International Journal on Criminology Volume 4, Number 2, Winter 2016 | Page 29

Know What You Are Fighting
only for the Mongols, the expanded notion of Takfir later created murderous fatwas
aimed at Muslims and non-Muslims in Algeria, Egypt, and elsewhere.
Jihad does indeed figure in the doctrinal corpus of the Sunni schools, but the four
theologians Malek Ibn Anas, Ibn Hanbal Ahmed, Chafi-i Ibn Idris, and Abou Hanifa
Annuman 6 approached it carefully, without indicating who is qualified to authorize it.
In reference to the Crusades, these four schools limit themselves to discussing how to
share the spoils of war, the tithe owed by non-Muslims living in Islamic lands, and the
protection of children, the elderly, and women of the enemy during war. In any case,
these theologians deemed jihad to be licit during wars declared by or against enemies.
Referring specifically to the notion of legitimate defense, a jihad aimed at passive
communities—especially Muslim communities—is clearly inconceivable for them.
Until Ibn Taymyya, it was prohibited to interpret sacred texts, or at least
reserved for an elite and limited to specific areas. Most Muslim philosophers approved
of this requirement and did not dare to defy the prohibition, in particular the esoteric
meaning of the text. However, some philosophical movements, Moutazila, Ash’ari,
Mutakallimun, and that of Ibn Roshd (Averroes), were opposed as to the nature of
the texts available for interpretation, their esoteric and exoteric meanings, and the
interpretations to reveal to laypeople. Heretics and infidels were the names given to
those who, whatever their level of learning or social rank, dared to interpret the Verses
in relation to certain sensitive questions and who told laypeople the meaning of their
interpretations.
It took five centuries for Ibn Taymyya to be resuscitated by the Wahhabi
“reformists” 7 who, like him, dared to cross the threshold of the once prohibited temple;
five centuries for the four schools to be accused of traditionalism and anachronism in
relation to the evolution and metamorphoses of society, and first of all the Muslim
nation (Oumma islamia).
“Reformism”: Anodyne Term, Diabolical Tool
Thus some “reformists,” claiming to be law experts of the faith, grant
themselves the role of sponsor, and their teachings and messages serve as the
justification for terrorism. We should first note that the role of sponsor differs from
that of a leader or an active warlord in the field. The former remain in their ivory
towers, from which they pronounce verdicts or statements that, through a suggestive
effect, turn to condemnation. Hardened in the field but often uneducated, leaders use
these edicts in the field as the basis for their dictates; they take up the speeches by the
sponsors expressing themselves at a distance. The meaning of these speeches often
escapes the leaders, but they contain enough phrases capable of inciting aggression.
The crowd understands only excessive emotions: to seduce it, use violent
6
The four leaders of the schools that bear their names.
7
“Reformist” is used here in its religious meaning, not the political one. It refers to those who want
to return to the origins of the religion to purify it.
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