam…..Now as the Americans have started to withdraw from Afghanistan the current astray leadership of Taliban tries to portray it as a victory for the Muslims. However that is not the case, because what the Americans stood for twenty years ago when they invaded Afghanistan, they still stand by those principles i.e. so called freedom and democracy. However it is Taliban 2.0 which has incurred the wrath of Allah upon themselves by changing its Manhaj from Tawheed and al wala wal bara to Democracy and Nationalism, bowing down to America while abandoning the pinnacle of Islam i.e jihad for the sake of Allah.” (Chapter 3, Taliban from Jihad to Apostasy, SAWT Issue 2)

Jihad is the path. “The universalism of Islam, in its all-embracing creed, is imposed on the believers as a continuous process of warfare, psychological and political, if not strictly military….The jihad, accordingly may be stated as a doctrine of a permanent state of war, not continuous fighting.” (Majid Khadduri, September 27, 1909 – January 25, 2007, Iraqi-born academic in War and Peace in the Law of Islam Baltimore, Md.: John Hopkins Press, 1955), p. 64.)         

Nations, governments, intellectuals, political parties and politicians under the sway of Western notions of liberalism refuse to see and understand jihad for what it is. The whitewashing of the true nature of jihad happens in three ways: 

• We do not call jihad by its right name when secessionists become “misguided people, alienated people, wounded psyche people, disenchanted people and our own people”, when Jihad becomes ‘incident’, or at best ‘act of terror’ and when war becomes ‘proxy war’ and jihadis become ‘militants or extremists’

• We fail to see jihad for what it is. Notwithstanding the historical empirical knowledge about jihad we still refuse to see the true nature of jihad by imposing our own liberal delusions about the religion, theology and politics of Islam upon its real nature.

• We fail to think through the Quranic concept of war to its logical conclusion. 

Strategic analysts describe Islam variously as radical, secessionist or jihadi; some political analysts have also coined the phrase “moderate Islam”. The truth as proved repeatedly by Pakistan’s military and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is that for Pakistan’s agenda against Bharat and within Bharat, there is only one Islam and as Brigadier S.K Malik himself states in his book, jihad is the “most glorious word in the vocabulary of Islam”.

Brigadier S. K Malik’s The Quranic Concept Of War

Brigadier Malik did not write the book for ordinary Pakistani citizens. This book was written for religious, political and military leaders of not just Pakistan but all Islamic states because jihad, as delineated by Brigadier Malik, is a politico-religious-military doctrine to be used as an instrument and wielded as a weapon.  

Jihad is a very large part in the totality of Islam and as a politico-religious war doctrine has remained unchanged since the times of Prophet Mohammed; jihad was, and jihad continues to be the all-encompassing, driving force that Muslims use to convert the world into one geographic, borderless caliphate, Dar-ul-Islam.

The book spells out the fundamental duty of a believer, the nature of the world according to the Quran, the causes of war, the methods of war and the objectives of war.

Islam’s bi-polar world and centrality of Jehad

The most glorious word in the vocabulary of Islam is Jehad, a word which is untranslatable in English, but, broadly speaking means, striving, struggling, trying to advance the Divine causes or purpose.

This world in which we live is the arena where there is a conflict between good and evil, between right and wrong and between Haq and Na-Haq (truth and untruth)and between Hilal and Haram (legitimate and forbidden) courses of conduct. 

Islam views the world as though it were bipolarised in two or opposing camps – Darus-Salam facing Darul-Harb – the first one is submissive to the Lord in co-operating with God’s purpose to establish peace, order and such other pre-conditions of human development, but the second one, on the other hand, is engaged in perpetuating defiance of the same Lord. (Excerpts from Preface by Allabaksh K. Brohi, The Quranic Concept of War) 

Jihad as Quranic Strategy, Jihad is the Path, Jihad is the Method

Let us now make an attempt to the study the Quranic concept of strategy. The first step to this study is to understand the difference between total strategy that is Jehad, and military strategy. The term ‘Jehad’ so often confused with military strategy is in fact the near-equivalent of total or grand strategy or policy-in-execution.

