A
Mujahid (
Arabic:
, , literally "struggler", "justice-fighter" or "freedom-fighter")
is a person who is fighting for freedom. The plural is
mujahideen ( , ). The word is from the same Arabic
triliteral as
jihad ("struggle").
Mujahideen is also
transliterated from Arabic as
mujahedin,
mujahedeen,
mujahedīn,
mujahidīn,
Mudžahedin-Mudžahid
(Bosnian),
mujaheddīn and variants.
Etymology
Arabic words usually have
triliterals,
which are triconsonantal (three-
consonant)
roots. The root of
mujahidin is J-H-D (ج-ه-د), meaning "effort or sacrifice"
("Jihad" can mean to struggle and "Mujahid" can mean struggler.)
However, the particular
verb stem of J-H-D from which
both
jihad and
mujahid are
derived means "to exert effort against" or "to struggle".
Mujahid is originally, therefore, "someone who struggles".
The term has, even in Arabic, taken on meanings that are
specifically religious, or specifically
military or
paramilitary or both.
Like the concept and title
Ghazi, it has been
used in formal titles of Muslim leaders who prided themselves on
(and legitimized their conquests by)
Jihad bis saïf, holy war in the name of
establishing Islamic rule, even at very high political level: no
lesser ruler than Sultan
Murad
Khan II Khoja-Ghazi, sixth Sovereign of the
House of Osman (1421–1451), had as full style
Abu'l Hayrat, Sultan
ul-Mujahidin, Khan of Khans, Grand Sultan of Anatolia and
Rumelia and of the Cities of Adrianople and Philippolis,
including the formal title "Sultan of
mujahideen"
In
English, the word is recorded since 1958, in a Pakistani
context, adopted from Persian and Arabic, as the plural of
mujahid "one who fights in a jihad",
in modern use, for "Muslim guerilla
insurgent."
In the late 20th century and early 21st century, the term
"mujahideen" became the name of various armed fighters who
subscribe to militant
Islamic ideologies and
identify themselves as
mujahideen, although there is not
always an explicit "holy" or "warrior" meaning of the word. In
modern parlance "mujahideen" describes different armed groups
formed in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Jihad in the Hadith
According to the
Hadith (
Sahih al-Bukhari), Jihad is important for
followers of
Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad considered the following deeds,
in order of goodness:
- To offer the prayers at their early stated fixed times.
- To be good and dutiful to your parents.
- To participate in Jihad in Allah's
Cause.
When Prophet Muhammed was asked which deeds are best by
Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, he replied that a
mujahid who takes part in jihad was the third best of deeds.
In the hadith it is said that when asked "O Allah's Apostle! What
is the best deed?" He replied, "To offer the prayers at their early
stated fixed times." I asked, "What is next in goodness?" He
replied, "To be good and dutiful to your parents." then further
asked, what is next in goodness?" He replied, "To participate in
Jihad in Allah's Cause."
Other version of the hadith, collected from different narrators
claim the prophet said it was the 2nd best of deeds.
Afghanistan
The best-known mujahideen, various loosely-aligned
Afghan opposition groups,
initially fought against the incumbent pro-Soviet Afghan government
during the late 1970s.
At the Afghan government's request, the
Soviet
Union
became involved in the war. The mujahideen
insurgency then fought against the Soviet and Afghan government
troops during the
Soviet war
in Afghanistan. After the Soviet Union pulled out of the
conflict in the late 1980s the mujahideen fought each other in the
subsequent
Afghan Civil War.
The
mujahideen were significantly financed and armed (and are alleged to have
been trained) by the United States
Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Carter and Reagan administrations, the government
of Saudi
Arabia
, Zia-ul-Haq's military regime in Pakistan, Iran
, the
People's
Republic of China
and several Western
European countries. The Pakistani
Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) was the interagent used in the majority of these activities
to disguise the sources of support for the resistance. Under
Reagan, US support for the mujahideen evolved into an official U.S.
foreign policy, known as the
Reagan
Doctrine, which included U.S. support for anti-Soviet
resistance movements in Afghanistan, Angola, Nicaragua and
elsewhere.
The main
base station of mujahideen in Pakistan was the town Badaber,
24 km from Peshawar
.
Afghanistan mujahideen were trained in the Badaber base under
supervision by military instructors from the USA, Pakistan, and the
Republic of China.
