In a Surprise Move, Jihad is the Islamic State’s Recommendation for the Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah
In the 497th edition of Al-Naba, the Islamic State (IS) newsletter, published on 29 May, the main editorial was about the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah (28 May – 6 June), the last month in the Islamic calendar. The month is holy, designated for the hajj (pilgrimage to the ka’ba), and the ten days are particularly sacred, including as they do Yawm al-Arafah, and culminating with Eid al-Adha. IS acknowledges that its operatives are unlikely to make it to Mecca, but finds theological sanction for an alternative, which is, of course, jihad. As it happens, IS does seem to have surged its activities at the “Centre” in this period, particularly in Syria, which is one of the targets the Naba editorial specifies. Saudi Arabia is singled out as the main target—indeed, the war against unbelievers in the region is presented as a way to clear the path for an IS takeover of Islam’s holy cities in the Hijaz. Jerusalem is as another named location where Al-Naba says jihad should be considered, and IS’s lone-actor agents in the West are incited to action.
O Soldiers of God, Rise Up (Ya Junud Allah Habbu)
It is necessary for the mujahid to take advantage of the seasons of iman [faith] to renew his determination and rekindle his jihad. And now, O assembly of mujahideen, ten blessed days have come upon you, days whose rank is elevated, whose reward is immense, whose mention is exalted. They are, truly, the best days of the year. Despite that, jihad was not absent from them; rather, it cast its shadow upon them, as [the Prophet Muhammad said] in the authentic [Hadith] narration: “There are no days in which righteous deeds are better than in these [ten days].” They [the Companions] said: “Not even jihad in the path of God?” He said: “Not even jihad, except for a man who goes out risking his life and wealth, and returns with nothing” [Al-Bukhari].
The one who follows the previous dialogue between the Prophet and his noble Companions, in the context of preferring deeds done in the ten days over those done in other days, will observe how the Companions did not have in mind any deed that could rival this virtue except for jihad in the path of God. They asked the Prophet, surprised and in wonder: “Not even jihad in the path of God?” They did not say: “Not even charity?” Nor did they say: “Not even prayer, or fasting, or night prayer?” Rather, they singled out jihad from among all other deeds due to its lofty status and firm place in their souls, to the point that they made it a distinguishing standard by which to evaluate other deeds. They were amazed that there could be any righteous deed whose merit exceeds that of jihad. And how could there be, when they were the students of the mujahid Prophet, the planting of his own two noble hands, and the product of his spiritual and jihad-based nurturing, nurturing which engraved in their hearts and minds that nothing equals jihad, and that it is the honour of the first and the last generations.
The Prophet’s response made an exception in the comparison: a mujahid “who goes out risking his life and wealth, and returns with nothing”. The scholars of the umma [(Islamic) community] agree that this comparison between the deeds of the ten days and jihad is in terms of supererogatory acts, not obligatory ones. And today, jihad is fard ayn [an individual obligation], not a voluntary act. Even so, the condition the Prophet described—the mujahid who risks his very self—is a reality inseparable from the condition of the mujahideen in our time. Every day they risk their lives and give up the most precious things they possess. They have emigrated and waged jihad in the path of God with their wealth and their selves throughout all days and months, in every land and frontier.
So you, O soldier of the Caliphate, can be that exceptional mujahid whose condition was described by the Messenger of God, preferring his jihad over righteous deeds during these blessed days. Then what if you were to combine the reward of this unparalleled jihad with the reward of these ten days? You would attain the highest and most comprehensive and complete of the two ranks, by the permission of God the Exalted.
It is a great opportunity for you, O mujahid, to attain the excellence of jihad within the excellence of these days. And if the shari’a has commanded us to seek the breezes of divine mercy in the passing of time and the seasons of reward, then avail yourselves, O proud ones, of the places of combat and martyrdom in the path of God during these days, demonstrating courage in battle, striking hard at the enemy, and increasing the intensity of the assault. For indeed, the hearts of the believers are thirsty for vengeance against those who shed [Muslim] blood and violate honour. And nothing quenches the thirst for revenge like blood! And nothing prevents killing more than killing.