Jehad entails the comprehensive direction and application of ‘power’ while military strategy deals only with the preparation for and application of ‘force’. Jehad is a continuous and never-ending struggle waged on all fronts including political, economic, social, psychological, domestic, moral and spiritual to attain the object of policy. It aims at attaining the overall mission assigned to the Islamic State, and military strategy is one of the means available to it to do so. It is waged at individual as well as collective level; and at internal as well as external front. (Chapter ‘The Strategy for War’, page 54, The Quranic Concept of War)

But what strategy does He prescribe for the Believers to enforce their decision upon their foes? “Let not the Unbelievers think,” God commands us directly and pointedly, “that they can get the better (of the Godly): they will never frustrate them. Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know.”

Terror struck into the hearts of the enemies is not only a means, it is the end in itself. Once a condition of terror into the opponent’s heart is obtained, hardly anything is left to be achieved. It is the point where the means and the end meet and merge. Terror is not a means of imposing decision upon the enemy; it is the decision we wish to impose upon him.

Terror cannot be struck into the hearts of an army by merely cutting its lines of communication or depriving it of its routes of withdrawal. It is basically related to the strength or weakness of the human soul. It can be instilled only if the opponent’s Faith is destroyed. Psychological dislocation can be produced by a physical act but this does not hold good of the spiritual dislocation. To instill terror into the hearts of the enemy, it is essential, in the ultimate analysis, to dislocate his faith. An invincible Faith is immune to terror. A weak Faith offers inroads to terror. The Faith conferred upon us by the Holy Quran has the inherent strength to ward off terror from us and to enable us to strike terror into the enemy. Whatever the form or type of strategy directed against the enemy, it must in order to be effective, be capable of striking terror into the hearts of the enemy. (Chapter ‘The Strategy for War’, pp 57-60) 

The Moplah jihad against Hindus in 1921, the jihad against Hindus by the Muslim League’s Direct Action Day on August 16, 1946 also known as Great Calcutta Killings, nature of the war that Pakistan is waging against Bharat in Jammu and Kashmir which includes abducting soldiers, their families, torture and brutal post-mortem mutilation of the bodies of slain Indian Army personnel, Pakistan’s 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, these acts of war and terror are excellent case-study material for Pakistan’s Quranic Concept of War. Brigadier Malik wrote the book in 1979 to send this message to Bharat – that no matter what the Government of Bharat may do or not do, the Islamic State of Pakistan is consumed by the idea of jihad against Bharat  – jihad which is the primary Quranic doctrine for a permanent state of war. S.K Malik concludes his exposition on terror appropriately with a contemporary reference to emphasise that jihad is timeless and universal in application:

Whatever the form or type of strategy directed against the enemy, it must, in order to be effective, be capable of striking terror into the hearts of the enemy. A strategy that fails to attain this condition suffers from inherent drawbacks and weaknesses; and should be reviewed and modified. This rule is fully applicable to nuclear as well as conventional wars. It is equally true of the strategy of nuclear deterrence in fashion today. To be credible and effective, the strategy of deterrence must be capable of striking terror into the hearts of the enemy. (The Strategy for War, page 60)

Significance of the month of Ramzan for Jihad and Jihadis

The Islamic State has printed the third issue of SAWT al Hind on the occasion of the beginning of the month of Ramzan on 24th April, 2020. In this issue the IS has issued an open call to Bharat’s Muslim community to undertake jihad against the Hindus and also to launch the renewed mission to Islamise India – Ghazwa-e-Hind. The end objective of the Islamic State is the same as that of all Islamic terror organizations from the times of the Muslim League. 