The base served as the concentration camp for Soviet
and DRA captives as well. In 1985, the uprising of captives
destroyed the base, but the incident was concealed
by Pakistani and Soviet governments until the dissolution of the
USSR.
Ronald Reagan praised mujahideen as
"
freedom fighters", and four
mainstream Western films, the
1987
James Bond film
The Living Daylights, the
1988 action films
Rambo III,
The Beast and the
2007 biographical movie
Charlie Wilson's War, portrayed
them as heroic.
Afghanistan's resistance movement was born in chaos and, at first,
virtually all of its war was waged locally by regional
warlords. As warfare became more sophisticated,
outside support and regional coordination grew. Even so, the basic
units of mujahideen organization and action continued to reflect
the highly segmented nature of Afghan society. Eventually, the
seven main mujahideen parties allied themselves into the political
bloc called
Islamic Unity of
Afghanistan Mujahideen.
Many Muslims from other countries volunteered to assist the various
mujahideen groups in Afghanistan, and gained significant experience
in guerrilla warfare. Some groups of these veterans have been
significant factors in more recent conflicts in and around the
Muslim world.
Osama bin Laden,
originally from a wealthy family in Saudi Arabia, was a prominent
organizer and financier of an all-Arab islamist group of foreign
volunteers; his
Maktab
al-Khadamat funnelled money, arms, and Muslim fighters from
around the Muslim world into Afghanistan, with the assistance and
support of the Saudi and Pakistani governments. These foreign
fighters became known as "
Afghan Arabs" and their efforts
were coordinated by
Abdullah Yusuf
Azzam.
Mujahideen forces found themselves always on the winning hand
against the Soviets, and consistently, the Mujahideen won when the
soviet union because of their heavy losses inflicted upon them by
the Muslim-warriors pulled troops out of Afghanistan in 1989, when
they overtook many of Afghanistan's cities from the Federal
Government, followed by the fall of the
Mohammad Najibullah regime in 1992.
However,
the mujahideen did not establish a united government, and many of
the larger mujahideen groups began to fight each
other over the power in Kabul
.
After several years of devastating infighting, a village
mullah organized a new armed movement with the
backing of Pakistan. This movement became known as the
Taliban, meaning "students" (in Arabic), and
referring to the Saudi-backed
religious schools known for producing
extremism. Veteran mujahideen were confronted by this radical
splinter group in 1996.
Post Soviet international fighters
By 1996, with backing from the Pakistani ISI and
Military of Pakistan, as well as
al-Qaeda, the Taliban had
largely defeated the
militias and controlled most of the country. The opposition
factions allied themselves together again and became known as the
Northern
Alliance.
Since 2001, with US-NATO
intervention, the Taliban were ousted
from power and a new Afghan government was formed. Many
of the former mujahideen gradually were incorporated into the new
Afghan National Army and
Afghan National Police.
At present the term "mujahideen" is sometimes used to describe
insurgents groups (including Taliban and al-Qaeda) who are fighting
NATO troops and the
Military of
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Afghan mujahideen also participated in the
Nagorno-Karabakh War and the
Tajik Civil War.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mujahideen
came in Bosnia
during the 1992-1995 Bosnian
war after the massacres
committed by the Serb forces on Bosnian Muslim civilians. They intended to fight a jihad
against the perpetrators. The number of volunteers is estimated by
some newspaper reports to have been about 4,000, but some recent
research discards such claims estimating 400 foreign volunteers.
They came
from places such as Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan
, Jordan
, Egypt
, Iraq
and the
Palestinian
Territories
; to quote the summary of the ICTY
judgement:
It is alleged that mujahideen participated in some incidents
considered to be
war crimes according to
the international law.
However no indictment was issued by the
ICTY
against them, but a few Bosnian Army officers were
indicted on the basis of superior criminal responsibility.
Amir Kubura and Enver Hadžihasanović were found not guilty on all
counts related to the incidents involving mujahideen. Furthermore,
the Appeals Chamber noted that the relationship between the 3rd
Corps of the Bosnian Army headed by Hadžihasanović and the El
Mujahedin detachment was not one of subordination but was instead
close to overt hostility since the only way to control the
detachment was to attack them as if they were a distinct enemy
force.