O mujahideen, between you and the Sacred House of God stand barriers, and obstacles have prevented you from performing tawaf [circumambulation] around it.1 You are excused in this, for you were unable to find a way to the House. And each of you wishes he could press his shoulder among the shoulders of the pilgrims in the purest of lands and the most noble of times. But the decree of God stands, and His judgement is final. So, if that is the case, then jostle among the convoys of sacrifice, respond to the call of jihad, and go forth, each to his frontier. Charge against your enemy and offer yourselves, may God accept it from you. Strike the necks of the disbelievers and spill their blood, may God accept your sacrifices, as was the practice of your brothers before you. O mujahideen stationed on the frontlines of the shari’a, you have the reward of those journeying and striving toward the Sacred House of God through your intention, even if you do not perform pilgrimage. As Ibn Rajab said: “The one who stays behind [from the hajj] due to a valid excuse is a partner of the one who travels, and perhaps he may surpass the traveller with his heart, even though the others travel with their bodies.”
So how is it, then, when you are the opposite of staying behind? You are the substance of jihad, its envoys and warriors, and the tip of its spear in this age in which the ranks have clearly separated as we have never witnessed before.
And even if the people stood at Arafat and you missed that, you have stood at a station beloved by God and His Messenger. You have stood upon the frontlines of the Muslims, defending the boundaries of the shari’a and the core of Islam. And remember that the greatest link between hajj and jihad is the Millat Ibrahim [creed of Abraham], peace be upon him, whose name pervades the rites of hajj from beginning to end, rites that resound with the oneness of God the Exalted.2 And jihad today is the practical application of that creed which God revealed to our Prophet Muhammad, commanding him to follow it, so reflect!
O assembly of soldiers, we looked into the books of exhortation and found no sermon more eloquent than the counsel to have taqwa [consciousness/fear of God, piety], so fear God and obey Him. We looked into the books of tawhid [monotheism] and found nothing more sound and precise than dissociation, so dissociate from the mushrikeen [idolaters, polytheists] and separate yourselves from them. We looked into the books of softening the heart and found nothing more beneficial for the heart than wara [restraint (from doubt)] and al-khashya [reverential fear (of God)], so refrain from doubtful matters and fear your Lord, the Exalted: “God has more right that you fear Him, if you are [true] believers” [Qur’an 9:13].
O soldiers of the Islamic State in every place: God has decreed that your path to the Sacred House of God not be by way of papers and passports, aboard runways and airplanes, as is the case with the common people. Rather, your path to the Sacred House of God will be through nothing but jihad, and through purifying the roads that lead to it from the bandits, the tawaghit [idolatrous rulers] and their disbelieving armies. So rise to the level of responsibility, for those roads are full of them.
And be certain that every battle you engage in, O mujahideen, whether in a plain or on a mountain, brings you closer and closer to reaching the lands of revelation [i.e., the Hijaz] that have been defiled by the Crusaders and apostates. The same applies to Bayt al-Maqdis [Jerusalem], so do not halt your battles, do not soften towards your enemy, and do not feel alienated by the multitude of those who fall away and the few who remain steadfast. For the believing few have always triumphed throughout the history of Islam through the strength of their faith, the depth of their sincerity, and the intensity of their devotion to their Master. So what an excellent few they are, those who remain firm upon the path. And woe to the one who changed, altered, and sold the everlasting for the fleeting.
O assembly of mujahideen, there is no doubt that longing for the two mosques, al-Masjid al-Haram [the Sacred Mosque] and Al-Aqsa,3 stirs within the chests, and none perceives the heat of that longing except he who has given the two mosques their due rank in deen [lifeway] and belief. For the Muslim does not see in them tourist sites or historical ruins, but sees in them a sacred creedal inheritance, preserved by the forebears with their blood and squandered by the successors on the day they neglected the Book and the Sunnah and followed the [other] paths, so they were divided away from the path of God.