Muslim League, Afghan Mujahideen, Taliban, Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, Hizbul Mujahideen created by JEI, Markaz Dawa Al Irshad (MDI) and its terrorist wing Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jammat-ul-Ulema Islam (JUI) headed by Pakistan’s Maulana Fazlur Rehman and post-1994 Taliban which became components of the Army of Islam, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), Al Badr, an off-shoot of the JEI and the Jaish-E-Mohammed (JEM).

After the Muslim League announced jihad against Hindus through Direct Action in 1946, S. M. Usman, Mayor of Calcutta and Secretary of the Calcutta Muslim League, printed and distributed leaflets and pamphlets calling upon Muslims to undertake jihad.

“Muslims must remember that it was in Ramzan that the Quran was revealed. It was in Ramzan that the permission for Jehad was granted by Allah. It was in Ramzan that the battle of Badr, the first open conflict between Islam and Heathenism was fought and won by 313 Muslims; and again it was in Ramzan that 10,000 under the Holy Prophet conquered Mecca and established the kingdom of Heaven and the commonwealth of Islam in Arabia. The Muslim League is fortunate that it is starting its action in this holy month.” (Stern Reckoning by GD Khosla, Chapter Two, ‘Direct Action Day and After’, page 51)

The Muslim League’s Jihad as Quranic Concept of War in 1946

Excerpts from Stern Reckoning, A Survey of the Events Leading Up To and Following the Partition of India by G.D Khosla are presented only to show that the Muslim League in 1946-47 waged war against the Hindus of Bharat with the same doctrine of war, methods of war and causes for war, including “shock and awe” tactics, as detailed by Brigadier S.K Malik in his masterly war and terror document, The Quranic Concept of War. 

The meaning and purport of “Direct Action:” were not left in doubt. It meant “good-bye to constitutional methods”, the “forging of a pistol” and using it. Mr. Jinnah declared, “What we have done today is the most historic act in our history. Never have we in the whole history of the League done anything except by constitutional methods and by constitutionalism. But now we are obliged and forced into this position. This day we bid good-bye to constitutional methods”. (Stern Reckoning, Chapter Two, Direct Action Day and After, page 4) 

Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan told the Associated Press of America that Direct Action meant “resorting to non-constitutional methods, and that can take any form and whatever form may suit the conditions under which we live”. He added, “We cannot eliminate any method. Direct Action means any action against the law”. Sardar Abdul Rab Nishtar was reported to have said that Pakistan could only be achieved by shedding blood and if opportunity arose, the blood of non-Muslims must be shed, for “Muslims are no believers in ahimsa”. Khwaja Nazimuddin (Home Minister in the Muslim League Bengal Provincial Government) declared that Leaguers were not pledged to non-violence. (Chapter Two, page 43) 

Munajat for Jehad – Poster in Calcutta following call for Direct Action, August 1946

By the grace of God, we are ten crores in India but through bad luck we have become slaves of the Hindus and the British. We are starting Jehad in Your Name in this very month of Ramzan. We promise before You that we entirely depend on You. Pray make us strong in body and mind – give Your helping hand in all our actions – make us victorious over the kaffirs – enable us to establish the Kingdom of Islam in India and make proper sacrifices for this jehad – by the grace of God may we build up in India the greatest Islamic kingdom in the world. The Muslims in China, Manchuria, Mongolia, Malaya, java and Sumatra are all fighting for their freedom – pray be Your grace they may succeed. 

A leaflet bearing a picture of Mr. Jinnah with a sword in hand said:

The sword of Islam must be shining on the heavens and will subdue all evil designs. We Muslims have had the Crown and have ruled. Do not lose heart. Be ready and take your swords. Think, you Muslims, why we are under the kaffirs today. The result of loving the kaffirs is not good. Oh kaffir, do not be proud and happy. Your doom is not far and the general massacre will come. We shall show our glory with swords in hands and will have a special victory.

Another leaflet asked Muslims to come into the arena with their swords and change their tactics. “We shall then see who will play with us, for rivers of blood will flow. We shall have the swords in our hands and the noise of takbir. Tomorrow will be doom’s day.”