In the case against Rasim Delic, the former commander of the
Bosnian Army General Staff, the ICTY Trial Chamber decided, with a
majority of votes, presiding judge Moloto dissenting, that the
former commander had effective control over the members of the El
Mujahid Detachment, but had no knowledge of the crimes they
committed, although in one case he had reason to know of their
tendency to treat prisoners of war cruelly. He was sentenced to
three years of prison for failure to prevent or punish the cruel
treatment of twelve captured Serb soldiers in the village of Livade
and in the Kamenica camp near Zavidovici in July and August 1995 at
the hands of the Mujahideen. The general will remain in the
Detention Unit until the end of the appellate proceedings.
Burma (Myanmar)
A sizable
number of mujahideen are present and concentrated in the province
of Arakan, Burma
. They
were much more active before the 1962
coup
d'etat by General
Ne Win. Ne Win carried
out some military operations targeting them over a period of two
decades.
The prominent one was "Operation King Dragon" which
took place in 1978; as a result, many Muslims in the region fled to
neighboring country Bangladesh
as refugees. Nevertheless, the Burmese
mujahideen are still active within the remote areas of Arakan.
Their
associations with Bangladeshi mujahideen were significant but they
have extended their networks to the international level and
countries such as Pakistan, Malaysia
, et al., during the recent years. They
collect donations, and get religious military training outside of
Burma.
Chechnya
In the case of the
Chechen-Russian
conflict, the term mujahideen has often been used to refer to
all separatist fighters. In this article however, it will be used
to refer to the foreign, non-
Caucasian
fighters who joined the separatists’ cause for the sake of
Jihad. In other literature dealing with this conflict
they are often called
Ansaar (helpers)
to prevent confusion with the native fighters.
Foreign mujahideen have played a part in both Chechen wars.
After the
collapse of
the Soviet
Union and the subsequent Chechen declaration of
independence, foreign fighters started entering the region and
associated themselves with local rebels (most notably Shamil Basayev). Many of them were
veterans of the Soviet-Afghan
war and prior to the Russian
invasion, they used their expertise to train the
Chechen separatists. During the
First Chechen War they were notorious and
feared for their
guerilla tactics,
inflicting severe casualties on the badly prepared Russian forces.
The mujahideen also made a significant financial contribution to
the separatists’ cause; with their access to the immense wealth of
Salafist charities like
al-Haramein, they soon became an invaluable
source of funds for the Chechen resistance, which had little
resources of its own.
After the
withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya
most of the mujahideen decided to remain in the
country. In 1999, foreign fighters would play an
important role in the ill-fated Chechen incursion into Dagestan
, where they suffered a decisive defeat and were
forced to retreat back into Chechnya. The incursion provided
the new Russian government with a pretext for intervention and in
December 1999 Russian ground forces invaded Chechnya again.
In the
Second Chechen War the
separatists were less successful. Faced with a better prepared and
more determined Russian forces, the Chechens were unable to hold
their ground and as early as in 2002, Russian officials claimed the
separatists had been defeated. The Russians also succeeded in
killing the most prominent mujahideen commanders (most notably
Ibn al-Khattab and
Abu al-Walid).
Although the region has since been far from stable, separatist
activity has decreased and although some foreign fighters are still
active in Chechnya. In the last months of 2007, the influence of
foreign fighters became apparent again when
Dokka Umarov proclaimed the
Caucasus Emirate, a pan-Caucasian Islamic
state of which Chechnya was to be a province. This move caused a
rift in the resistance movement between those supporting the
Emirate and those who were in favour of preserving the
Chechen Republic of
Ichkeria.
India
An outfit calling itself the
Indian
Mujahideen came to light in 2008 with the multiple large scale
terror attacks.
On November 26, 2008, a group calling itself
the Deccan Mujahideen claimed
responsibility for a string of
attacks across Mumbai
. The
Weekly Standard claimed, "Indian intelligence believes the
Indian Mujahideen is a front group created by
Lashkar-e-Taiba and the
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami to
confuse investigators and cover the tracks of the Students' Islamic
Movement of India, or
SIMI, a radical Islamist
movement.
Kashmir
In the
Indian
state of 
Kashmir
, Kashmiris opposing
Indian rule are often known as
mujahideen.
Several different militant groups have since taken root in
Pakistani Kashmir. Most noticeable of these groups are
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT),
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM),
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation
Front (JKLF) and
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). A 1996
report by
Human Rights Watch
estimated the number of active mujahideen at 3,200.