So then, extinguish the blaze of longing for the sacred sites with the detonation of car bombs and the launching of rocket barrages. And ignite the ten [days], and all the rest of time, against the disbelievers, [both their] armies and governments. Inflame the attacks, one after another; seize the spies and target the leaderships; and we direct our incitement especially to the lone mujahideen in the midst of the enemy. So, O soldiers of God, rise and seize your ten [days] with the best of deeds: jihad in the path of God upon the prophetic methodology, a jihad that brings you closer to Mecca, and Jerusalem, and Damascus, for all of them are captives awaiting deliverance.
O mujahideen, how swiftly the ten [days] pass and their days come to an end, yet jihad remains ongoing, its sword unsheathed, its mount hastening forward. Those who came before have caught up to it, and those who lagged behind have stayed back. And though the seasons of obedience and their blessings end with the passage of months and ages, God has, by His favour, made jihad for you an eternal season that does not end until the Hour is established. So excel in seizing it, for it is your honour in this world and the next, and God does not break His promise.
NOTES
The phrase translated as “Sacred House of God” is “Bayt Allah al-Haram”, which can also be translated as “Inviolable House of God”. It is a Qur’anic reference.
The Qur’an name-checks “the Sacred House” (al-Bayt al-Haram) three times and makes clear (5:97) this means the ka’ba (cube) that is the centre of devotional practice for the Qur’anic community, sometimes called muslims (“submitters [to God]”) and more usually simply called “believers” (mu’mineen). By my count, variations on “the House” (al-Bayt)—implicitly, “the House of God”—appear nine times in the Qur’an, and “the Ancient House” (al-Bayt al-Ateeq) appears twice. In fourteen places, the Qur’an refers to “the Sacred Place of Prostration” (al-Masjid al-Haram) to describe the broader sanctuary in which the House/ka’ba is located.
“Masjid” would come to mean “mosque”, and Islamic orthodoxy is that the ka’ba has always been at Mecca in the Hijaz. The Qur’an, however, makes no association between the ka’ba and Mecca. Indeed, “Mecca” appears just once in the Qur’an and it is specified that it is a valley (48:24). The “first House” is said in the Qur’an to be at “Bakka” (3:96), and Muslim scholars would insist that Bakka is another word for Mecca, but there is no license for this presumption in the fabric of the Qur’an, still less the idea that Mecca or Bakka were in the Hijaz. The first mention of Mecca as a city in a non-Islamic source is in 741 AD, and it is firmly located in Mesopotamia. Islam’s doctrines about the eternal Meccan ka’ba emerge in the literary-historical and exegetical Tradition formulated through the ninth century AD, which purports to explain a Qur’anic text that is, as the Qur’an itself acknowledges, in significant measure “ambiguous” (3:7).
The answers to this tangle lie in the geographical and creedal origins of the movement that forged the Arab Empire in the seventh century, and the interplay of the conquerors and the conquered over the next two centuries.
For more on the centrality of Abraham in the ka’ba Tradition and the complexities surrounding the evolution of this point, see here.
Contemporary Muslim understanding is that al-Masjid al-Haram means what is often called in English “the Grand Mosque” in Mecca in Saudi Arabia and al-Masjid al-Aqsa refers to the mosque in Jerusalem. As indicated in footnote 2, the Qur’an is clear that al-Masjid al-Haram means the enclosure around the original ka’ba, and where that original ka’ba was is a live question. The one mention of al-Masjid al-Aqsa—“the Farthest Place of Prostration”—in the Qur’an (17:1) provides no link to Jerusalem, and indeed does not seem to be referring to a fixed temporal location at all; it could be a symbolic reference to the “farthest” place Muhammad’s revelations have reached, but it seems to be referring to heaven. See: John Wansbrough (1977), Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation, p. 69.