The Islamic State’s Agenda for Bharat – Inspired by the Muslim League

The Islamic State of Pakistan was created because the Muslim League, an avowed Islamic outfit, did not want Bharat’s ten crore Muslims to live “as slaves” of Hindus and therefore decided to wrest Pakistan from the territory of the Hindu nation as the New Medina. In his brilliant book Stern Reckoning (Oxford University Press, 1949) about the events leading up to and following the bloody Partition of Bharat in 1947, the author G. D. Khosla in Notes to Chapter Three, page 313, presents the printed and cyclostyled copies of a circular which was distributed secretly among the Muslims of India. This secret circular is presented below.

Specific and explicit threat against Bharat’s Hindus, police force, armed forces and against Muslims guilty of ‘apostasy’

Islamic State’s Manual for Jihad inspired by Muslim League’s Direct Action Jihad.  

The Islamic State’s SAWT al Hind advocates jihad against Bharat’s ‘cow and monkey worshipping’ Hindus, against the country’s police force and armed forces, and against those Muslims whom the Islamic State accuses of apostasy.

Sawt al Hind Issue 2: In Chapter 3 of this issue titled ‘Corona virus, punishment sent by Allah’, the Islamic State asks the Muslim community to attack the country’s uniformed forces. “The military and the police have been deployed on the streets and now is the time to attack them because they are easy targets. Use a sword or a knife or even a rope to stop their breath. Fill their streets with blood. This is the punishment and the wrath of Allah against the disbelievers, so make it worse for them.”

In Chapter 5, The Islamic State addresses the people of Kashmir thus, “And to the youth, we would like to tell them that you should keep away from the protests, sloganeering and stone pelting and use the alternate methods like petrol bombs and knives, to inflict the heavy damage upon the Kuffar and to avoid injuries by the pellets. To the sisters in Kashmir we would like to advise them to stay away from the protests and marches, and to confine yourselves to your homes and maintain your Hijab.

In Chapter 6 titled ‘So, Annihilate the Disbelievers’ the Islamic State gives explicit instructions about jihad or terror attacks against Hindus, the government and government agencies: 

• O Muwahedeen of al Hind; the lives and properties of the Tawagheet and the apostates are lawful for you. Put your trust upon Allah and lie in wait for them in every place of ambush to inflict the heavy damage upon them.

• All of the disbelievers are your target without any exception, be he a cow worshipping hindu, or a filthy Rafidhi. Whether he is from the Army or Police personnel, and a spy from the intelligence agency. Be he a worshiper of democracy or the follower of the Balam ibne Baura.

• Take the Disbelievers by surprise and target them while they are with their families. And eradicate apostates even if you see them praying

• Be prepared with what you have of means. Run over them with your cars, crush them with stones. Cut their necks off by knives and axes.

• Burn their homes with the lava of your Eman. Weaken them economically! Wipe out their properties. Burn their godowns and agriculture fields.

• Mix the poison with their drinks, suffocate them with poisonous gases! Manipulate their food with the chemicals. Annihilate them with whatever means you have.

SAWT al Hind Ramzan Special Issue 3, So Annihilate the Disbelievers

• O Muwahideen of Al Hind; the lives and properties of the Tawagheet and the apostates are lawful for you. Put your trust upon Allah and lie in wait for them in every place of ambush to inflict the heavy damage upon them.

• Know that, if you own a kitchen knife, an axe or a hammer then don’t consider yourself unarmed. Make use of them and go for the kill.

• If you can access to the roof of any building then throw form there any heavy object on the Kuffar who are reachable.

• Ropes and belts are easily available, use them and choke them to death.

• If you can drive a car then know that it is one of the effective means to inflict the carnage upon the Kuffar. Choose your target and go for it.

• Petrol bombs are easy to make and petrol is abundantly available. Use petrol bombs to wreak the havoc.

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