Iran
While more than one group in Iran have called themselves
mujahideen, the most famous is the
People's Mujahedin of Iran
(PMOI).
Currently an Iraq-based
Islamic Socialist militant
organization that advocates the overthrow of Iran's current
government. The group also took part in the
1979 Iranian Revolution,
Iraq-Iran War (on the side of Iraqis), and the
Iraqi internal conflicts. They advocate a separation of religion
and state, and denounce the theocratic practices of the Islamic
Republic of Iran.
Another mujahideen was the Mujahedin-e Islam, an Islamic party led
by Ayatollah
Abol-Ghasem
Kashani. It was a component of the
National Front during the time of
Mohammed Mosaddeq's oil
nationalization, but broke away from Mosaddeq over his allegedly
unIslamic policies.
Iraq
The term
mujahideen is sometimes applied to fighters who
joined the
insurgency after the
2003 invasion of Iraq.Some
groups also use the word
mujahideen in their names, like
Mujahideen Shura Council
(an
umbrella group ran by
al-Qaeda in Iraq) and
Mujahideen Army,
Kosovo
According to the Serbian and other European press a several hundred
to a few thousand Mujahideen fighters from the Middle East and
other parts of the world later joined the
Kosovo Liberation Army to fight
against Serbian and Macedonian forces in
Kosovo war 1997–
1999. Allegedly some of them formed their own units
with Albanian leaders who spoke
Arabic
fluently. The greatest involvement was in the conflicts along the
border with Albania as well as in the
Battle of Košare. After the war most
of the foreign volunteers went back to their home lands, and some
of them remained in Kosovo where they became citizens.
The
Kosovo Liberation Army
included in its ranks foreign volunteers from Sweden, Belgium, the
UK, Germany, the US and France.
Philippines
Abu Sayyaf is an Islamic separatist group in the
southern Philippines
. The group is known for their
kidnappings of Western nationals and Filipinos,
for which it has received several large
ransom payments. Some Abu Sayyaf members have studied
or worked in Saudi Arabia and developed relations with the
mujahideen members while fighting and training in the war against
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Abu Sayyaf pro-claimed
themselves as mujahideen but are not supported by many people in
the Philippines including its Muslim clerics. The Abu Sayyaf is
thought to number around an estimated figure of 400
militants.
Somalia
In
July 2006, a Web-posted message
purportedly written by Osama bin Laden urged Somalis to build an
Islamic state in the country and
warned western states that his al-Qaeda network would fight against
them if they intervened there.
Bin Laden releases Web message on Iraq, Somalia
USA Today Foreign fighters began to arrive, though there were
official denials of the presence of mujahideen in the country.Even
so, the threat of jihad was made openly and repeatedly in the
months preceding the
Battle of
Baidoa.
Somalis vow holy war on Ethiopia BBC On
December 23,
2006,
Islamists, for the first time, called upon international fighters
to join their cause. The term
mujahideen is now openly
used by the
post-ICU
resistance against the Ethiopians and the TFG.
Al-Shabaab
Al-Shabaab is said to have non-Somali foreigners in its ranks,
particularly at its leadership. Fighters from the Persian Gulf and
international jihadists were called to join the holy war against
the Somali government and its Ethiopian allies. Though Somali
Islamists did not use suicide bombing tactics before, the foreign
elements of Al-Shabaab are blamed for several
suicide bombings.
UN's 2006 report
stated Iran, Libya
, Egypt and others
in the Persian
Gulf
region as the main backers of the Islamist
extremists. Egypt has a
longstanding policy of securing the Nile
River flow by destabilizing Ethiopia. Similarly, recent
media reports also cited Egyptian and Arab jihadists as the core
elements of the Al-Shabaab, who are training Somalis in
sophisticated weaponry and suicide bombing techniques.
Pakistan
The Pakistan Army
National Guard is
known as "Mujahid Force". Unlike the above examples, these are
persons who are enlisted or commissioned in the army of a nation
state and they are thus regular soldiers, and in no way associated
with the mujahideen.
History
See also
Persons:
Notes and references
- Oxford American Dictionary
- Also spelt mujahedin in a minority of
articles.
- name="Jihad as 3rd best deed">
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihad_in_Hadith
- Freedom Next Time, by John Pilger, p. 275
- "Reagan Doctrine, 1985," United States State
Department.
- The Path to Victory and Chaos: 1979-92 - Library of
Congress country studies(Retrieved Thursday 31, 2007)
- Maktab al-Khidamat; www.globalsecurity.org
- Bosnia Seen as Hospitable Base and Sanctuary for
Terrorists
- Radio Free Europe (2007)- Vlado Azinović: Al-Kai'da u
Bosni i Hercegovini - mit ili stvarna opasnost?
- ICTY: Summary of the judgement for Enver Hadžihasanović and
Amir Kubura - [1]
- ICTY - APPEALS CHAMBER - Hadzihasanović and Kubura
case
- Sense -
- THE ROVING EYE Jihad; The ultimate thermonuclear bomb by
Pepe Escobar Oct 2001, Asia Times.
- Global Muslim News (Issue 14) July-Sept 1996,
Nida'ul Islam magazine.
-
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/11/indian_mujahideen_takes_credit.asp
- The Essential Middle East: A Comprehensive Guide by
Dilip Hiro
- Abrahamian, Ervand, Iran Between Two Revolutions by
Ervand Abrahamian, Princeton University Press, 1982, p.276-7
- Excerpt from the book Osama Bin Laden: The Man Who
Declared War on America (Rocklin CA: Prima Publishing Co.,
1999, ISBN 0-7615-1968-8)
- The New York Times, December 18, 2001, by PHILIP
SHENON (NYT); Foreign Desk: A NATION CHALLENGED: THE MONEY TRAIL;
U.S.-Based Muslim Charity Raided by NATO in Kosovo
- Report: Bin Laden linked to Albania
- Al Qaeda's Balkan Links, Wall Street Journal Europe |
November 1, 2001 | Marcia Christoff Kurop]
- The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- Yossef Bodansky: Some Call It Peace (Part
I)
- The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
- The Centre for Peace in the Balkans
-
http://www.aimpress.ch/dyn/trae/archive/data/199904/90420-001-trae-tir.htm
-
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=bcr&s=f&o=248236&apc_state=henibcr5b891da66b3662d9a16bf0d86e537b3b
- Somali Islamists urge Muslim fighters to join
jihad Reuters
- The rise of the Shabab - The Economist Dec 18th
2008
- Suicide bombs kill 22 in northern Somalia, UN
hit
- Al- Shabaab led by "dozens of foreign jihadists,
most from Arab nations"
- Egypt and the Hydro-Politics of the Blue Nile
River
- Nile River Politics: Who Receives Water?
- Jihadists from Arab nations and Egyptians
-
http://202.83.164.26/wps/portal/Mod/!ut/p/c0/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os_hQN68AZ3dnIwML82BTAyNXTz9jE0NfQwNfA_2CbEdFAA2MC_Y!/
- Sephardim
- Kraemer, 2005, pp. 16-17.
- The Forgotten Refugees
- The Almohads
- Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain: The Order of Merced
on the Christian-Islamic Frontier
- The Shade of Swords Jihad and the Conflict between
Islam and Christianity M. J. Akbar
- Rees Davies, British Slaves on the Barbary Coast,
BBC, 1 July, 2003
- Richard Leiby, Terrorists by Another Name: The Barbary
Pirates, The Washington Post, October 15 2001
- Usman dan Fodio (Fulani leader)
- Kim Hodong, Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and
State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877. Stanford University
Press (March 2004).
- US Library of Congress, A Country Study: Sudan
- Civil War in the Sudan: Resources or Religion?
- Slave trade in the Sudan in the nineteenth century
and its suppression in the years 1877-80.
- Islam: History, Society and Civilization
- Saladin 1138-1193 Sultan of the Muslim Forces
During the Crusades
- Sufism in the Caucasus
- The Middle East during World War One
- The Destruction of Holy Sites in Mecca and
Medina
- Saudi Arabia - THE SAUD FAMILY AND WAHHABI ISLAM
- Nibras Kazimi, A
Paladin Gears Up for War, The New York Sun, November 1, 2007
- John R Bradley, Saudi's Shi'ites walk tightrope, Asia Times, March 17, 2005
- Amir Taheri, Death is big business in Najaf, but Iraq's future
depends on who controls it, The Times, August 28, 2004
- Imam Shamil of Dagestan
- Tough lessons in defiant Dagestan
- Life Span of Suleiman The Magnificent,
1494-1566
- Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World,
by Justin Marozzi
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